Professor courts controversy with blog post, statements
For Columbus Day, Teachers College associate professor Marc Lamont Hill wrote a blog post for the Huffington Post titled “The 15 Most Overrated White People.” He created the list, he writes in the piece, because Columbus was “an immoral treasure hunter” who does not deserve the acclaim he has received over the centuries. On Twitter, he described the list as “tongue in cheek.”
The list included figures such as Elvis Presley, William Shakespeare, and Babe Ruth, and featured explanations of why each was not deserving of his or her fame.
On the same day Hill’s blog post was published, he hosted a discussion panel on Huffington Post Live. The segment featured four guests. One of them, Kmele Foster, suggested that it was inappropriate to make the issue a racial one. “Everyone present knows that…you’d run the risk of being branded a racist if you were just a bit fairer-skinned and the subject—and the person we were talking about—was a little darker.”
In response, Hill told Foster that he was allowed to say “white” on his program, and added “I don’t think of ‘white’ as fairer.”
Later Hill said that President Obama “only makes half the list.” He went on to say, “I used to say Obama was half-black, you know. Now that the economy’s dropping, I say he’s half-white.”
Toward the end of the segment, Foster, who is black, explained that he does not self-identify as black because he doesn’t want his achievements linked to his race. Hill replied, ”Do you think that if you win a Nobel prize or something, because you don’t self-identify as black they’re not gonna see you as black? You’re black to the police!” Later in the segment he went on to mock Foster, exclaiming, “Don’t shoot, I’m not black!” and, “Yo cab driver, I’m not black, it’s ok, come on.”
This is not the first time Hill has courted controversy with his public statements. In a September op-ed that appeared in the Philadelphia Inquirer, he said that the United States “has consistently been an agent of terror in the Muslim world.”
In August, he seemed to suggest that Mitt Romney’s Mormon faith may make him unfit to be president, tweeting “I have some SERIOUS questions about his Mormonism.” In a HuffPo Live segment on the issue, he said that when many Americans think of Mormonism, “they think ‘cult.’” Later he added that the theology of Mormonism “shifts to match the political tenor. It seems like the perfect religion for Mitt Romney.” Still later, he displayed a photo of Mormon temple garments, which he referred to as “Jesus jammies,” saying, “Just so you know what Mitt and Ann are wearing at night.”
In January of last year, he called President Obama “a murderer” because of the government’s use of drones in Afghanistan.
Hill has long been a noted social justice activist, working in issues such as black incarceration and drug law reform. In 2005, he was named one of America’s top 30 leaders under 30 years old by Ebony Magazine. He has a Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania. He has been an associate professor at Teachers College since 2009.
We’ve reached out to Hill for comment. We’ll update if we hear from him.
This is outrageous. He should immediately be fired. Can you imagine a white professor talking about overrrated, untalented black people? Making fun of white people is not remotely amusing or becoming of a university professor.
It’s not going to happen.
Professor Hill calls himself as social justice activist. This sort of thing is not social justice, it’s social revenge. At an intellectually and culturally diverse place like Columbia, you’d think the act of the University abstaining from celebrating Columbus Day in an effort to decry the genocide caused by his landing in the Americas would be sufficient. The targeting of a race – Caucasians – in order to make a point is juvenile and counterproductive to the collective, open discussion we ought to have at this school on the subject of race and important historical figures.
lol.
If you are still honestly questioning whether someone’s religious faith should disqualify them from the presidency, I don’t care what color you are — you are a bigot, plain and simple.
If someone was a pronounced believer in the “religion” of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, they should certainly be disqualified — though not procedurally, of course — from the presidency.
You specsters make me sick. America was founded on the backs of the pilgrims who fought for religious freedoms of everyone, even the Indians who they helped protect from the cold winters. If they are willing to save the lives of people who share different religious beliefs then THAT is what america stands for I cant believe you think someone should be prevented from leading a country based on the freedom of religon for WHATEVER weird religion they believe in. it is not your job to punish them for not accepting jesus christ into their hearts, only God has the right to punish them eternally. In the mean time it will help us christians get into heaven more if we dont discriminate because god will see that we are nice people.
sorry bro. jesus ain’t gon’ save none of y’all
Students who attended this simpleton’s classes should
be entitled to a pro rata refund. He would be considered
unfit to lecture at the most undemanding junior college, not
because he hates whites (like most blacks) but because
he doesn’t have the equipment to handle college work
even as a student.
“Not because he hates whites (like most blacks)” ???
Hill is an idiot, and you are a racist idiot. I pray to God you don’t go here.
it’s not the sentiments here but how they are presented. i agree that race or ethnicity should not be automatically tied to achievement because they are separate, and self-identity comes in so many varying degrees. making fun of mormon undergarments is just as bad as making fun of sikh turbans or jewish peyot – it’s wrong, it’s bigoted, and it’s hateful. i dont’ like romney because of his policies and personality, not because of his religion.
god this comment is grating.
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JESUS WAS BLACK
How racist is he if spec is the one telling the story? specsucks.wordpress.com #specsucks
It was all over the national news since Monday
Wow. This guy is disgusting. There is seriously nothing different from him and the white media he professes to hate. Making fun of a mormons temple garmets? That’s exactly the same as making fun of a muslims headscarf, or a sikhs hair, or any religious item. Aren’t we above that?! This guy is clearly an asshole, and he should resign immediately. Can you imagine if a white person made a post talking about the most overrated black people and poking fun at Tupac, Condoleezza Rice, Langston Hughes, Barack Obama?! You wouldn’t even be able to see through the shitstorm that would befall Columbia.
But seriously, this man should be ashamed of himself.
You know, I was fine with his article until he mentioned the NHL.
Now, it’s on.
When you listen to Marc Lamont Hill speak, he talks and sounds so ghetto
This man is racist and must be fired.
Watch this guy on Bill O’Reilly. He’s a regular presence on that program – understandably so considering that his contradictions and uniformed views constantly get torn to bits by Bill (this is coming from someone who’s not even a Bill O’Reilly fan).
he couldn’t get away with this junk or have it taken at all seriously if he wasn’t the “black ivy league english professor”
Taken from tumblr:
“In the instances when POC say shit like ‘Oh I can’t stand white folk’ or ‘Damn white people’, they aren’t saying ‘Oh I think they are inferior, I want to humiliate them, abuse them, enslave them and wipe out their people!’, they’re saying ‘Damn, after a couple hundred years of white people thinking I’m inferior, humiliating me, abusing me, enslaving me, and trying to wipe out my people, I don’t wanna deal with them.’ The context is completely different.”
For those of you who are still confused, what’s happening here is not reverse racism. What’s happening here is that Professor Hill is on point and white people are pressed about it. As usual.
Excuse me while I check whether or not I’m eligible to sign up for one of his classes.
Ok so explain the Mormon thing? Explain the “Obama’s a murderer” thing? Explain the “United States is an agent of terror” thing? You’re a moron.
I don’t see how any of the questions you just asked conflicts with my first point.
Mormon thing – Mormonism is a religion that’s had historically racist undertones, more so than most (and that’s saying something). I don’t have any qualms about anything he said about it.
Obama’s a murderer thing – Obama’s foreign policy when it comes to the war in Afghanistan has been atrocious. Just because he’s black doesn’t mean Hill won’t point that out.
United States is an agent of terror thing. Umm, have you taken a history class? Matter of fact, are you taking a class that’s asking you to keep up with current affairs? The United States is an imperialist empire. I don’t know a lot of people who would disagree with that.
So yeah, to sum up, white people = pressed cuz Hill’s speaking tha truth. *snaps*
If you’re saying that you’re ok with all of his statements, I won’t question you on it. But I don’t think it’s unreasonable to suggest that there are lots of people, of all colors, who would take issue with the statements that you are defending.
Every religion — every religion — has a horrible past. Disqualifying a candidate based on his religion, is, to many people of all colors, bigoted.
Somehow I’m guessing that it’s not just white people who would disagree with the statement that Obama is a murderer. I notice that even you didn’t go as far as to call him a murderer in your defense of the comment, so it seems to be something that some part of you takes issue with as well.
And yeah, I know all about our foreign policy. But I, and probably lots of other people of all colors, would agree that saying we are currently an “agent of terror” goes too far.
The point is not whether we agree with these statements, it’s that you’re trying to make it into a “white people hating on the black man” thing, when in fact people of any race could reasonably find these statements objectionable. And yeah, you’re entitled to disagree and I won’t say you’re wrong. I’m only saying that I disagree with your characterization of the critique.