Books by Floyd W. Hayes, III

A Turbulent Voyage: Readings in African American Studies / Forty Acres and a Mule: The Rape of Colored Americans

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Down with the Clintons

The Clintons once thought they had a second presidency in the bag.  Once that delusion was shattered, they entered upon the road of desperation. Panic now motivates their political strategies, which have become increasingly malicious and depraved.  They will say anything, do anything, in their despicable and decadent attempt to win the Democratic Party presidential nomination.  However, their win-at-any-cost strategy

has backfired at every point.  To raise the specter of Obama's assassination—and suggest that she is waiting for something terrible to happen so that she can step into the nomination—is the lowest form of evil.  Think of how her comments resonate with so many other whites in America.

Bill Clinton never was a "black" president; he wasn't even a New Deal liberal president.  Check out the extent to which his neo-liberal ideology and social policies actually carried out many of the policy fantasies of Ronald Reagan, especially on the question of welfare

policy.  Recall when Bill said, "Mend it but don't end it?"  He then gave welfare recipients five years, and then it ended!  One doesn't even have to rehearse his treatment of Lani Guinier and other blacks.  NAFTA clearly was/is not in the interest of the US working class.  So, damn!

Hillary's political strategy is an atrocity!  Yes, it is unforgivable!  But so many blacks want to forgive and forget.  However, here is a circumstance in which it is morally justifiable not to forgive or forget her vicious behavior not only toward the Obama family, but also actually toward black people.  Indeed, it is morally defensible to be totally angry and outraged at the Clintons. 

Now is the time for some black writers and scholars to begin writing books, articles, essays, and commentaries about the Clintons' atrocious and decadent political strategies--past policies and present politics—so that future generations will never forget or forgive them.

Like so many of this country's leaders and first families—perhaps more so in the present case—the Clintons need to be subjects of our severest criticism.  What better case can be made for a literature of indictment?

Down with the Clintons!

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Hello,

This is not an over-reaction. Consider the subtext, the subliminal psychopathic suggestions, implied by HRC's, as well as a host of others, repeatedly spoken or inferred remarks invoking harm to the Obamas (read by extension, Black people in general): There's something going on that needs to addressed and discussed: There's a storm gaining strength of public racially aggressive/violent speech; it's a growing pattern, bigger, more invidious than a right wing smear:

1) The use of a hangman's noose as a racist symbol has resurfaced recently, most notably in the 2006 case of the Jena Six when six black high school students in Louisiana were charged with beating a white student after nooses had been left in a tree under which the black students had asked school permission to sit, and add to that the notion of lynching a Black person.

** **Hangman's Noose Targets Columbia Professor *(Oct.  10, 2007): New York police are investigating a possible hate crime at Columbia University Tuesday after a hangman's noose was tied to the door of a black professor at Columbia's Teachers College. (http://www.abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=3711479&page=1)

** Golf Channel anchor Kelly Tilghman* (January 08, 2008): ...joked, young players who wanted to challenge Tiger Woods should *``lynch him in a back alley.''* The Golf Channel was forced to suspend her for two weeks in response to public outrage.

(You know, I have a lot of sympathy for Michelle Obama, for Bill Clinton,  For all of these people. Bill Clinton, I have sympathy for him, because they're thrown into a hopper where everybody is waiting for them to make a mistake, so that they can just go and bludgeon them…That's wrong. And *I don't want to go on a lynching party against Michelle Obama* *unless there's evidence, hard facts,* that say this is how the woman really feels. If that's how she really feels — that America is a bad country or a flawed nation, whatever —then that's legit….[http://mediamatters.org/items/200802200001 (with video)]

According to Alabama's Tuskegee University, 3,466 African-Americans were lynched in the United States from 1882-1968. In 2005, The U.S. Senate officially apologized for failing to act on more than 200 anti-lynching bills introduced over the years.

2) The controversial front cover of the Roswell Beacon dated May 15, 2008.

3) Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee (May 15, 2008)  ...took a hit at Senator Barack Obama during the annual National Rifle Association meeting with An off-color joke during his speech in Louisville, Kentucky, when a loud Bang was heard off-stage. *"That was Barack Obama,"* Huckabee quipped, *"He  just tripped off a chair.  He was getting ready to speak.  Somebody aimed a Gun at him and he…he dove for the floor."*  (http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalradar/2008/05/huckabee-jokes.html)

4) Clinton Kennedy Assassination Reference: Raises Bobby's Death To Explain Why She Stays In Race

"My husband did not wrap up the nomination in 1992 until he won the California primary somewhere in the middle of June, right? We all Remember Bobby Kennedy was assassinated in June in California. I don't understand it.' [WATCH] & Check out commentary

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/05/23/clinton-kennedy-assassina_n_103319.html 

It Was NOT a Gaffe. by rhetoricus http://rhetoricus.dailykos.com/ Sat May 24, 2008 at 12:30:43 PM PDT

*However we choose to make sense of, respond to, and move on from, Hillary'sstatements, we need to understand a few things.*

*A gaffe is something said once. A gaffe comes out in opposition to what was intended. A gaffe runs contrary to a person's general stance and record. Thus, a gaffe is easily apologized for, and with an apology, a gaffe warrants forgiveness. *

*This, however, was NOT the first time Hillary Clinton has invoked the specter of assassination by using that word in comparison to the current primary. That makes her comment not a gaffe, but a strategy. And she has not apologized for the offense to Obama, who was (intended or not) the referent people heard. Hillary seems not even to apprehend the horror to Obama, his family, or his supporters in invoking "assassination" to argue for why she continues to fight on the campaign trail.*

*These factors need to be kept in mind.* http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/5/24/151140/851/599/522141

Hillary's Hopes http://www.slate.com/blogs/blogs/xxfactor/archive/2008/05/24/hillary-s-hopes.aspx> Posted Saturday, May 24, 2008 1:26PM <http://www.slate.com/blogs/blogs/xxfactor/archive/2008/05/24/hillary-s-hopes.aspx

*Emily Yoffe* http://www.slate.com/blogs/search/searchresults.aspx?u=2114

So this is what it's come to:* the Lone Gunman strategy.*  It's no secret that Hillary Clinton has been hoping for a colossal misstep by Barack Obama, or a damaging revelation, to end his candidacy, leaving her the last woman standing. But the satisfying irony would be that Clinton has made the ultimate in political blunders by voicing [Washington Post ]the possibility of the assassination of her opponent. It's chilling, the cool, uninflected way she casually brings up what she calls the "historic fact" that Bobby Kennedy was murdered in June - *before the end of the primary season, so thank goodness Hubert Humphrey hadn't withdrawn prematurely!* Later, woften runs into June, as her own husband's did, and anyway  the Kennedys have been on her mind because of the brain tumor diagnosis of Ted Kennedy (take note: voodoo dolls really do work). *Read more: * http://www.slate.com/blogs/blogs/xxfactor/

Keith Olbermann: Countdown: Special Comment "Hillary You Went Too Far" 5-23-8 (a gut wrenching commentary)

*The use of the word "assassination" is not open to misinterpretation. It has no place, not with our country's history. Those words, Senator?

     You actually invoked the nightmare of political assassination.

      You actually invoked the spectre of an inspirational leader, at

The seeming moment of triumph, for himself and a battered nation yearning to breathe free, silenced forever.

      You actually used the word "assassination" in the middle of a campaign with a loud undertone of racial hatred -- and gender hatred – and political hatred.

      You actually used the word "assassination" in a time when there is a fear, unspoken but vivid and terrible, that our again-troubled land and fractured political landscape might target a black man running for president.

      Or a white man.

      Or a white woman!

      You actually used those words, in this America, Senator while running against an African-American against whom the death threats started the moment he declared his campaign?

      You actually used those words, in this America, Senator, while running to break your "greatest glass ceiling" and claiming there are people who would do anything to stop you?

      You!

      Senator -- never mind the implications of using the word "assassination" in any connection to Senator Obama... What about you?       You cannot say this!

**Watch: *http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Ba3x-name0

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/5/23/195538/275/126/521613

Hillary's RFK remarks spark widespread rebuke: a sampling *I think Hillary, in a very matter-of-fact manner, maybe coldly, maybe calculatingly, pointed out once again that something very bad might happen to Obama, and that if it did, she could still become President. It's obvious she's thought about it. I think it's the last real hope she has left of being the nominee.*

*Does she wish for it to happen? I don't know, but she sure does want to be President, doesn't she? And the way she talked about it today says to me that she's just thinking about herself and what she wants. If Obama dies, she wins. She said it today, using other words. Remember, I could still win, and here's how.*

*I think the danger to Obama and his family is greater than it has been for anyone else ever. He's gotten closer than any African American to winning, and there's still a lot of hatred out there.*

*As a candidate, the wife of a President and a mother, Hillary should know this all too well and common decency, to me, says that she doesn't touch the assassination talk ever under any circumstances. No matter what.* *I think at the very least, she should honor the courage he's shown as a candidate and the very real dangers he and his family face.

teresa hill's diary:

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/5/23/224630/771/5/521718

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/5/24/65451/0542/860/521896

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/5/24/62635/9590

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/05/23/clinton-calls-vp-chatter-completely-untrue/

http://www.blogsofwar.com/2008/05/23/hillary-clinton-on-hope-obama-could-still-be-assassinated?referer=sphere_related_content

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/5/24/73250/5819

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/5/23/155636/6

Assassination Discussions May 23, 2008 5:44 PM

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/05/assassination-d.html

*Hillary invokes RFK assassination * http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/05/23/1058940.aspx

HRC is unfit for any elected office. www.huffingtonpost.com/arianna-huffington/stop-yelling-at-hillary-t_b_103135.html

Contact: Superdelegate Donna Brazile or Brazile and Associates at info@brazileassociates.com —Hunter Adams

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Floyd W. Hayes, III, coordinator of programs and undergraduate studies—A senior lecturer in the Department of Political Science, Hayes is coordinator of programs and undergraduate studies in the Center for Africana Studies. His teaching and research interests include black politics and political philosophy, urban politics and public policy, educational policymaking and politics, leadership studies, and the politics of jazz. He is the author of numerous articles and the editor of A Turbulent Voyage: Readings in African American Studies.

He is currently working on a book examining the social and political thought of Richard Wright, “Domination and Ressentiment: The Desperate Vision of Richard Wright.” Hayes earned a BA in French and political science from North Carolina Central University, an MA in African Area Studies from the University of California, Los Angeles, and a Ph.D. in government and politics from the University of Maryland.

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Other Responses

Dear All,

In addition to Bill Clinton's gutless dumping of  Lonnie Guinier (I knew her father) in the early days  of his administration, he did not come to his  presidential candidacy with racially clean hands.
 
For example, only when he became a presidential candidate did he resign from a racially segregated Little Rock golf club. And I cannot forget the summary firing WITHOUT EXPLANATION of Clifton Wharton (ex-Chairman of TIAA/CREF) as his first black Deputy Secretary of State within months of Wharton's appointment.
 
As for Lonnie Guinier, she was a friend and Yale Law School classmate of Bill Clinton who had even entertained Bill and Hillary at her home on Martha's vineyard prior to Bill's race for the presidency! So much for friendship and personal loyalty from the
Clintons . . . the untrustworthy pair of racist, self-seeking, power mad, unscrupulous opportunists!
 
The Clintons come to the current race for the presidential nomination with hands sullied by racism . . .notwithstanding Bill Clinton's showcase office in Harlem!  Best, —Rick

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Dear Miriam,
 
 Well, given the detail about Bill Clinton in your friend's comment, perhaps we need to ask seriously how it was that Clinton became the "first black president." What was it that seemed to have attracted so many blacks to him? What specifically motivated Toni Morrison to apply that moniker to him? I am not calling for any criticism of her; what I do want to know is how he could  "capture" black consciousness in the manner he did.
 
Of course, many of us were severely critical of the Clinton regime, but still, many blacks and others gave the Clintons considerable status. It could be argued that the Clintons began the present Democratic Party nomination campaign as political royalty. Why? Again, how did they capture this authority? In my view, the Clintons were duplicitous "back in the day," and they remain so now. —Floyd

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Floyd, I really don't know the answer to your very important question, and I think it's one that bears analysis by a political scientist like you, Ron Walter, or others in your field. In fact, it would make a provocative subject for a book. Personally, I think that two things factored in: (1) the appointment of prominent, well respected Blacks (and other ethnics) such as Hazel O'Leary, Ron Brown, Delano Lewis, Veronica Coleman (to a federal judgeship here in Tenn.), and others to important positions in his administration, and (2) his ability to "walk and talk" Black Southern culture, which he'd picked up from growing up in small-town Arkansas. His personal charisma and his talent on the saxophone were icing on the cake.—Miriam

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All Hillary said was that during the month of June somebody did get killed. She didn't mean to suggest that anybody could get killed.  Good thing for her she said it just before the Memorial Day weekend news moratorium.—Wilson

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It was never so much what Hillary said. It was the climate she created for what could be said, and worse doneCheck this out: FOX Pundit Wishes for Obama Assassination, Laughs—Huffington Post

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It was both: what she said and the possibility that she created.—Miriam

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Well, Miriam was the first to point out to me the decadence of the old civil rights establishment (OCRE) and the need for a "new breed" of black politicians. Well, such as Obama. Some say the new head of the NAACP is such a person, as well. I don't know about that. She knew many of the OCRE, the old guard in Memphis. I respect her moderation.

At first I was blind to her insight but she has proven right. Adjacent to the OCRE was the old black nationalist-socialist groups and persons, of which I was a part, they too have lacked self-criticism. They too have reacted abrasively toward Obama. Well, some of them have prospered in labor unions and new Old Left politics.

They however have not received as extensively the patronage of the Democratic Party, as have members of the OCRE, many of whom have gone on to be high placed politicians and multi-millionaires who jacked up the White establishment and the DP for personal ends on the race issue, as have Young, Jackson, and others. We know about Jackson’s sexual indiscretions. There have always been such jokes about black Baptist preachers. Jackson and Young are now entertainers for the corporate news media.

That patronage ends up in the kind of speech and analysis that we got from Young. You can see in their faces that they went on to be lustful pigs, using whomever they could, even African states to fill their pouches. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=breSVtVYSmo

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This is a particular historical moment when I truly regret the absence of the powerful spirit and courage many of blacks possessed during the Black Power Movement. Because many whites thought there might be repercussions in response to racist behavior and discourse, whites often moderated their words and behavior. And there were blacks who reciprocated when whites spoke and behaved in a racist fashion! Since the Reagan era, many whites have increasingly resurrected, embraced, and asserted a most virulent, but subtle, racism.
 
The increasing articulation of racist code words/messages or the use of racist symbols (e.g., the hangman's noose) are the continuation of strategies historically designed to intimidate, humiliate, and terrorize blacks. And of course, we cannot overlook the growing numbers of police murders of blacks today. Racists, like the Clintons, hold problematic views of blacks; hence, they lie to themselves by saying they are not racist. They embrace the notion that whites are the only ones who merit human status (see Lewis Gordon, BAD FAITH AND ANTIBLACK RACISM). Look at the damn Clintons! They seem to think that Obama, merely because he is black, is unqualified, and, therefore, does not deserve to be president of the USA. Hence, they say any perverse thing about him.

Trying to elevate themselves, the Clintons lie without concern for the truth. I have concluded that they just are compulsive and political liars! They have said that they are throwing the sink (actually, a sink full of shit) at Obama, hoping that something sticks. How decadent! HOWEVER, TO RAISE THE SPECTER OF HIS ASSASSINATION GOES OVER THE LINE! This is the kind of discourse that asserts that Obama, and by extension other blacks, does not even have the right to exist! Now, what in the hell is Michelle Obama to think of the Clintons and other whites who link Obama with assassination? She loves her husband and their children, but she has to listen to evil whites who wish violence against him. They wish the end of his existence. Damn! This is no laughing matter! But the violence of the oppressor calls into existence counter-violence of the oppressed.
 
We cannot/must not respond to these threats to our very existence with silence, invisibility, and fear. I am outraged and angered. In the face of racist evil, outrage and resentment clearly are morally justifiable, even required! There are times when long-standing resentment and rage need to result in protest, revolt, and rebellion--when protest, revolt, and rebellion also become morally defensible. Didn't we learn this profound lesson by reading Frantz Fanon's revolutionary book, THE WRETCHED OF THE EARTH?
 
Do not let the Clintons off the hook! Never forget what racist pigs they are! Refuse to forgive or to reconcile with the Clintons! Hillary's NY constituents should decide collectively not to re-elect her to the US Senate. She is a crass individual, who doesn't deserve to represent any people, anywhere, anytime, any more!—Floyd

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If Hillary was in the lead in Delegates and Barack was behind with no way of surpassing her, He would have been forced out of the race a long time ago...demand that she goes!

Dear Friend,

Some leaders in the Democratic Party are playing with fire. They think that they can betray the will of millions of voters—and choose Hillary Clinton as the nominee, regardless of whether or not she is the choice of the voters. We can't let this happen. It would be the largest disenfranchisement in modern history, and it would mean the Democratic Party giving their stamp of approval to a clear and consistent pattern of race-baiting by the Clinton campaign.

If we make our voices heard, we can stop it. Please join us in signing an open letter to leaders in the Democratic Party—DNC Chair Howard Dean, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, and all superdelegates—demanding that they reject an outcome that involves trampling voting rights and legitimizing the politics of division and fear:  http://www.colorofchange.org/dems/?id=2506-130612

By the time the last vote is cast on June 3rd under the rules of the Democratic Party, it's unlikely Hillary Clinton will beat Barack Obama among voters. But there's a chance that superdelegates will hand Clinton the nomination anyway.

This would be a shocking attack on democracy, and it would destroy the Democratic party's credibility on protecting the right to vote. Black people have a long history of fighting against voter suppression, and now the Democratic Party will be the enemy in that fight. As bad as that would be, there's another reason that a coup by party insiders would threaten racial progress.

Senator Clinton's plan to have superdelegates hand her the nomination doesn't make sense without a parallel strategy—she has to stoke enough division and race-based fear among Democratic voters to convince superdelegates that white voters will not vote for Senator Obama in the general election. One of Clinton's key arguments to superdelegates is that America won't elect a Black man, and therefore she's the better choice for Democrats to beat John McCain. While she makes that argument in private to superdelegates, in public Clinton's campaign and her surrogates are doing everything they can to damage Barack Obama by ginning up fear and division and playing to the worst instincts of our society. It's an insult to Black people and all Americans, Obama and Clinton supporters alike.

The pattern has been clear and consistent to some party leaders. Last week, according to the Washington Post, James Clyburn-- who as House Majority Whip remains neutral and is the highest ranking Black member of Congress—accused the Clintons of marginalizing Black voters. Referring to this strategy in another interview, Clyburn said that “Nothing in this campaign has been by accident.”

Congressman Clyburn warned that “black people are incensed” over the divisiveness of the Clinton strategy and that it threatens an irreparable breach between Black people and the Democratic Party. He's right. And if superdelegates hand Clinton a victory despite her defeat among voters, they will be condoning and rewarding that strategy.

Some party leaders have expressed strong concern about superdelegates overruling voters. But as a whole, superdelegates have not made it clear that they will respect the will of voters. Today, we want to send a clear, unequivocal message to superdelegates and other party leaders: Reject the idea that the nomination can be won with a strategy that preys on racism, sows division, and disenfranchises millions of voters.

Please join us: http://www.colorofchange.org/dems/?id=2506-130612  Thanks.

Please click on the link sign your name to the petition and pass this important email on to everyone you know.

Thanks, Antoinette

Antoinette Carter-Pugh

Workers Compensation Risk Manager

INTERLINE BRANDS, INC. / 200 East Park Drive, Suite 200 / Mount Laurel, New Jersey  08054

Tel: 856-533-3199 / Fax: 856-505-1662  / acartpugh@interlinebrands.com

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posted 25 May 2008