Miscellaneous

April 30, 2024….It’s about 8:25 am in Jerusalem. I have just finished a very hard to put together Zoom discussion with people we would consider “the left” in Palestine/Israel…it has become harder and harder to do this because people talking to the press or activists or scholars and journalists outside of Israel have come under close scrutiny and repression, whether they are Jewish, Arab or for some reason particularly Jewish and Arab clergy. A Jewish nurse who has served with the Red Cross in Gaza and came home for Passover was detained for almost a week because she would not tell where her cell phone was. An original member of our group, she pretty much lead tonight’s talk. We had two Rabbis, one of whom I know from her days in Rabbinical school in Philly and another who is the son of one of the people who got me out of that Israeli prison in the early seventies. We could not get the Christian clergy…he is under “detention”..we have four Arab activists, one of whom is new to our group, all of whom have been detained,,including the woman who was “sexually abused” while in detention. And three very vocal male Israeli activists..Tonight as usual I mostly listened…They all found it disturbing that they read about so many Americans who say that the IDF attacks and killing should continue until the “hostages” are all free. Many have a hard time believing that so many Americans can say such a thing when the people being killed had nothing to do with the Hamas attack. When it was all over I was kind of given an “assignment”..they consider such a position “irrational” and that what is happening now will make the Israeli population the “villains” to future historians. There has always been concern in this group about how Israel will be remembered for this . The pressure there is on to get rid of Netanyahu while there are still a surviving population of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank to even make peace with is an ongoing concern…this has caused many different groups in Israel to form coalitions with other groups. They want me to find a group of Americans who are saying the attacks on Palestinian civilians should continue until the hostages are all free…and assess whether they are “Delusional Trump folks” or represent a larger American grouping. I don’t think the Americans positions on this are that simple…I don’t think I can do this…I know a lot of people who say this..some do indeed sound like fanatics …people I don’t talk to much anymore….but these people in Israel sat down and talked to me at great risk to themselves and then thanked me for bringing people who didn’t talk to each other much in Israel/Palestine, to the same table to find common ground…I think I owe them….we shall see if I can do this.

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The caption reads “Thank you South Africa”…..There is a lot of pain going around in many parts of the world today. But I think this is a powerful moment in the history of oppressed people, in the record of a twisted racial colonialism. And in asserting the fact that oppressed people have a right …no ..a duty to resist. South Africa using the “sham” International Court of Justice to actually suing Israel for of all charges that “buzz word” genocide. Here in the U.S. every time that charge is made against Israel ….what Americans PRETEND to hear is that people are threatening Israel with genocide….covering their ears so they don’t hear what is really happening is Israel is being charge with genocide itself. The word itself has become a weaponized way of shutting down criticism of Israel. Gaza is not the only place in the world where people are facing removal, and denied the right to return to their lands…And as awful as the apparent attempt to exterminate the Arab population of Gaza is…it’s not the only place in the world where this is happening. Other than older African Americans who lived through the horror of “Jim Crow” ..no people on earth know the deadly cruelty and mass humiliation of Apartheid more than the people of South Africa…the only people in this moment who have the historical gravitas to call what’s happening in Gaza and the West Bank…and what’s been happening in all of Palestine for most the last 70 odd years exactly what it is. Because Imperialism , and colonialism and capitalism are still powerful forces in the world. Thus we know the “law suit” does not stand a chance..I mean look at how the world agonized over the cruelty of the Hamas attack but …after almost thirty times that number of innocent people who had NOTHING to do with the Hamas attack are dead..we are asked to just let the slaughter continue because the lives of one people are important but the dead of the “others” are just numbers…This says more about us than it says about how evil this Israeli slaughter fest is….YES Thank you South Africa ..a country that knows cruelty better than most….for reminding the world how much Justice and Equality still scare the shit out of the powerful

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I laugh sometimes when I read some folks on a facebook posts trying to be “clever” and they use the phrase “the chickens came home to roost”..I laugh because usually they have no idea what that means. Today Sept. 11th brings back the memory of a horror that happened in the United States when without warning thousands of innocent people went to their death. The real horror was because this kind of thing was not supposed to happen to “us”. Well for some of us this meant something else. Most Americans don’t like to think about the fact that for most of the last 150 years or more. The United States has been the enemy, raining horror and death down on more innocents than I can name. Take time out for the Nazi horrors of WW II. But then the USA came right back as the number one source of death and horror for the world. Particularly the people of color of the world. The “zeal” with which America went about trying to wipe out it’s “Native” population. The way they looked the other way when thousands of people descended from slaves were lynched as whole families watched for a different kind of “Saturday Night Live” entertainment. The seemingly endless bombing of thousands of innocent people by airstrike and drones during the Obama and Bush “jr” administrations bullshit “war on Terror” ..The useless killing of people who had done us no harm and were in their own country in the senseless war in Vietnam. I can actually go on and on for pages here. I actually had American bombs dropped on me while working in a children’s hospital in West Africa. What the term “the chickens came home to roost” really means is when horror or evil happens to YOU that has it’s origins in the evil you have done. I weep for the people who died on 9/11. They were innocents too …But in truth it was the most fitting example of “the chickens came home to roost”….it was sad. People who our country had abused and bombed and starved at will …who we thought could not touch us, found a way. But on the scales of morality we had it coming.

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One of my best childhood “September memories” is back in 1958. In Atlanta the “Southeastern Fair” was a BIG event. We waited all year for it. In that year there were appearances by two big “cowboy” movie stars. At each actors station there was a line of kids trying to get close , and for a dollar fifty you could get your picture taken. One line told all the little “colored” kids to get out of line or move to the back. In the other actors line after a while he saw that the Black kids were getting pushed back and he came down from the stage and walked past all the white kids to the back of the line and shook hands with all the Black kids..then he went to lunch..if you understand history and “jim crow” behavior …this was unheard of. 65 years later I still remember that…..a hint ..it was not the actor with the white horse and the mask.

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Martin L. King in jail in Birmingham Ala. April 16, 1963. ….Although growing up in Atlanta I knew very well who Martin was. But the first time I ever actually met him was at about this time. It was a Sunday. My mother used to drive us to the S.W. Atlanta church that we belonged to and it was about the the third or fourth time that when church was over she looked around and asked “Where is Timothy ?” I had met C. T Vivian and the Rev. Hosea Williams and I would sneak out of Mom’s church and go to meetings of various civil rights groups in Atlanta. C.T. Vivian often picked me up and made sure I got back home. One time when Rev. Vivian talked about the history of “Jim Crow” and had most of us stand up and talk about the first time our parents or some one else explained to us about segregation and why we had to take “colored” or “whites only” signs seriously. Or we could be in grave danger. I had just had my turn and MLK walked in …they paused for a minute while MLK told Rev, Vivian what seemed like a joke from his sermon that day. Martin sat down and actually listened to what the other kids had to say. He shook hands with all of us and repeated a phase I had actually first heard from Rev. Vivian. And heard it many times afterward. “What we are trying to do is make sure you are the last generation of Negro children who ever have to learn this”….I heard that many times after that. We said it in SNCC the organization I would become a part of a couple of years later a lot. What people today have to understand is that ending “jim crow” was a deadly …dangerous task. It had nothing to do with wanting to “go to school with white folks” or sit down on the toilet next to them. It was about the fact that just about every kid I knew had a parent who fought in WW II. Yet those veteran’s kids went to second class schools. Did not have the benefit of city services that they paid taxes for or in many places even though by Federal law we had the right to vote, that right was denied. They had to teach children to “not look white men in the face” and expect being treated like furniture was normal. And to expect nothing more of life. All this had to end. I don’t remember all of it. But these would become repeating themes. I was around Martin often as I moved through my teens. None of that is to say that I was his ”friend” but we saw the same people on a daily basis. These people were brave , resourceful and dedicated…not to themselves or to a degree not to each other…but to us. The people who came next. I’m in my seventies now. And on what we now call “MLK Day” and people like to spend that day doing things in the community . I remember not just Martin but ALL the people who put their own future aside so that you would have one where you could walk with pride and not have to hold your head down when any body walked up to you. Many died …many that were of Martin’s generation as well as people my age who served right along side me. Few of us are rich or famous today, and like me ..most of us don’t care much about those things, but we look at what our children can do and pass on the notion of making it even better for the next generation…Serve your community everyday, not just today….make a difference

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Yesterday a person who sent me a “friend request “a long time ago. One that I accepted ( something I don’t do much anymore) A “brother” who I had come to respect. Who seemed to share our “mission” of trying to stop the plague of gun violence in the Black community and in the country, Posted this : “Every time a rapper is Slayed a so called Jew gets paid”…A profoundly stupid thing to say. I tried to explain to him that this position is simply an extension of a narrative that has it’s origins among white supremacists. And we don’t need to do their work for them. Simple enough right ?, and something you don’t have to explain to long time veterans of “the movement” ….we have seen this type of backwards attempt at division before. “Well who owns the companies then” was his next response. I said ” capitalists do, and it has nothing to do with anyone’s religion.” Now I am not naive enough to think that there are no racists who are Jewish. Cause I see them everyday. But I have been around long enough to know that kind racism has nothing to do with being Jewish. It mostly has to do with conditioning…getting along with other white people and class. And for the most part people who just happened to be Jewish have over time been our most dependable partners in the struggle for freedom and equality in America, but then my father was actually the Chef in a large Jewish restaurant that did not even allow Black people in the door. But you want to know something funny. I know a LOT of republicans who happen to be Jewish, almost as many as I have known Blacks and Latinos who vote GOP. People cheat and exploit other people for profit, not because of their religion. In the 1930s during a time when “jim crow” was rampant in the southern United States. And even though the “Harlem Renaissance” was in full bloom. For the most part there was no such thing as “Black History” being taught in schools anywhere. Black people had no models of historical excellence to call there own. In many ways people looked for anything to be but “black” or negro. That lack of perceived esteem gave birth to several cult like figures claiming that indeed we were not really black, but something else. Some claimed we were the children of the “Moors” who once took over western Europe although in many ways that was true it was the use of the word “Moorish” that made those cults catch on. There was the birth of the myth of “The original Asiatic Black Man”..you see, anything but Black African. There were several figures during that time who claimed we were the “Lost tribe of Israel” there were three or four who preached one version or another of the “we are the real Israelites of the bible and the people we know as Jews were pretenders”. I mean white people had been forcing Christianity on us for centuries, there were generations of us for whom the “Bible” was the only book we knew. It was sort of natural for us to identify with the people we were told for four hundred years had suffered a fate not unlike ours.. But you see ….we know better now. We know that we were founders of great empires in Africa..we know of The Oyo Empire,  , The Kingdom of Dagbon, and the Benin Empire ,the Ashanti_Empire, the Wanga Kingdom, home of the Wanga (AbaWanga) tribe of the Luhya people. The largest empire in precolonial Kenya ..I can name several more the would shame the histories of much of Europe . Creating myths to feel better about ourselves is an old crutch with it’s roots in low historical self esteem WE ARE A MIGHTY PEOPLE We don’t need to do that anymore …WE KNOW WHO WE ARE and should be proud. We are in a place where we need to get closer to our allies …not help the enemy by spreading stupid conspiracies about each other. I can’t say this enough. But you see it’s part of the nature of Black people who have no experience in the “struggle” to try to seem like they have some “special knowledge” that makes them feel important. That’s also the very “stuff” that bullshit conspiracy stories come from

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In October1970, undefeated heavyweight, Muhammad Ali defeated Jerry Quarry, number one contender, in three rounds by Technical Knockout in Atlanta, Georgia. I was standing outside the old Atlanta Municipal Auditorium selling copies of the Black Panther newspaper. When the fight was over the doors flew open. I sold a paper to Jessie Jackson, one to Coretta King, Arthur Ashe and Bill Cosby who also donated 50 dollars to the breakfast program ..Diana Ross wouldn’t buy one..she asked if I would give her one…I did. Then we all ran over to the boxing Ring. There on the corner was a bloody towel. When the fight was stopped Jerry Quarry had been bleeding horribly, I grabbed the towel . A white dude asked if I would sell it to him ..I said “how much” ..he produced two 100 dollar bills. I took them, and gave him the towel. One thing about being in the Black Panther Party in those days is that it was a 24/7 job. Sometimes we hardly ever had anything to eat. I took the money and six other people in the party to “Hunter Street” ( Now MLK dr.) which was where the BPP office was and where we lived …took everybody to D&Ws all night cafe. and we ate like kings and queens. By morning we still had 98 dollars….of course it went to the free breakfast program. Anyway this was Ali’s first fight after a three year layoff…An exciting time

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STATE OF THE CITY MESSAGE FROM AN ACTIVIST IN THE TRENCHES. I actually tried to post this last week but FB somehow thought it went against their “standards” and it got yanked …so I’m posting it again in a different form. “. I had a lot of time this week for reflection on the last almost 14 months of effort to stem the gun violence in my adopted town of Philly. As strange as it seems the youth on youth spontaneous shootings often beginning with some “wack” social media conflict. The type that were rampant a year ago and responsible for most of the killings seems to have faded a lot. What we ended up doing after months of on the scene interventions ..and “try to get there before the police” actions…that actually really did save a lot of lives,,,,got hundreds …..well over two hundred.. guns off the street . But Looking back on it what proved to be the most valuable things that happened was ONE: we got dozens of parents to learn to be more aware of what their children bring into the house. …forget being your kids “friend”..this is life and death….you can respect their privacy later..kids were getting firearms and also careless gun owners made it too easy for kids to get a hold of a parent’s or Mama’s “boyfriend’s” gun. Over eighty people in Philly lost their lives because of that last year.. That alone..just my asking hundreds of parent to pay attention to what their kids brought home, or search bedrooms or be more responsible about your own gun, caused dozens of guns to get turned in to us this past summer. TWO we made several good connections with ex-offenders from the very same neighborhoods where the shootings were happening. Together with parents over 13 different groups in “troubled” communities in Philly have “conflict awareness” groups ..that walk the streets …talk to kids…and even better , began to put pressure on the city to open and or fund community centers where youth can connect and be mentored or just hang out. but there is bad news too.This kind of effort seems to have worked limiting the majority of the type of gun violence responsible for last years spike. But does nothing to curtail the gun violence that comes from criminal activity. Car jackings, ATM holdups and the like…..it’s all gun violence but this kind comes from a very different place. The people who work with me for instance are told right up front..”stay away from the drug dealers and the gangs”..that’s a different problem. It certainly does not mean I know everything. But the one person who told me to kiss his ass and started confronting the dealers ..got his brains blown out stepping out of a “poppie store” ( that’s what folks in Philly call a Bodega )…We have learned that there are large numbers of illegal guns coming into the city from an organization controlled by a very organized criminal enterprise…and no amount of changing gun purchasing laws will stop that. That’s a job for a police department that does not have it’s head up it’s ass…..and we don’t have one like that..In fact…if you remember …the reason I stopped reporting weekly about our progress getting people to turn over guns and or intervening in street disputes was because “asshole” cops began harassing me. ME, a gray haired “old guy”. “aren’t you that Tim Hayes”…Sucks don’t it?…they should be our allies.. But the good news is we have a lot more help now. And I won’t have to be “in it” myself as much. Don’t ever..ever say our people don’t care about where we live.”
Well that’s why “Mr. Tim” has not been registering voters..you got to be alive to Vote…you can call this my “state of the hood” address. This must come first…”All power to the people”.

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