Dear Black Man, I ❤️ You…

Tha Brown Urban Mother Partnership bids peace to Minister Hafeez Muhammed.

I had the honour of speaking at the funeral of Ramarley Graham February 2012. I spoke about my love for the Black Man. Hafiz stood up as I spoke and yelled out, “YEAH! Come on with it Sistah!” After the service he approached me with like six to ten men guarding him. I was like this dude is important. He explained that he loved what I said and gave me his card. He said, “Help me get into the schools. I need to get to our youth.” I watched him and the body guards walk away and was like WOW! I was a fan ever since.

Now, my godson KaSaun O’Shane Cain was murdered on the streets of Mount Vernon on September 6, 2009. There were a number of sons murdered as well for years to follow & their cases were “all” cold. I sat in a meeting in 2012 with a room loaded. Mothers, Aunts, Grandmothers, and godmothers who were alarmed about the cold cases in Mount Vernon. We were appalled by the silence. The meeting brought us together and the want to do something was born. Some of us left, continued meeting and the organization MAMAiAM was formed.

We decided to visit Brother Hafeez Muhammed for guidance. I traveled with around six other women to the mosque in Harlem to discuss the possibility of him and the Fruits of Islam coming to Mount Vernon to speak to our youth. He covered our heads & walked in afraid but hopeful. That day he taught me about the word “fratricide” which means one that murders or kills his or her own brother or sister. He said, “You are a cat meowing at a lion and we will help you.” He was to the point about the level of fratricidal incidents in Mount Vernon. He didn’t sugar coat street crime.

We told him about our desire to end the violence and build our community. He said he had the utmost respect for the Mothers of MAMAiAM founder Naz Duncan and agreed to come to Mount Vernon to join us in speaking to our citizens. We hosted a “Youth Conference”. There I was reunited with Damon K Jones, Montika S. Jones, and Bro Arthur Muhammad all of us had the same desire to heal & educate our community.

Since then I have been invited to the mosque a number of times and increased my participation in community service towards justice. When Hafeez invites you to the mosque you go. No questions. The last time I was called to be present and of course I went. He announced in service that he wanted to thank us in person for what we do… AJ Woodson

RISE IN HEAVEN MY BROTHER!

Thank You Brother Hafeez Muhammed! Dear Black Man, I ❤️ You…

With Love,

Cynthia

#thabump #nojusticenopeace