Tim Hayes – Page 7

Remembering What happened to us on Bloody Sunday …..and What it means fifty years later

March 7, 2015 by Tim Hayes Leave a Comment

It’s Saturday morning March 7th 2015, I’m listening in the background to all the newscasters and politicians give their take on the events that happened one morning 50 years ago today. Since the recent film “Selma” was released the subject “Bloody Sunday” has been talked and talked about…and in more than one forum I have talked about how I was there. I was there for the Bloody Sunday attempted march but I was not there for the two marches that came later. it’s strange how when you are in the middle of an event that will become history..or in this case almost legend, you don’t really think of it in that way. I was very young, in my mid teens. I had been an admirer of the college students who became the “freedom riders” since 1961..they replaced ,TV cowboys and Superman as my heroes..Names like Diane Nash, Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth. James Bevel, Jesse Harris there were many more names but the two who would inspire young Tim Hayes the most at that time where C.T. Vivian and and John Lewis and the people who would later become SNCC. I was in grade school when the Freedom Riders became my heroes in 1961 ..after the Atlanta student movement and the sit ins in the Carolina began. Black student mobilization gained a momentum that was unstoppable. I began to read about SNCC almost every week. And since I lived in the capitol of the old South and it’s largest city Atlanta, Ga. there was plenty to read about. Atlanta is also a city with several historically Black Colleges and Universities Morehouse, Spelman, Morris Brown and more. And it was only a matter of time until the Black Student arm of the civil rights movement would become centered there. I began to hang around these people as much as I could..and as I grew and got older I heard and observed many things..One thing that impressed me the most as a youngster was how SNNC was not governed from the top down…but in the meetings I was sometime able to attend or at least listen from outside these people who were really not that much older than I was, became committed to a type of participatory Democracy….ruling by consensus as described here from a Wike article…. ” SNCC was unusual among civil rights groups in the way in which decisions were made. Instead of “top down” control, as was the case with most organizations at that time, decisions in SNCC were made by consensus, called participatory democracy. Ms. Ella Baker was extremely influential in establishing that model, as was Rev. James Lawson. Group meetings would be convened in which every participant could speak for as long as they wanted and the meeting would continue until everyone who was left was in agreement with the decision. Because activities were often very dangerous and could lead to prison or death, SNCC wanted all participants to support each activity” ….By the time I was in my mid-teens I was just itching to go on a real march or get in the field and do some real work…In 1965 I was still in High School..and in fact on that Sunday in March 1965..I had to sneak out of my parents house to catch the ride to Selma. Before I got there all I really knew was the James Bevel a SCLC operative who has been organizing in Selma wanted this march to happen …and that most of SCLC did not like the timing..But after the death of Jimmy Lee Jackson at the hands of a State Trooper during a small peaceful march…Bevel and other people decided that the March was on…John Lewis of SNCC along with Hosea Williams of SCLC were at the head of the march..I was actually surprised to see that Andrew Young who I did not know at that time but I knew what his position in SCLC was there..as we had all been told that MLK did not approve of this march…Voting rights was the call for this time for us and the Selma Voting Rights Movement was intended to be a model for other communities in the South as we pressed for a voting rights act…Well the rest is well known and was portrayed very well in the film “Selma” We marched across that Edmond Pettus Bridge on U.S. Highway 80 ..and then we were stopped,.. they made an announcement that we were to disperse …and I remember the words from a bull horn saying “I have nothing further to say to you” then they walked towards us slowly at first and then faster …then the gas came..the way I remember it was a woman screamed, then I saw the people in front of me falling down, then I was struck in the head and fell down, shortly after that as I tried to get up and help a lady who had fallen something almost crushed my ankle..I looked up and saw that it was horse..the white people who were standing on the sidewalks were clapping their hands and cheering..those of us who had not started running back across the bridge helped other people to their feet …..and we ran …and we ran ..and we ran….most of us who were no locals .met back at the church where we had started out from..there was cursing, and crying, and there were men and women who went home to get guns…I went back inside ..limping as my ankle was injured ..even then I wondered what my parents would say when I got back home….Those were the events of March 7th 1965 as I can best recall them….All this began over the right to vote ..and the hopes of a Voting Rights Law that we could count on to serve us for the ages….As people today seem to be jumping on a bandwagon to be seen observing this day….what I think of mostly ….the brave local people of Selma who put there lives at risk …on that day and the next….and it really pisses me off that many of the people who are trying to dismantle the hard won Voting Rights Act are today going to observances of Bloody Sunday …like they actually give a damn ..This is just a lesson that the struggle is never really over..we have to maintain a constant vigil ..if we want to maintain our hard won rights

Thinking about Malcolm X fifty years Later

February 22, 2015 by Tim Hayes Leave a Comment

I was intending to post this Saturday, which was the 50th anniversary of the murder of Malcolm X..but family duties and getting ready for another snow/ice storm got in the way. I was still in grade school the first time I heard anyone mention Malcolm. It was my father and his sister Aunt Stella, they were arguing, Dad was saying how he could not stand those “Black Muslims” but somebody needed to say what Malcolm was saying, Aunt Stella just kept saying that her pastor said that Malcolm’s statements actually came straight from the “devil”. It was I think 1959 or maybe 1960.I did not think much about it after that..But in Atlanta where I grew up I would still hear grownups many times speaking in whispers. About the Muslim Minister who made so much sense. As I got older I was scooped up many times by members of the Nation of Islam when they were out “fishing” ….that’s what they called it when they would go out looking for people to bring to one of the temple meetings or on Fridays and Sundays for services. At first I never told my parents where I was going..although they knew I went to hang out with the older guys in SNCC..which they didn’t seem to mind as my father saw a type of nobility in what the SNCC people were doing …he still told me not to let my mother know where I was.But with the “Black Muslims” and later when I was starting to get involved with the Black Panther Party my father “just knew” I was going to get killed or at the very least bring the FBI down on our whole family…Dad would prove to be right about the FBI but that is another story. the first time the guys out fishing brought me to see Malcolm speak it was at Clark College. At first his speech was pretty much the same speech that all the ministers gave…in fact many of the famous quotations attributed to Malcolm today were actually standard phrases all the ministers used..and I mean all of them.. as I must have heard over twenty before I heard Malcolm..It was maybe the third time I went to see Malcolm speak and this would have been about 1963..that Malcolm began to include more than just the standard “Black Muslim” rap….he talked about the Bandung Conference in Indonesia, he talked about wars agaisnt colonialism ..he talked about how Ho Chi Minh had been betrayed after WW I and had not trusted the European again..he opened up a whole international struggle that I had never thought about..Of course when I would go back and talk to many of the SNCC guys about this it made me seem knowledgeable beyond my years. And those of you who knew me back then may remember how it scared many of the teachers at our high school. ….It was right after this that Malcolm left the Nation of Islam..and I began to follow every thing he did or said..most notably how Malcolm had begun to reject much of the teachings of Elijah Muhammad …I looked forward to the next time Malcolm came to Atlanta to speak……..It never happened….in 1965 just before Malcolm was killed I did get to see him again …you can read about our meeting by clicking on the link at the bottom of this post…but fifty years ago it was a Sunday and I was on the way home from church with my Mother and my siblings when the news came over the radio that Malcolm had been killed…in the same hall he had me passing out leaflets about… I went into a real depression for days after…but some good came out of this… about two weeks later I agreed to go to Selma Alabama on my first real civil rights march…..That was March 7th 1965…it became known as “Bloody Sunday” That was the attempted march where we were gassed, beaten, and I was trampled by a horse…..My.life was never the same. You can read about my meeting with Malcolm here http://www.timothyhayes.net/2014/05/19/what-does-malcolm-still-have-to-say/

Why I would never observe Kwannza if you put a gun to my head

December 25, 2014 by Tim Hayes Leave a Comment

If you’ve known me for a while you know I post this every year on the day after Xmas, I am leaving town on Xmas day to visit loved ones and don’t know when I’ll be back home.so here it is..If I offend anyone who observes Kwannza ..I don’t give a flip. ….Today begins the so-called holiday known as Kwanza, a celebration that has no real roots in any African traditions, but many African Americans choose to observe it as an alternative to Xmas. That’s fine if it works for you. I however use this time every year to remember the lives of my two friends John Huggins and “Bunchy” Carter. Who were killed on January 17th 1969 on the orders of a sadistic cult leader who also was a paid agent of the FBI. This person Ron Karenga also was convicted of torturing two black women,Gail Davis and Deborah Jones, holding them for days at times using electrical cords and hot soldering irons burning them in private parts of their bodies. After serving only a short prison sentence, Karenga surfaced in Southern Calif. again with various Academic degrees he still can’t prove he earned. Today Karenga parades around the country calling himself a “victim” and a pioneer in the “Black Power” movement. Hoping those of us who survive and were in the real struggle will forget who he was. Well every movement has it’s heroes and has it’s victims. And as time goes by new facts come to light, many of the old paid informants as well as retiring or even dying FBI agents have come forward over the years. Ron Karenga was without a doubt the most dangerous of all the people who betrayed the movement. At the time the FBI used any and all means to prevent alliances between Black militant groups, using agents, false arrests ,fake letters written to Black Panther Party members on FBI stationary and left where their friends could see them. And the biggie, orchestrated rivalries and assassinations.Karenga was one of the most useful and willing tool of the CO-INTEL_PRO era. Even today he seems to have no guilt or regrets about his torturing or his killings, using the fact that he “invented” Kwannza to set himself up as one of the true warriors of the struggle. Horsesh*t…. My friend John Huggins of New Haven Conn. was a wonderful man who took me to Calif. With Geronimo Pratt to train in the Black Panther Party. Bunchy Carter was a reformed gang leader who brought the first peace to the street gangs of Los Angeles. Bunchy helped set up a free shoes program, a free health clinic, and one of the first shelters for battered women in the state of Calif. Rather than observe Kwanza the holiday invented by the sick sadistic traitor Karenga I remember the lives of my friends. I have no problem with people who chose to observe Kwanza…but I also believe that what you don’t know CAN hurt you.

the founder of Kwannza murdered these two men

Winter in Philadelphia for a homeless veteran

November 21, 2014 by Tim Hayes Leave a Comment

I found this picture on google. But this week I spent all of Tues.and Wednesday, and part of Thursday getting some medical tests done. Tuesday I was waiting for a bus in Center City Philadelphia, and directly in front of me was a man sleeping with his stomach against the metal of the steam vent on the sidewalk. I know from working with a lot of homeless people over the years that this can be very bad…..but it was about 25 degrees out …with a killer wind blowing..hey what are you gonna do. … I left the guy alone until he was kicked by a pedestrian and woke up…he asked me if I had a dollar…well I’m not in the best financial shape these days …,I had two dollars and a few cents….I needed that for the bus..after thinking about it I looked across the street and seeing a fast food place I said .”How bout I get us something to eat ? With my $2.48 I managed to get us a double cheeseburger and a tiny “side salad” ..he took the burger and I ate the salad..I found out he was 42, my sons age a veteran and had fought in the first “Gulf war”..he did not seem “crazy” or anything ..his family had put him out because he had really horrible nightmares and could not sleep at night …waking up screaming all the time..since I no longer had money for my bus we talked for a while. He said he was well aware of the dangers of sleeping on the steam grate and told me a story of someone being “cooked” on one during the last winter….this guy was white, the son of two school teachers and grew up in Montgomery County Pennsylvania.. But this is America..land of opportunity …so this can happen to anyone ..should it…please feel free to comment…I wanna know.

Election Day Nov. 4th 2014

November 4, 2014 by Tim Hayes Leave a Comment

I don’t know what to say about today that has not already been said. Voting is not only your right but a hard won privilege. In March of 1965 I stood on a bridge with future congressman John Lewis along with over a hundred other people preparing to march from Selma Alabama, in the cause of getting a voting rights act that we hoped would stand the test of time. If you have ever seen footage of what happened that day you know that we were people of all ages, and colors I was a …teen. We were charged by troopers on horseback, policeman with shotguns and clubs and driven back..the day became known as “Bloody Sunday”.. many of the people who have been voted into office at this time have conspired to take much of what we fought for away. Many of you have told me on facebook that voting means nothing, many of you have said that the parties are all the same and it makes no difference who we vote for or even if we show up… well, if you pay attention to what has happened with our Supreme Court lately you should be able to see that it makes a big difference who is voting in Congress.. and what if anything they stand for, the people who win today will be setting policy that will effect you your children and your grandchildren. Regardless of how you feel about voting , not showing up today will be letting them down..and if you still don’t believe in voting shut the hell up and let the rest of us take care of business

This is Black Panther Party History Month

October 5, 2014 by Tim Hayes 1 Comment

Black Panther Party Logo

In October of 1966 The Black Panther Party for Self-Defense was formed. We are now using this month for Black Panther Party History. I look back on that long ago time when groups of young Black people all over the country got together and organized. And showed this country something it never saw before and has not seen again..To this day it remains the only American organization that ever made the philosophical as well as actual physical contact with the African, Asian and Latin American liberation movements of the time. Many of us including myself actually ended up meeting and training with liberation fighters from around the world. Those of us who are left now have the task of protecting our legacy.. knowing we can’t trust mainstream history books to deal with who we were fairly…Not to even mention the silly posers and Black racists organizations like the so-called New Black Panther Party.. rising up and using our name to get some legitimacy they have never earned..so all this month from time to time all over the country people will be gathering writing about and remembering the real Black Panther Party and we can begin at the Beginning the core of our belief system from the very beginning …..The Ten Point Program WE WANT FREEDOM. WE WANT POWER TO DETERMINE THE DESTINY OF OUR BLACK AND OPPRESSED COMMUNITIES.
We believe that Black and oppressed people will not be free until we are able to determine our destinies in our own communities ourselves, by fully controlling all the institutions which exist in our communities.

2.WE WANT FULL EMPLOYMENT FOR OUR PEOPLE.
We believe that the federal government is responsible and obligated to give every person employment or a guaranteed income. We believe that if the American businessmen will not give full employment, then the technology and means of production should be taken from the businessmen and placed in the community so that the people of the community can organize and employ all of its people and give a high standard of living.

3.WE WANT AN END TO THE ROBBERY BY THE CAPITALISTS OF OUR BLACK AND OPPRESSED COMMUNITIES.
We believe that this racist government has robbed us and now we are demanding the overdue debt of forty acres and two mules. Forty acres and two mules were promised 100 years ago as restitution for slave labor and mass murder of Black people. We will accept the payment in currency which will be distributed to our many communities. The American racist has taken part in the slaughter of our fifty million Black people. Therefore, we feel this is a modest demand that we make.

4.WE WANT DECENT HOUSING, FIT FOR THE SHELTER OF HUMAN BEINGS.
We believe that if the landlords will not give decent housing to our Black and oppressed communities, then housing and the land should be made into cooperatives so that the people in our communities, with government aid, can build and make decent housing for the people.

5.WE WANT DECENT EDUCATION FOR OUR PEOPLE THAT EXPOSES THE TRUE NATURE OF THIS DECADENT AMERICAN SOCIETY. WE WANT EDUCATION THAT TEACHES US OUR TRUE HISTORY AND OUR ROLE IN THE PRESENT-DAY SOCIETY.
We believe in an educational system that will give to our people a knowledge of the self. If you do not have knowledge of yourself and your position in the society and in the world, then you will have little chance to know anything else.

6.WE WANT COMPLETELY FREE HEALTH CARE FOR All BLACK AND OPPRESSED PEOPLE.
We believe that the government must provide, free of charge, for the people, health facilities which will not only treat our illnesses, most of which have come about as a result of our oppression, but which will also develop preventive medical programs to guarantee our future survival. We believe that mass health education and research programs must be developed to give all Black and oppressed people access to advanced scientific and medical information, so we may provide our selves with proper medical attention and care.

7.WE WANT AN IMMEDIATE END TO POLICE BRUTALITY AND MURDER OF BLACK PEOPLE, OTHER PEOPLE OF COLOR, All OPPRESSED PEOPLE INSIDE THE UNITED STATES.
We believe that the racist and fascist government of the United States uses its domestic enforcement agencies to carry out its program of oppression against black people, other people of color and poor people inside the united States. We believe it is our right, therefore, to defend ourselves against such armed forces and that all Black and oppressed people should be armed for self defense of our homes and communities against these fascist police forces.

8.WE WANT AN IMMEDIATE END TO ALL WARS OF AGGRESSION.
We believe that the various conflicts which exist around the world stem directly from the aggressive desire of the United States ruling circle and government to force its domination upon the oppressed people of the world. We believe that if the United States government or its lackeys do not cease these aggressive wars it is the right of the people to defend themselves by any means necessary against their aggressors.

9.WE WANT FREEDOM FOR ALL BLACK AND OPPRESSED PEOPLE NOW HELD IN U. S. FEDERAL, STATE, COUNTY, CITY AND MILITARY PRISONS AND JAILS. WE WANT TRIALS BY A JURY OF PEERS FOR All PERSONS CHARGED WITH SO-CALLED CRIMES UNDER THE LAWS OF THIS COUNTRY.
We believe that the many Black and poor oppressed people now held in United States prisons and jails have not received fair and impartial trials under a racist and fascist judicial system and should be free from incarceration. We believe in the ultimate elimination of all wretched, inhuman penal institutions, because the masses of men and women imprisoned inside the United States or by the United States military are the victims of oppressive conditions which are the real cause of their imprisonment. We believe that when persons are brought to trial they must be guaranteed, by the United States, juries of their peers, attorneys of their choice and freedom from imprisonment while awaiting trial.

10.WE WANT LAND, BREAD, HOUSING, EDUCATION, CLOTHING, JUSTICE, PEACE AND PEOPLE’S COMMUNITY CONTROL OF MODERN TECHNOLOGY.
When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bonds which have connected them with another, and to assume, among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; that, whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute a new government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and, accordingly, all experience hath shown that mankind are most disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But, when a long train of abuses and usurpation, pursuing invariably the same object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security.

Free Huey Rally 1968

Long withheld thoughts on 9/11

September 11, 2014 by Tim Hayes Leave a Comment

I really hate to comment on 9/11.. most years I just let it go… but this year maybe it’s time to let it out. When the twin towers fell people like me felt very different from most Americans.. Some of you may remember that about two weeks …before the tragedy happened , there was a world wide conference to discuss Racism and the way it affected the planet.see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Conference_against_Racism_2001 You may remember that not only did the United States refuse to attend but did so because they were not allowed to dictate the Declaration and Programme of Action.. they wanted guarantees that there would be no wording in the final document equating Zionism with Racism..this of course never happened, the U.S.A. and Israel did not attend ..and there was no such statement in the final document… but the arrogance of the United States and Israel to attempt to dictate terms on which racism was to be discussed…just discussed was one of the ugliest moments in modern .history..It spoke volumes about the very reason such a conference was needed. .. Basically the U.S.A. was saying ..”you can talk about only the racism WE want to talk about”…what I remember most about that day Sept. 11th 2001 was as the towers fell.. I felt the horror of all the deaths of all the people..the surprise that that part of the World that our country had felt so free to abuse at will right or wrong had found a way to strike back..I also felt fear …tons of fear…but way in the back of my brain a little voice was saying ……we had it coming…and no amount of rationalization could shut that little voice up…many of you are probably thinking right now ..”how can he say that… we had it coming ????.. I wonder that too .so that’s why I usually say nothing on 9/11

Thoughts on the coverage of Ferguson

August 19, 2014 by Tim Hayes Leave a Comment

With the big push for voter registration not to mention the fact that my grandson’s Mom has been out of town and my grandfatherly duties always come first. I have not had much time to comment on wha…t everybody else seems to be commenting on. Well when I get a chance to watch or listen to the news one thing that bothers me is how many people who are from somewhere else have come running down to Ferguson. Some to show their support for the people some to demonstrate and a disturbing number of people have come in order to agitate. Everything that can go wrong has gone wrong in Ferguson. It has also brought attention to what those of us who live in the city already know too well . Poorly trained police and young or in some cases not so young Black men AND often women don’t interact well and this too often leads to abuse by the police and even death to the Black or Brown person involved. This is not something new. In my own family I have had three relatives all young Black men killed by Police for one reason or another. One cousin, Neville Johnson set off two weeks of rioting in Miami back in the early 80s When he was shot for absolutely no reason by a police officer. This problem is far from being something new…. it’s one of the things that gave rise to the Black Panther Party in 1966 that I became a part of . The original name was Black Panther Party for Self Defense. All Black men live with the possibility of something going wrong just about every time we have to interact with Police. This abuse happens every single day … it’s only the extreme cases or the very visible ones that make the news and from time to time they set off extreme reactions like in Ferguson ..this has been happening throughout the “post slavery” period. Every city in the United States is Ferguson. But what bothers me is that some people have been waiting for a chance to show just how “radical” they are.. or to prove themselves as militants and have flocked to Ferguson just to get a piece of the “action”. They have gotten in the way of the local people from Ferguson trying to talk with and reason with police officials and many times have been the ones who have actually provoked an already nervous and poorly trained police force sparking even more stupid reactions from police. The problem in Ferguson is a NATIONAL problem. A problem that needs to be addressed in every city in the country. From the militarization of police forces to the very poorly trained police officer on the beat. from the way so many already violent and racist individuals gravitate toward the police departments to the stagnant job rate and frustration in the street. There is work to do working on these problems WHERE YOU ARE. And Like the people from the so-called New Black Panthers or the traveling Anarchists and people from the Bob Avakian cult who call themselves Revolutionary Communists … all groups so desperate to get a piece of this riot and civil disobedience action that they have actually become what we used to call in the old days “Agent Provocateurs” need to go back home. If they want to be of use they can organize “cop watch” patrols in the cities where they come from. They should go home and counsel young people on how to safely interact with police…and take their romantic notions of throwing a tear gas canister back at a policeman back home.

First day for Voter registration in Philly gets off to a really Bizarre Bang.

July 30, 2014 by Tim Hayes Leave a Comment

Okay what a horrible way to kick off this years voter registration drive. Yesterday a Black woman I knew vaguely from my days working at Weaver’s Way co-op. comes up to me at the little table I had set up on Ridge Ave. with a young Black man she introduced as her grandson. She said she had heard that I use to lecture on the civil rights movement and would I please explain to her grandson that the Holocaust was a hoax. Now I must admit I had heard the woman say that to someone about 10 years ago. But I was completely horrified that she somehow got the idea that I would back her up… I took a deep breath and I took my best shot..I said ” Well first of all the Holocaust being a hoax is an urban legend started by white supremacist in the 1970s. I could see her face getting distorted …she was not getting the response she expected.. “In fact” I continued “the Holocaust very well may be the most well documented event of the 20th century” At this point she had had enough, she began screaming at me. “Where do you get your information?” . I mentioned my Uncle Lucius Bridges who was one of the American soldiers who liberated the Buchenwald concentration camp. I was going to continue by explaining how I spent half my childhood living and work around survivors from the Polish death camp Treblinka. which is true.. they had a small community in S.W. Atlanta in the 1950s and 60s..but by then she stormed off. claiming I was “brain washed”.. This morning I am still horrified that this woman a Black woman, supposedly some type of Christian minister would believe something that stupid …but why the hell did she come to me to help her prove it to her grandchild. I wonder how many other Black people have heard this crap?…how many Black people believe it? Is this something some fringe group of Black Christians are preaching in the pulpit? Scratching my head ….but I will continue to be out there health permitting about three days a week registering voters … if you know anyone who just turned 18 send them my way..

Thoughts on the conflict in Gaza from an African American who comes from a housing project

July 10, 2014 by Tim Hayes Leave a Comment

Today marks a first..this morning I have over 20 facebook private messages, from a Jewish American who moved to Israel to live in a settlement ten years ago. “I told you so, as long as they are guided by Hamas the Arabs have no interest in peace” From a musician friend who lives in Jordan and thinks I am pro-Zionist..”You see, you call me an extremist and you can’t see that the Zionist only stopped negotiating for peace because they were getting ready for this” meaning the bombing. Several local and non-local Jewish Americans some of whom have called me an anti-semite say and I para-phrase “Those murderous Palestinians will all pay for their crimes”..many people on both sides telling me “I told you so, and you called me an extremist” One of the hardest things about being an African American in America and having any political opinions beyond say civil rights movement or social conditions in the USA. is enduring the almost knee jerk reaction programed into a lot of White people . Sometimes it’s in the tone of voice, sometimes it’s just a facial expression and sometimes I’ve even heard it said out right “how the hell would you know” On this subject regarding the Palestine/Israel conflict I actually may have more right to speak than many white Americans. In the early 1970s a group of Black Panther Party members went to Israel . For the most part this was after a long discussion with the writer Jean Genet who thought that we could be helpful in helping a group in Israel made up of Mizrahi Jews..a Jewish population made up of Jews from middle eastern countries. After a visit there by Angela Davis four of us agreed to go..Being Black Americans we noticed right off that these people were usually darker than most Israelis …some were even darker than many of us . We began teaching our usual community control program…something I had used many times in small towns in the South eastern United States.. mostly centering around efforts to get the people to legally be able to vote and helping create a communal sense by putting together groups of people to help provides services like rides to the markets and child care . After a number of brutal police attacks in March of 1971 the group took the name Black Panthers..and made plans for a major demonstration to unite as many factions of Mizrahi as possible ..This was mostly the brainchild of a man named Saadia Marciano..on May 18th on what became known as the “Night of the Panthers” in Zion Square. About 6 thousand people demonstrated for the rights of the people ..it got real nasty ..real fast.. dozens of people were injured and about 70 Israeli Panthers were jailed…somebody must have talked because the next day all four of the us…Panthers from the USA were arrested. For 18 days I was held far from the city in a place I later found out was the Ktzi’ot prison ….far from Jerusalem and what I did not know then was I was far from where the Mizrahi Panthers were held..We were beaten with these flexible sticks every day ..and asked, who sent us,? over and over …after about four or five days …I still can’t remember how many ..somehow they decided I was the leader of the American group….I was not… a man I remember only as “Dotan” came in to speak with me..for the next I think three days he and his friend did things I still can’t talk about..I know my grandchildren may read this one day …they don’t need to know how cruel humans can be. Dotan just knew I was sent by some group in Syria and wanted me to admit that our reason for being there was to paint a bad picture of race relations in Israel. Looking back on it …today ..I don’t think I said anything …but I may have said yes ..just to get them to stop…I don’t claim to be some kind of hero …but I can tell you torture is NOT a way to get to the truth. When I was finally released I found that it was group of people who worked on a Socialist Kibbutz who had looked for us and worked to get us freed …it took about two and a half weeks for me to be well enough to travel back to Jerusalem and then home ..many of those people …the ones still alive are still my friends today..for the White Americans who read this I hope you learn from this that you never can be sure just what a person knows or can speak with authority on just because of their race..The friends that I made during that time Jewish, Arab and even Christian missionaries in Israel mostly remain friends..and they represent a wide range of opinions …we agree sometime ..and don’t agree sometimes..But let me say this, I think the horror of the current situation in Palestine/Israel while largely the fault of the current government in Israel who really did fan the flames when those three children went missing ,is just as much the fault of the hawks on the otherside who control the feeble yet still scary arsenal of rockets ..too few to do any substantial damage but just enough to provoke a massive response…..just everyday life in Gaza like in all of Palestine/Israel for Arabs is already a living hell..why provoke the massive retaliation from the IDF??. This should have been the time for both sides to get their extremist factions in check. So to all the people who think they can say “I told you so” on one side or the other …I say I told you so, your extremism is a danger to all …

TIM HAYES'

TALES FROM POST-RACIAL AMERICA

Author: Tim Hayes