Brother Tremikus Muhammad of South Phoenix on Life, Lessons & Legacy

We’re looking forward to introducing you to Brother Tremikus Muhammad. Check out our conversation below.

Hi Tremikus, thank you so much for taking time out of your busy day to share your story, experiences and insights with our readers. Let’s jump right in with an interesting one: Are you walking a path—or wandering?
I’m walking a path, a very intentional path. By God’s grace I have been involved in community work since my early teens years, 33 years later it feels like I’m just getting started and understanding the value of the kind of work that I’ve been blessed to do, and how to do it better.

Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
My name is Brother Tremikus Muhammad, I’m the chair of the Phoenix Local Organizing Committee for Justice or Else. Our focus is on building community and those infrastructures that support community. We start with building leadership, then we look at the areas of community life that are most important, like agriculture, economics, arts and culture, education, and community protection. We believe that those who have been least heard need the most attention. Our focus at this time is agriculture, arts and culture and business development, we want to form systems that are self-sustainable, independent, and driven by Black, Brown and Indigenous communities , so that we can answer our own needs.

Amazing, so let’s take a moment to go back in time. What was your earliest memory of feeling powerful?
When I was about seven years old we moved to a new neighborhood, I was very small, and new to the neighborhood and really wanted to be accepted, but the things that I just mentioned caused that process to be very difficult and instead what I found myself doing was being bullied. One day I had all that I could stand, one of the children in the neighborhood that I thought was a friend had joined in on the bullying and took a ball, or frisby from me, I can’t quite remember. But, what I do remember is making the decision on that lawn that I was going to fight back, and I did, I fought back against my bully’s and got my toy back, I remember feeling so empowered walking home with my toy in hand and from that day forward I’ve fought back against those things, that seemed to me, were bullying. That’s where I am now both internally and externally,but much wiser than I was at 7 ,and hopefully much wiser than I was yesterday.

Was there ever a time you almost gave up?
Two years ago, I suffered a terrible loss, my loss was in business and personal. In this life we are all challenged as leaders to make the best decisions for ourselves and those around us, sometimes we do well, and others we don’t. Hopefully we learn from our mistakes and errors. But, it also serves to reveal those around us, what’s in their hearts for you that they may hide. I found myself like that little boy again, who believed he had friends, but time and circumstance has a way of revealing who is who, who is true and who is not. But the pendulum swings both ways, because we have things hidden in us that we are not aware of, along with those things that we need to be purified from.

I went through that type of trial and truly I wanted to give up, the betrayals, that faults , the weaknesses, the pain of sacrificing and getting very little in return brought me to the point of wanting to give up. But, all things are born from darkness, that space became for me like a nurturing womb. It produced for me new life, new understanding, and a renewed sense of purpose. But, with more intention. We can not live in the past, my great teacher, The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan, challenged us never to live in the mistakes of yesterday, learn and write a better chapter today and tomorrow. I would say to your readers Never GIVE UP, instead GET UP! Go after whatever the passion of your heart is, because you are born into the world to do great things, and the struggles of life are not necessarily stumbling blocks intended to stop you, that are building blocks that, if put in their proper place become stepping stones to take you higher and higher in life.

So a lot of these questions go deep, but if you are open to it, we’ve got a few more questions that we’d love to get your take on. How do you differentiate between fads and real foundational shifts?
Much of what I see so far, it’s what’s popular at the moment and does not have any deep rooted connection in the commitment that it takes to establish foundational change in the society. For example many cities have a practice of moving the homeless, around, instead of providing real solutions to the housing crisis, or mental health crisis, or even the drug crisis that is driving the increase of houselessness in our communities. For me, the difference lies in one question “What does the work do for the individuals we are serving? I’ve learned that to build structures, institutions, or systems that do not help to build human beings is an exercise in futility. My teacher the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan pointed out right here in Phoenix in the 80’s that, this type of neglect of rebuilding human life would only lead to those same individuals that were neglected, tearing down whatever you build. Their must also be justice and equity and the foundation of whatever we build, if not we will find it falling in on its self. Foundational work is rooted in what we are doing lasting, and providing for the long term, whether it’s fashionable or not is irrelevant.

Okay, so before we go, let’s tackle one more area. What do you think people will most misunderstand about your legacy?
I don’t know, maybe it will be the question of why I do what I do. My answer is simple, it’s because I love my people and I will give all that I have to see us in a better condition than we are in. I pray that God allows me to live long enough to perfect my love and manifest all of the visions that I have in my heart and mind for the benefit of those around me.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://Thephxloc.org
• Instagram: Phoenix_LOC
• Facebook: Phoenix Local Organizing Committee for Justice or Else