Marc Lamont Hill

Marc Lamont Hill (born December 17, 1978) is an American academic, author, activist, and television personality. He is a Professor of Media Studies and Urban Education at Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.[1]

Marc Lamont Hill
Hill in November 2005
Born (1978-12-17) December 17, 1978
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
NationalityAmerican
Alma mater
Occupation
  • Academic
  • commentator
  • activist
  • author
EmployerTemple University
Political partyGreen
Websitewww.MarcLamontHill.com

He was the host of the syndicated television show Our World with Black Enterprise and hosts the online Internet-based HuffPost Live. He is also a BET News correspondent, and a former political commentator for CNN and Fox News. Hill also hosts VH1 Live! and reunion shows for Basketball Wives. Hill was fired from his position as a commentator for CNN after remarks before the U.N. on the Arab–Israeli conflict that were perceived as anti-Semitic.[2][3]

Early life and Education

Hill was born and raised in Philadelphia. At 14 years of age, Hill met future NBA star Kobe Bryant at a basketball summer camp, and the two became close friends and remained so until Bryant's death.[4] After graduating from Carver High School, a public school in Philadelphia,[5] Hill attended Morehouse College, a private liberal arts college, but says he spent his time "hanging out and getting in trouble", and dropped out of Morehouse when he was a freshman.[6] He finished his undergraduate studies at Temple University, where he received his B.S. in education and Spanish in 2000, and he later earned a Ph.D. at the University of Pennsylvania.[7]

Career

From 2005 to 2009, Hill was a professor of urban education and American studies at Temple University. In the fall of 2009, Hill joined the faculty of Teachers College, Columbia University as an associate professor of education.[8] He left Teachers College in 2014 to join the faculty at Morehouse College as Distinguished Professor of African American Studies.[1] In May 2017, it was announced that he was re-joining the faculty of Temple University as the Steve Charles Professor of Media, Cities, and Solutions.[9]

Hill worked as a political contributor for the Fox News Channel from 2007 until 2009, when he was fired.[10][11] During this time, he appeared on The O'Reilly Factor, Huckabee, and Hannity.[12] Prior to Fox, Hill was a commentator on CNN and MSNBC, as well as Court TV, where he was a weekly contributor to the Star Jones talk show. In August 2010, he replaced Ed Gordon as host of the syndicated television show Our World with Black Enterprise.[13] In May 2012, he joined Huffington Post as a host of HuffPost Live.

Activism

He is a founding board member of My5th, a non-profit organization aiming to educate youth about their legal rights and responsibilities.[12][14] In 2001, he started a literacy project that uses hip-hop culture to increase school engagement and reading skills among high-school students. He also organizes and teaches adult literacy courses for high school dropouts in Philadelphia and Camden. Hill also works with the ACLU Drug Reform Project, focusing on drug informant policy.[12] Hill was named one of America's top 30 black leaders under the age of 30 by Ebony magazine.[15]

In addition, Hill works with African-American and Latino youth. Hill publicly argued for the release of Genarlow Wilson and Shaquanda Cotton. In the Cotton case, Hill organized an internet letter writing campaign.[16] Hill urged the public to write to District Attorney David McDade to express concerns about his desire to appeal the court's decision to void the sentence of Genarlow Wilson.[17] In May 2013, an article by Hill for Ebony.com entitled "Why Aren't We Fighting for CeCe McDonald?" won the GLAAD Media Award for "Outstanding Digital Journalism Article."[18]

On June 12, 2010, Hill alleged that while driving his car, he was unlawfully stopped by two Philadelphia police officers, one of whom was highly regarded at the time—Officer Richard DeCoatsworth.[19][20] Hill, represented by his brother, attorney Leonard Hill, filed a civil lawsuit on October 12, 2010, against the City of Philadelphia and four police officers, including DeCoatsworth.[21]

Hill expressed support for the Green Party in the 2016 US presidential election. Of candidates Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, he stated: "I would rather have Trump be president for four years and build a real left-wing movement that can get us what we deserve as a people, than to let Hillary be president and we stay locked in the same space where we don't get what we want."[22]

2016 photograph with Louis Farrakhan

A 2016 photograph of Hill with Louis Farrakhan, long accused of anti-semitism, resurfaced in October 2018. He said he was unaware the image was being used for commercial purposes by the Nation of Islam website and would ask for it to be removed as it was inconsistent with "my values and my professional standards". He said he was utterly opposed to Farrakhan's then-recent comparison of Jews to termites.[23][24][25] In tweets at the time the image was more widely reproduced, Lamont Hill said that although he disagreed with Farrakhan on some issues, "I will not allow that to be an excuse for allowing dishonest media or poorly intentioned observers to create unnecessary division" adding he would "not be told who to speak to, sit with, or engage."[24] In October 2018, he said that he did now believe Farrakhan to be an antisemite.[25] At the time of the meeting in 2016, Hill said on Instagram of the meeting: "Been blessed to spend the last day with Minister Louis Farrakhan. An amazing time of learning, listening, laughing, and even head nodding to music. God is Great."[26][27]

U.N speech on Israel

On November 28 2018, while speaking in a meeting at the UN marking the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People,[28] Hill said: "We have an opportunity to not just offer solidarity in words but to commit to political action, grass-roots action, local action and international action that will give us what justice requires and that is a free Palestine from the river to the sea."[29][30][31]

The Anti-Defamation League has said that the phrase "river to the sea" is code, often used by Hamas, for the destruction of Israel.[30][32]

In November 2018, Hill rejected this characterization, saying this was a "call for justice" referring to the existing borders of the Palestinian territories on the Mediterranean Sea (Gaza) and Jordan River (West Bank). Hill replied, "I support Palestinian freedom. I support Palestinian self-determination. I am deeply critical of Israeli policy and practice. I do not support anti-Semitism, killing Jewish people, or any of the other things attributed to my speech. I have spent my life fighting these things." He also said that the "river to the sea" phrase dates to the early 20th century and "has never been the exclusive province of a particular ideological camp" and that "The idea that this is a Hamas phrase is simply untrue."[33] On December 1, 2018, Hill said that "we must reject anti-Semitism in any form or fashion" and apologized "for the reception of my message".[34][35]

CNN firing

Following his comments about Israel before the U.N., Hill's contract with CNN was terminated by the network. This was confirmed on November 29, 2018, when a CNN spokesperson announced that "Marc Lamont Hill is no longer under contract with CNN."[30][36][37]

The firing provoked some controversy, with some supporting it and others highly critical. The move was criticized by pro-Palestinian activists, who accused the network of caving to pressure from pro-Israeli groups.[28] Aymann Ismail of Slate said the decision set a "dangerous precedent" which was "another step toward recasting all speech about Israel’s brutality as anti-Semitism".[2] Glenn Greenwald remarked that Hill’s firing “is a major defeat for the right to advocate for Palestinian rights, to freely critique the Israeli government, and for the ability of journalism and public discourse in the U.S. generally to accommodate dissent."[38] Bentley Addison of The Forward argued that advocating for Palestine is not necessarily antisemitic but said that "The fact that Hill used the rhetoric of groups that are violently anti-Semitic is a real problem, and the fact that he seems to advocate violent resistance against Israel should give pause to every supporter of a peaceful outcome to the conflict."[3]

The board of trustees of Temple University, Hill's employer, condemned Hill's words saying they included what "many regard as promoting violence", and in regards to the phrase "from the river to the sea" used by Hill, the trustees said that they are "widely perceived as language that threatens the existence of the State of Israel" that "has been used by anti-Israel terror groups". Furthermore, the trustees said that Hill's words were criticized as "virulent anti-Semitism" and "hate speech". However, as Hill was not representing the school and that as a "private individual is entitled to the same Constitutional protection of any other citizen, and that he has through subsequent statements expressly rejected anti-Semitism and anti-Semitic violence", the trustees decided not to dismiss nor discipline Hill.[34]

Louis Farrakhan

In December 2018, Hill discussed his relationship with black nationalist Pastor Louis Farrakhan, who has been accused of making anti-semitic remarks. Appearing on "The Breakfast Club" radio program, Hill said that, while he does not agree with Farrakhan on all issues:

For some reason, if you meet with Minister Farrakhan and you don’t throw him away wholesale, then you’re castigated in a way that doesn’t happen with anybody else. Why is only one set of people untouchable? And why does every black leader have to ritually denounce Farrakhan in order to sustain a position? That doesn’t happen to anyone else.[39][40]

Books
  • Hill, Marc Lamont (2016). Nobody: Casualties of America's War on the Vulnerable, from Ferguson to Flint and Beyond. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 9781-5011-2494-5.
  • Hill, Marc Lamont (and Mumia Abu-Jamal) (2012). The Classroom and The Cell: Conversations on Black Life in America. Third World Press. ISBN 978-0-8837-8337-5.
  • Hill, Marc Lamont (2009). Beats, Rhymes, and Classroom Life: Hip-Hop Pedagogy and the Politics of Identity. Teachers College Press. ISBN 978-0-8077-4960-9.
  • Hill, Marc Lamont (2007). Media, Learning, and Sites of Possibility (New Literacies and Digital Epistemologies). Peter Lang Publishing. ISBN 978-0-8204-8656-7.
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References
  1. "Marc Lamont Hill Joining the Faculty at Morehouse College ‹ Morehouse College News Center". Morehouse.edu. July 23, 2014. Archived from the original on July 26, 2016. Retrieved July 16, 2016.
  2. Ismail, Aymann (November 30, 2018). "In Firing Marc Lamont Hill, CNN Emboldened the Effort to Cast Israel's Critics as Anti-Semites". Slate Magazine. Retrieved December 1, 2018.
  3. Addison, Bentley (November 30, 2018). "Demonizing Israel Isn't Anti-Semitic — But Marc Lamont Hill Crossed The Line". The Forward. Retrieved December 3, 2018.
  5. Yulanda Essoka (May 24, 2006). "Marc Lamont Hill, Akiba Solomon discuss the vitality of the art form". TheNotebook.org. Retrieved June 7, 2016.
  6. Dream Hampton (January 7, 2012). "Dropout to PhD: The Bold & Beautiful Marc Lamont Hill". Ebony. Retrieved June 7, 2016.
  7. Harris, Janelle (July 25, 2012). "SO WHAT DO YOU DO, MARC LAMONT HILL, AUTHOR, PROFESSOR AND TV COMMENTATOR?". Mediabistro. Archived from the original on August 3, 2014. Retrieved October 18, 2014.
  8. "New Faculty | Teachers College Columbia University". Tc.columbia.edu. April 1, 2010. Retrieved July 16, 2016.
  9. "Marc Lamont Hill Joining Temple's Klein College of Media and Communication". Klein College of Media and Communication. May 5, 2017. Retrieved May 22, 2017.
  10. Armbruster, Ben (October 21, 2009). "Liberal Analyst Found Out Through 'Google Alert' That Fox News Fired Him". Think Progress. Retrieved November 28, 2019.
  11. "Liberal Analyst Marc Lamont Hill Fired From Fox News". Mediaite. October 16, 2009. Retrieved July 16, 2016.
  12. "Marc Lamont Hill official website". Retrieved July 31, 2010.
  13. "Marc Lamont Hill: Fox News Contributor to host syndicated show". Retrieved August 31, 2010.
  14. "My5th website". Archived from the original on August 5, 2010. Retrieved July 31, 2010.
  15. "Marc Lamont Hill to speak as part of Black History Month!". Archived from the original on June 6, 2010. Retrieved July 31, 2010.
  16. "More Thoughts on Shaquanda Cotton, Official Marc L. Hill website". Retrieved July 31, 2010.
  17. "'Write for Genarlow Wilson!', Official Marc L. Hill website'". Retrieved July 31, 2010.
  18. Townsend, Megan (May 14, 2013). "Laverne Cox, Dr. Kortney Ryan Ziegler present to Marc Lamont Hill, Ebony.com at #GLAADAwards". GLAAD. Retrieved January 13, 2014.
  19. Hill, Marc Lamont (March 15, 2011). "Marc Lamont Hill: Suit spoke for all victims of unjust police stops". www.philly.com. Retrieved October 17, 2018.
  20. Volk, Steve (May 5, 2015). "Richard DeCoatsworth: How a Hero Cop Fell". Philadelphia Magazine website. Retrieved October 17, 2018.
  21. Hill, Leonard (October 12, 2010). "Marc Lamont Hill v. City of Philadelphia, Officer Richard DeCoatsworth City of Philadelphia Police Department, 35th District et al" (PDF). Hill & Associates, P.C. website. Retrieved October 17, 2018.
  22. Love, David (August 8, 2016). "What Does the Green Party Offer for Black Voters that Differs from Clinton and Trump?". Atlanta Black Star. Retrieved August 29, 2016.
  23. Levine, Jon (October 19, 2018). "Louis Farrakhan Uses CNN Contributor to Promote $260 Music Box Set". TheWrap. Retrieved November 30, 2018. Hill said the photo was taken sometime in the autumn of 2016 after the minister invited a number of people to a Wyoming farm
  24. Darcy, Oliver (November 30, 2018). "CNN severs ties with liberal pundit Marc Lamont Hill after his controversial remarks on Israel". CNN. Retrieved November 30, 2018.
  25. Wulfsohn, Joseph A. (October 19, 2018). "CNN Contributor Marc Lamont Hill Denounces Louis Farrakhan After a Photo of the Two of Them Surfaces". Mediaite. Retrieved November 30, 2018. Hill explained that the photo was taken at a gathering in 2016 where invitees got to listen to Farrakhan’s new album.
  26. "ZOA pushes professor's firing from CNN, Temple University, for promoting Farrakhan". Jewish News Syndicate. October 24, 2018. Retrieved November 30, 2018.
  27. "After CNN Highlights Persistence of Bigotry Against Jews, Network Personality Spouts Anti-Semitism At United Nations Event". B’nai B’rith International. November 28, 2018. Retrieved November 30, 2018.
  28. "CNN fires contributor Marc Lamont Hill for criticising Israel". www.aljazeera.com. November 30, 2018.
  29. Keller, Megan (November 29, 2018). "CNN cuts ties with Marc Lamont Hill after Israel comments". TheHill.
  30. "CNN ends contract with contributor Mark Lamont Hill after speech on Israel". The Guardian. Associated Press. November 30, 2018. Retrieved November 30, 2018.
  31. Adam Shaw (29 November 2018). "CNN commentator accused of dog-whistling for Israel's elimination in well-received UN speech". Fox News. Retrieved 29 November 2018.
  32. Hod, Itay; Levine, Jon (November 29, 2018). "Why CNN's Marc Lamont Hill Picked the Wrong Week to Make Anti-Israel Comments". The Wrap. Retrieved November 30, 2018.
  33. Rosenberg, Eli (November 30, 2018). "Marc Lamont Hill: CNN fires journalist who criticised Israel and called for 'free Palestine'". The Independent. London. Retrieved November 30, 2018.
  34. Stanley-Becker, Isaac (December 12, 2018), "CNN fired him for speech some deemed anti-Semitic. But his university says the Constitution protects him", Washington Post.
  35. Hill, Marc Lamont (December 1, 2018), "Marc Lamont Hill: I’m sorry my word choices caused harm | Opinion", Philadelphia Inquirer.
  36. Aidan McLaughlin (November 29, 2018). "EXCLUSIVE: CNN Fires Marc Lamont Hill Following Israel Comments". Mediaite. Retrieved November 29, 2018. CNN severed ties with contributor Marc Lamont Hill on Thursday, following comments the university professor made about Israel and Palestine in a speech at the United Nations. “Marc Lamont Hill is no longer under contract with CNN,” a CNN spokesperson told Mediaite.
  37. Keller, Megan (November 29, 2018). "CNN cuts ties with Marc Lamont Hill after Israel comments". The Hill. Retrieved November 30, 2018.
  38. CNN Submits to Right-Wing Outrage Mob, Fires Marc Lamont Hill Due to His “Offensive” Defense of Palestinians at the U.N., Glenn Greenwald, November 30 2018, The Intercept
  39. Farrakhan, Louis; Gates, Henry Louis (1996). "Farrakhan Speaks". Transition (70): 140–167. doi:10.2307/2935354. ISSN 0041-1191. JSTOR 2935354.
  40. Kenney, Tanasia (December 17, 2018). "Marc Lamont Hill Has No Plans to Denounce Farrakhan: 'I Ain't Got the Luxury of Throwing People Who Love Us Away'". Atlanta Black Star. Retrieved December 18, 2018.
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