Marc Lamont Hill, host of BET News and the inaugural host of HuffPost Live, spoke on Wednesday, Feb. 17 as part of Oswego State’s observance of Black History Month.
Hill was introduced by Kimberly Chung, senior at Oswego State, who walked toward the podium dressed in a fitted charcoal colored suit, a crisp lavender button down and black leather dress shoes.
Hill followed his poised walk by delivering his message like a rap song, creating a link between real world occurrences and real emotion, utilizing rhymes and repetition.
“We often think of Black History Month as the time of year when you would add black names and black faces to otherwise white history books and white stories… But it’s about showing the way in which black culture, black identity…have helped made the very thing we call America,” Hill said.
Hill began by addressing problems America still faces. He spoke about gender inequality, homophobia and Islamophobia while highlighting the existing black struggle; something many believe has already come to an end.
“A lot of people think we don’t need Black History Month anymore,” Hill said. “There’s folk that believe that because a black man is president, that means that we have reached a point in our nations history where we are post racial, a point where distinguishing black folk and black struggle through the history of black people in February, the shortest month of the year, is not necessary.”
Hill discussed the ways each person we can make the world better and make sense of their possibilities. He stressed the importance of listening as a part of the healing process.
“Everyone’s talking,” Hill said. “There’s blogs, Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat… But we’re not having a conversation with each other. Listening is much deeper…we need to listen to each other. But the goal is to make America listen to itself, and contradictions so that it can follow its promise.”
He emphasized truthful remembrance and criticized America for “Disney-fying” history.
“We remember the things that make us feel good and erase those that make us feel bad,” Hill said. “We need to go back and retrieve our broken shards and piece them back together to get a better sense of our past so we don’t repeat the same mistakes.”
Hill ended his speech by challenging audience members to ask different questions, tell the truth, and to act bravely and collectively.
“The black community has always been about organized action not acting solely. We’re in the age of the selfie and everyone is looking at the self but maybe we can reimagine the collective again,” Hill said.
The audience gave Hill a standing ovation before the transition into the question and answer period.
Senior Cindy Garcia appreciated Hill’s speech.
“I enjoyed it. I thought he was real about all of the social issues that people are really afraid to talk about,” Garcia said.
Others agreed including Junior Tierra Beckles who thought Hill brought up a good discussion.
“I loved his points on intellectualism and the importance of questioning things. More specifically coming at the situations and injustices we face from a different angle. Reframing our mindset,” Beckles said.
Graduate student, Justin Brantley was impressed with the way hill spoke.
“Marc was electrifying – as an intellectual and a professor,” Brantley said. “A true master of the English language.”
