Miscellaneous

On Sanders and AIPAC

March 22, 2016 by Tim Hayes Leave a Comment

I was going to respond to Bernie Sanders’ position on AIPAC with a long article for my blog web site …but after
three hours knocking on doors today ..campaigning for Bernie …people seem to want to know how I feel “right now”…Well I wrote this early this morning in a personal response to a dear friend at about 6:30 this morning and have not had time to write a longer article but this pretty much sums up what I feel Bernies AIPAC speech was worth…”for me Mr. Sander’s speech amounts to one step out of the United States/Israel “comfort zone” and two steps back into the usual bullshit. But for an American politician that one step may be a real first. What I mean is I think Sanders really does mean it when he speaks about the importance of the occupation. I quote him here. “Peace will mean ending what amounts to the occupation of Palestinian territory, establishing mutually agreed upon borders, and pulling back settlements in the West Bank, just as Israel did in Gaza – once considered an unthinkable move on Israel’s part.” for me that was the step forward, and I commend Mr. Sanders for that. But just like the well–intentioned Obama administration it falls short of mentioning the nature of Israel’s role in provoking a sometimes violent resistance to that occupation. Wrapping it in that old bullshit racist chestnut.that oppression is “necessary” for security . when in fact. Palestine’s right to RESIST is AT LEAST as important as Israel’s right to exist. Until not just Mr. Sanders ….but ANY U.S. presidential candidate comes along who at least acknowledges this double standard, and how it manifests itself in the continued spiraling down into Apartheid. WE won’t see anything but the same old “mumbo-jumbo”..I still support Bernie and in fact am scheduled to speak to over a dozen more church groups to get out the vote for Bernie in the primary…he is after all my choice in this election…but I am not fooled by this and I will not lie to voters.

Democrats need to CHILL

February 12, 2016 by Tim Hayes Leave a Comment

I am THRILLED that the GOP seems to be eating itself alive..But I also fear that the Left…what’s left of it is also in deep “doo-doo”..You ever heard the joke about the “circular firing squad” well for months now we have had the more “rabid” element of the Sanders supporters picking up the baton from the decades of Hillary hating Republicans and running with it. I’m a Sanders supporter and I see it everyday, I’ve seen it in the street and I’ve seen it.on the internet..and in recent days Clinton supporters have gotten just as willing to fight with dirt as the “Bernie Bots”..I have major differences with both Clinton and Sanders.. Clinton while a solid liberal in many ways stands for “business as usual”…while Bernie really speaks to me and what I want for America.but. he has all the foreign policy knowledge and experience of my cat..But either of them would be light years better than what the Repugs have in store for us..get behind Hillary or “feel the Bern” but DEMOCRATS CHILL OUT…..

It’s time for Democrats to pull up their “big boy/girl” pants

January 15, 2016 by Tim Hayes Leave a Comment

I am a Bernie Sanders supporter, in fact I was in several locations in North Philadelphia today talking to voters about Bernie. I am also a mature experienced community organizer with about 50 yrs of working for the people in the “hood”. Although I am a strong supporter of Senator Sanders. I have tried my best to stay as far away from the confused group of people who think that the way to campaign for Sanders is to demonize Hillary Clinton and totally forget that she is in the same party as Bernie..not to mention the fact that the only person the Repugs hate more than Obama would be Mrs. Clinton. Today I visited two daycare centers..one elementary school at dismissal time and one senior center. I got over a hundred people to sign a pledge to vote for Sanders in the Pa. primary with about 60 people agreeing to canvass their neighbors for the Sanders campaign..It might be my last good organizing day for a while because of the weather and some medical things I have to pay attention to. But my point is that I did that WITHOUT ONE SENTENCE of Hillary Bashing..Sanders is a good candidate and I simply did not have any reason to go there. Okay …..all of that said let’s get down to pulling up our “Big boy/girl” pants. I refuse to bash any Democrat in this election frankly because I think we have two really good candidates ..who happen to be good for different reasons…I would trust either of them to be a better President than ANY of the Repugs who are running. Second only an idiot would put her/himself in the position of demonizing one Democrat to the voters ..and then if that candidate gets the nomination …go back to the same voter and say ..OPPS..that person I said all that crap about six months ago is the person I’m telling you to vote for now…You know up here in S.W. Germantown I can walk down blocks and point to houses where I have registered three generations of voters in the same family…I never tell people who to vote for but I do tell them who I like….there is a difference. People come up to me in the market all the time asking me who looks like a good candidate…if I pull the type of crap the people I call the “Bernie Bots’ pull… crap like calling the other democrat “too corporate” or too close to wall street. When that candidate actually did nothing in her campaign that Obama did not do. And then if she gets the nomination and I have to go back and say “well yeah you should vote for her”…30 years of credibility will go down the drain. I know this is getting long but one more point. In 2008 I had the hard job along with about a dozen other people of mending fences in the Democratic party between the Hillary Clinton people and the Obama people…there was a lot of nastiness built up there..and what a lot of people don’t know is getting the cooperation with the two camps of organizers and street people was very very hard..This time I’m too old..and I really doubt if any of the short sighted Bernie Bots have it in them to rebuild bridges like we had to…they seemed cursed with a shoot ourselves in the foot psyche. Well I just watched an interview on Rachel Maddow with Hillary..she seemed sharp ..knowledgeable and ready to actually lead..I saw two interviews with Bernie this week He seemed sharp ..not quite as knowledgeable ..but with a fresh message that I like and ready to lead..which is why he gets my vote…..What do the Repugs have?? ..and do you want any of them picking the next Supreme Court Justice..??????…

Just how do we know who are our “allies” ?

December 29, 2015 by Tim Hayes Leave a Comment

Every once in a while I run into some one who for one reason or another tries to tell people in my community not to vote. Sometimes it’s other Black people but most of the time it’s a very special breed of White “know it all” ..many of them are the kind who in the wake of the “Black Lives Matter” movement have taken to calling themselves “allies”.And I have been hearing that term a lot. As well as seeing it in articles. One article I read by a Paul Kivel gives a detailed account of what some white people can do to be “allies” But even this guy , who seems to have made a career out of being the “go to” white guy in terms of being a friend of the “struggle” drips with the kind of “white boy arrogance” that has given me the “creeps” for decades..You get lots of so-called reasons from these people in terms of why voting is not important. One is ”there is much too much money involved in politics” well yeah, it costs to run for office and particularly in some of the national races like congress..Races can’t exactly be bought but a lot of them are influenced by how much money can be thrown at a candidate..for media and a good ground game.But even this can be busted up if enough local people knock on those doors and seek out the local committee positions. I’ve seen this enough to know that it can be done ..and is done all the time But for the most part it’s the local races that are the most important to the individual voter..in other words every vote is important ..but the closer to home the more important each and every vote is.And you get to see the result of your voting right away The Mayor, the District attorneys, the city council people..ALL the people we confront when we go out and protest and demonstrate are elected…and you can’t buy a local election if the people are motivated. But even if NONE of the above is true or is not enough to get you to see how important voting is..What kind of “allies” would be telling you to not use what may be the only voice you have. Protests and Demonstrations are important ..and I have done a lot of that over the last fifty years…but we are almost always protesting to get the ear of someone who was voted into office..DO NOT CALL YOUR SELF AN ALLY OF OUR PEOPLE IF YOU UNDERMINE OUR VOICE…Voting is our right..our sacred right..and the list of people who died for us to get it is too long for us to let any body fuck with it.

WHO AM I ?

December 1, 2015 by Tim Hayes Leave a Comment

When time permits I have been writing here for a few years. Today I was asked for a “bio” by a group that will put me on a panel discussion about a new book dealing with the civil rights movement. I also realized that I had never done that here…so from now on I guess this little blurb that we put together this morning will be my “official” bio. Tim Hayes has been an activist all his life. Inspired by the freedom riders in 1961, Tim still in elementary school sought them out. Even sneaking out of his Mothers church on Sundays to attend meetings of the Atlanta Student Movement. Later Tim spent most of his high school years following the older members of the new organization SNCC. Just doing anything he could just to be around them and a part of the organization. Making coffee , getting sandwiches ,or what ever it took.In January of 1965 while on a trip to New York for the National Science fair. Tim met and talked with Malcolm X . Who he had seen speak several times in Atlanta but had never got a chance to actually meet. This was where Tim got the idea that the civil rights movement was really only a small part of an international struggle to rid the world of Imperialism and colonialism. In March of 1965 Tim was allowed to go on his first real civil rights demonstration. He was a part of the group who marched across that bridge in Selma Alabama on “Bloody Sunday”. On that day he was teargassed and beaten and was run over by a horse before getting away. After high school Tim attended Morehouse College and Yale Univ.. But dropped out when he was asked to join the Black Panther Party . This was directly related to the words he remembered from Malcolm X. Tim founded the Atlanta Ga. chapter of the party and worked in the Chicago , New Haven, and Los Angeles chapters and several offices in New York city..The Black Panthers were an organization that developed solidarity with most of the liberation movements in Africa and Asia at the time.Tim used this opportunity to visit and work in many countries , Cuba, Angola, North Viet Nam and Israel/Palestine.During this time he dug wells in Guinea, inoculated children against TB in Angola during the middle of the war for liberation there and spent time in an Israeli prison under some of the harshest conditions you can imagine. When Tim decided he wanted to settle down and have a normal life and raise children. He found this was impossible to do in his home town of Atlanta Ga. It seemed that he was simply too well known by law enforcement to just be a “regular” citizen. So he moved to Philadelphia in 1973..Taking jobs first in drug rehabilitation and then with the Philadelphia board of education. When Tim moved to the Germantown area in 1978 he found his new mission . and has mostly devoted his time to voter education and registration.And from time to time if the candidate inspires him he works in political campaigns most notably the Irv Ackelsberg and Sherrie Cohen city council campaigns. In 2014 Tim registered over 4000 voters in the Philadelphia area..Today Tim spends most of his time trying to be a good grand father and still plays music with among others the legendary Philadelphia band Philly Gumbo.

Tim Hayes with his two grandsons Julian and Milo

Well Done Willie Mays

November 25, 2015 by Tim Hayes Leave a Comment

Truth be told at this time in my life I am hardly any kind of fan of professional sports. But during the time when I was growing up we had icons of the sports world who were indeed super men and women. During “jim crow” or American Apartheid we had to take our heroes where we could get them..People like Althea Gibson and Willie Mays although not the first..they had skills that were so phenomenal that they actually seemed like they were super human…Our country may have treated our people like shit. By law ..but we still had people in the sports, academics and the political worlds who let us know.that we were as good as white people or as my Uncle Johnny used to say “we might be even better than them ..because we haven’t rebelled and killed them all”. Willie Mays just might be along with Jim Thorpe the greatest all around athlete of all time..But certainly the greatest player to ever take up the sport of baseball…I was more than over joyed to see that Willie Mays….the “Say Hey Kid” as they used to call him when I was a boy… received the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Well done Willie and well done President Obama.

New Purchases and Old Age

September 16, 2015 by Tim Hayes Leave a Comment

My wife and I have been together for a long time ( met in ’71 married in ’72 ) . Like many young couples we were near destitute for the first half decade or so. But we were very happy. I look back sometimes on our tax returns from 72-77..when we got by somehow on five to six thousand dollars a year..and that was with a young child. When we and our long past grown up kids get together sometimes today my kids actually will look back fondly on having fish sticks for dinner sometimes three times a week.They seem to have no idea how poor we actually were for a while. With the cost of living today I have no idea how we got by some times…I remember the tiny little oven I had for many of those years. But being the son of a chef… we had some wonderful holiday meals prepared on that piece of shit oven..Twenty years ago we bought what we thought would be our last major kitchen purchases…a seemingly nice oven..and a fridge with a huge freezer section..Thinking of all the stuff we would buy at bargain prices and then freeze. Getting ready for living on a fixed income. Two days ago our “golden years” oven died …and I of course panicked..But my wonderful spouse ..did for me what only she can do..calmed me down and reminded me of those credit cards I have but almost NEVER use..( I have a dreadful fear of debt…that my Dad passed along to me )..so after looking around ..big time ….for half the retail price I’m going to have the oven of my dreams for half the retail price !!!! ..and actually allowing for inflation at about a third of the price we paid for the last one twenty years ago………right now you are asking yourself >>>why is he writing about this ??? Well it’s because I’m OLD…and this is the kind of shit we think about…have a great day ! Top picture is My wife Conni and I in 1972..newly weds..the bottom pic is from the party we had on our 25th anniversary in 1997

A few words in Remembrance of Horace Julian Bond

August 17, 2015 by Tim Hayes Leave a Comment

.I grew up in Atlanta Georgia in the 1950s and came of age in the 1960s it was a hell of a time and place for a man to develop if you were paying attention. It was really when I read about the “Freedom Riders” that I really went from playing childhood games to having real heroes..that was 1961..Atlanta was and is a city “chock full” of traditionally Black Colleges ..and after the Freedom Rides the city became a “hot bed” of Black student activity. I was junior high aged the first time I sneaked out of my Mom’s church to go to a meeting I knew was being held at another church..for what was to become known as the “Atlanta Student Movement”..There were two people that I saw for the first time Julian Bond..and Lonnie King..who impressed me even then with their commitment and leadership..but I was not even in high school yet and was “shewed” away from other meetings…but as time went on I kept coming back ..All through high school I tried to get involved with my heroes in the student movement that became SNCC ..I would fetch coffee or coca cola..make a run for food..do anything just to be there..eventually I was to really get involved..and my first real SNCC activity was to go with the Atlanta group to Selma in March of 1965..you all know what happened there.And I still have the scars.. Through out this time Julian Bond was a constant example of dedication to the mission. While other people were stuck in rooms arguing or maneuvering for leadership positions Julian would be out in some little town talking to people about registering to vote..in places where he was often in grave danger..I was not close to Julian at that time..It was always “go get Tim the projects kid” to get this of to go and fetch that..but I did not mind..I was “There” It was 1966 that Julian was pushed onto the World stage when he was elected to the the Georgia state House of Representatives…and at that time there was NO WAY the house was going to accept one of those crazy “Snick niggers” as we were called into the State house.On January 10, 1966, Georgia state representatives voted 184–12 not to seat him because he had publicly endorsed SNCC’s policy regarding opposition to U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War.. In 1966, the United States Supreme Court ruled 9–0 in the case of Bond v. Floyd (385 U.S. 116) that the Georgia House of Representatives had denied Bond his freedom of speech and was required to seat him..After that I did not see Julian for several years..By the time I did I was an adult ..and a young adult at that..and had returned to Atlanta and opened a chapter of the Black Panther Party..The first week we were opened Julian Bond and Andrew Young came by to see us with two clergymen whose names I can not recall. It was funny in that Andy Young recognized me from Selma but Julian didn’t recognize “Tim the projects kid” all grown up..I had to remind him about a week later when he stopped by to see the Free Breakfast program in full operation..I felt really good that even though all of us were still young, that one of the people I considered an “Elder” of the movement ..( Julian was thirty at that time I was about Twenty two)..was proud and happy about something I had done..That was 1970..The last time I saw Julian in person was when we agreed to meet for lunch in.D.C. in 2000 where we talked about his work with the NAACP and how “back in the day” we considered them to be a group of tired old men with tired ideas. We also talked about the relationship between youth and stupidity and danger..and all the things we both had done as younger people that we simply had too much “common sense” to do today. It amazed us both as old men how close we were to getting killed so many times. And even then when I told Julian that I was never in his league..he did not agree and spoke of how many times law enforcement in the sixties and seventies had decided that I had to go..and how many people really feared for my life..to me this was just a part of the fact that with all his fame Julian never took himself too seriously ..and just like back in the old SNCC days it was more important to “get the work done” than to worry about recognition or who was in charge.. Horace Julian Bond (January 14, 1940 – August 15, 2015) a hero for a young Tim Hayes..and one hell of a decent guy for the rest of the world..we wont see another like that.

Why do I never talk about religion ??

July 17, 2015 by Tim Hayes Leave a Comment

I really like riding the buses in my community of Germantown Philadelphia..I love this part of the city. I was out and about a lot these last couple of days,,catching up with old friends ..since I have not been out much lately ..recovering from surgery and stuff…People on the bus as well as the supermarket are much more interested in current events than a lot of you may realize. They don’t always know my name but many people come up to me with a story about my driving their Mom or Grandmother to the polls or how I registered them to vote or in some cases who do you think the next President should be…But the existance of facebook seems to have given people a whole new window into what you care about…”How come you never post anything about Jesus?” ..”You got a lot of wisdom Mr. Hayes but you are not very spiritual are you”…So I told these two people on the bus that I saw a facebook post once that explained how I feel about religion..it said “religion is like a penis….it’s a nice thing to have but you shouldn’t go waving it around in peoples face all the time”….this was not my original line…like I said I read it on fb…but this simply was not enough …and they were not going to let me get off the bus with no insight into what my religious beliefs were…Finally as we got to my bus stop I did something I have never done …as I consider it a very private matter ..I told them that I get great comfort from reading and listening to the thoughts of Jiddu Krishnamurti…I got off the bus and started walking down Schoolhouse Lane to my home…suddenly I noticed these two seniors like myself had gotten off the bus and were rapidly walking towards me…”We heard you talking to those people ..could you tell us about Krishnamurti.?..I was horrified ..religious proselytizing is something I really can’t stand…and would hope to NEVER be accused of it myself..but there they were coming and they just wanted to know …So I walked along with them for the two blocks or so to my house..and we sat on my steps for a while…and I did what I have NEVER …EVER done ..sat down and talked about this..and what I find in Jiddu Krishnamurti’s teaching that actually fits in with my old school Marxist view of the world….AND I WILL NEVER DO THAT AGAIN.

Jiddu Krishnamurti

Today I remember my friend Sam Napier ….”Circulate to Educate”

April 18, 2015 by Tim Hayes Leave a Comment

There just seems to be a lot of things that happened on this day. I had many friends in the Black Panther Party who are no longer with us..on this day in 1971 we lost Sam Napier …the driving spirit behind the Black Panther newspaper. Sam was murdered during that time when FBI agents inside and out of the Party conspired to bring the party down…We were so afraid of FBI agents that it became easy to pit one faction of the party against another …an FBI assassin murdered Sam and then set fire to his body in a building full of our newspapers…deliberately spreading a rumor that one faction was responsible …I was one of the last people to see Sam alive..and I went into hiding..after a while I began to think that we were just being paranoid …but during the Carter administration under the freedom of information act we came to find that in fact it was MUCH worse than we could have imagined …many of us are lucky to be alive today…R.I.P. Sam Napier

TIM HAYES'

TALES FROM POST-RACIAL AMERICA