My name is Hassan Muhammad.
Unlike any ordinary story, this story is to tell you about the man behind the passion, courage and heart. For me it started when I was younger, watching the world’s hatred and fascism. Experiencing it first hand through my community and still feeling the effects today at 26. I never liked bullies and the system is the biggest of them all. I try to be open minded with opinions but one opinion of mine will always remain the same “In order to change what we want, WE MUST CHANGE OURSELVES!”
As a child I was taught the struggles of life; the good, the bad, and the overwhelming. I heard that sometimes you must struggle to accomplish what you want in life.
I didn’t realize I was different from other kids I grew up with until I started dealing with racism on a first hand basis. As I got older I learned more about the civil rights movement and in 6th grade I started going to local protests. The first movement I got involved in was Occupy Portland. Then, when I was about 16 years old I spent time inside of a Juvenile detention center. It was in the Juvenile detention center that I became more woke to society’s Systemic injustices and Racism.
I was attacked by guards who threatened me and locked me down for 23 hours a day. It was then that I decided what I was passionate about inside of my heart. I started boycotting state items issued to me, I gave speeches from my cell and created a radical movement, GS TURN UP. Our focus was fighting the oppression from behind enemy lines. We focused on addressing human rights violations as Juveniles. We didn’t settle for what the Administration did to smooth things out. We were subjected to constant harassment and threats of brute force. We endured being shipped all over the state. Never did it break me. I stood tall and held my head.
Upon leaving the system as a juvenile I had educated myself on world problems and movements. I was inspired by the motivation of the Black Panthers. The work the Black Panthers started was not only unfinished but actively and sabotaged by the government. Direct actions have been a must for years. Martin Luther King JR said it best, “We must make them uncomfortable where they eat, where they sleep and where they shop.” Now if that ain’t the truth I don’t know what is. Sometimes it appears that the movement has lost its focus in a major way. We have settled for whatever the government will allow. When in history they have allowed BLACK MEN AND WOMEN EVEN CHILDREN TO BE SUBJECTED TO HATRED. Many different cultures have experienced slavery but not on the scale of mass chattel slavery. So when we talk about why we stand on the issue of racism and systemic oppression and repression, we are addressing issues that have not yet been corrected. So I knew what I must do to maintain the wellness of my people.
Two years after release from the Maclaren Youth Correctional Facility in Woodburn, Oregon I was working as an event promoter. It wasn’t the best job but my dream was to work towards networking to bring my family and my community up out of the hatred that has been directed upon them since they were kids.
But something was itching inside of me and my passion would not let me sit back any longer. Covid-19 struck communities across the world. I was being harassed more by the adult PO system and almost thrown in prison for self defense at a skatepark. George Floyd was killed a few months later. A Lot of my community and family were taking to the streets. Being that my family is one the largest and most historic black families of not only Oregon but the south, we have lost a lot of brothers, sisters and other close relatives to the Police. I don’t believe that a day goes by that I don’t think about it to be honest every time a Black person is killed I cry with anger.
The first night of the historic protest in 2020. I sat back to catch the vibes and response of everything going on in my city. I told my family on the second day that I LOVED THEM. I left my house and headed to the marches and after night rallies. I met a cool Comrade who educated me more on the focus here in Portland. I was then introduced into some different groups in the movement. I hung around each to see how I could help in anyway. I began feeling some of the groups were too soft for my liking. I focused more on being a freelance that knew all the important Comrades and Orgs. I was doing it all. Anything that needed to be done, no hesitation. One night my father gave me a look when I came black in Black block. He told me he was proud of me. That was the first time I’d heard the words from him. I knew I had found how my passion could be completed. The following month I had completed direct actions by myself and earned respect from my people and comrades. I watched proud boys attack fellow marchers and comrades, I took a stand and let them have everything I held in me.
One day on a march on the I-84 freeway I acted as a back Motorcade for the safety of everyone. We were five minutes into the march on the freeway when my com went off, stating that a truck and Trailer was speeding. I saw it before it was too late. I closed the gap. It struck my car on the passenger side and the trailer flipped onto my windshield and took off the whole front end of my car. I was able to disable the truck before it drove into a crowd of over 500 people. I went to check on the occupants of the truck and as I approached, the driver aimed a pistol at my passenger’s face who was at their window confronting the behavior of the driver. I then needed to create distance and a distraction so I did. As I called it out for the safety of the protest and drivers I took cover under a stopped semi.
The driver kept looking around for targets. He seemed to be military trained. When he didn’t find anyone he took off. Leaving the area we were told by the leaders of the march for safety they made an emergency exit of the freeway for the marchers. Follow up investigation uncovered that the driver of the truck was in fact a private subcontractor of the U.S. Government in Washington State.
The next couple of weeks I had urges that I should take a break. But my work was not done and I could not let the momentum of my actions go without cause. On the night of a close family friend’s march and death anniversary I knew it was time to turn up the heat literally. I was with some very solid people and we were doing a march of 500 to the North Precinct which housed a major piece of shit who does not deserve a title. We were livid and we weren’t looking to be peaceful but we were looking to be heard.
I was standing with some friends watching movement and just being on the safe side of caution. When suddenly a tear gas canister exploded next to me, sending shrapnel into me and a few nearby comrades; one of them needed medical attention immediately. The street medic training kicked in for all of us. We attended to our injured comrade and someone volunteered to take them to the hospital.
I knew it was time to make a statement right now, not later. I don’t want to give much boring detail. I took action and I set the North Precinct on Fire. Now almost 4 years later I have served 42 out of 48 months on the arson and the I-84 incident. While they harassed me all the way until release.
With the little support from the comrades who couldn’t help much, I’ve seen that the work has not yet been completed. We cannot stand around while our fellow Comrades, or anyone, is being subjected to the repressive system and the oppression and abuse of the government and state. We cannot let them feel alone. We must support them for the sacrifices they have made.
If you can take one thing from reading this it is that we need to support our fellow comrades and prisoners. The system nor the liberal will ever care. So we must stand in solidarity and bring an end to the system as a whole. We must stand together in unity and come together to end it all. We cannot forget the struggles of our people but especially of all people. WE MUST BE THE CHANGE AND WE MUST BE THE FIRE IN THE WORLD THAT LIGHTS THE TORCH.
Thank you !
Hassan ”Vibez” Muhammad
”None are free til we all are truly free but none can be free , If our brothers and sister still wear chains of the system.”
