Samia Assed

Secretary

Samia prides herself in being a Palestinian Muslim-American, who is a grassroots feminist and mother of nine that has advocated as well as organized for oppressed, poor and marginalized people locally, nationally and internationally. Within doing such work, Samia has brought much needed insight on intersectional movement building with Palestinian, Indigenous, Chicano, Black, Jewish and Muslim Communities. Samia has facilitated and mediated many community conversations, and continues to work on addressing anti- racism, Islamophobia, Xenophobia, and anti- Semitism. Samia’s many years of experience in organizing events and marches have also allowed her to build and mobilize coalitions on many fronts including within intersectional feminism, human rights, civil rights, and environmental justice. 

Since 2018, Samia has sat as the Board Chair of the City of Albuquerque Human Rights board where she works hand-in-hand with the City of Albuquerque’s Office of Equity and Inclusion as well as the Civil Rights Office in order to secure citizens human rights. As well as also takes on educational campaigns around the city regarding civil and human rights. Samia has sat as the Board Chair of the SouthWest Organizing Project (SWOP) since 2015, where their campaign aims to focus on gender, racial, economic, environmental, health and education justice, both locally and globally. Within SWOP she works on building solidarity amongst Chicano, Indigenous, Black communities and participates in the Con Mujeres Intersectional Feminist campaign of SWOP.

Samia has been involved with the Womens March since its birth and had co-coordinated a bus delegation from NM to DC for the first Womens March of 2017. For the last two years, as the Women’s March New Mexico Chair, Samia has been able to carry two successful Women’s Marching rallies. Samia has also served as the State Chair for the New Mexico Poor Peoples Campaign since 2017 and has organized a committee that has successfully led the 40 days of action campaign that addressed the four pillars of the national campaign; ecological devastation, poverty, racism, and militarism. She also had the opportunity to oversee media and non-violence trainings as well as civil- disobedience actions. Samia has worked as the Board President of the Albuquerque Peace and Justice Center since 2014, where she helps to provide a space for organizations and individuals working on peace and justice issues to network with one another, share information, and learn from each other. This has allowed her to truly focus on movement building with non-profits, social justice organizations, academia as well as the community. Within sitting as the Board President of the Albuquerque Peace and Justice Center, she has also facilitated and launched many collaborative educational and community events. Samia is the first Muslim women as a State Central Committee member and is the interim Chair of the Affirmative Action Committee for the Democratic Party of New Mexico. Samia’s recognized achievements includes that of the SouthWest Angel Community Award by the Albuquerque Journal and the Jeanne Guana Social Justice Spirit Award.