National TV host challenges next generation of activists at Xavier Black History Month lecture
13th February 2017 · 0 Comments
By Kevin Foster
Contributing Writer
People of color should still aspire to the highest offices despite having the first Black president and should continue to work for change that uplifts the community. These were the words of CNN contributor and BET host Marc Lamont Hill as he spoke at Xavier University’s first Black History Month public lecture series event on Feb. 2, 2017.
“We need courageous freedom fighters, who are willing to struggle especially when it gets difficult,” Hill told a packed ballroom of students and residents at Xavier’s University Center.
“Learn to listen,” Hill said. “Our freedom struggle is also about getting America to listen to itself.”
In leading the audience in a rendition of “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” considered the African American National Anthem, Hill urged students, in particular, to reimagine, restructure, and repurpose their mission as the next generation of scholars and leaders who can bring about global and community justice.
“I’m never more excited than when I get to come to New Orleans and be with my people,” said Hill who lectures at Morehouse College in Atlanta, Ga. The event attracted both presidents and students at Xavier and neighboring historically Black college, Dillard University. “This is an honor,” said the Morehouse alumnus.
Hill, whose media presence has often gone viral, said that this generation can use social media for community engagement that keeps the spotlight on many issues affecting the Black community.
“We need to connect, we need to be linking and connecting our campus to our communities,” Hill said. “Thanks to social media, the boundaries of your institution don’t define the boundaries of your social connection anymore,” he said.
Another social media activist Shaun King will speak next at Xavier on Feb. 16. The university wanted Black History Month speakers who could unify and mobilize the greater New Orleans community, particularly through social media.
“Everybody has limited resources, so when one school has an event it makes sense for us to support each other,” said Walter Kimbrough, president of Dillard University, who brought a contingent of Dillard students who sat alongside Xavier officials, including C. Reynold Verret, Xavier’s president.
Last week where several local universities addressed some of President Donald Trump’s executive orders university officials said these public lectures were timely.
“At this moment we had a unified voice. We got to be loud together,” Amber Davis-Prince, Xavier’s director for Campus Activities. “So I was looking for a speaker whose been vocal in media. A speaker who understands and can communicate the needs of HBCUs, and speak to a struggle, speak to Trump,” Davis said about Hill.
But first, young people must remain focused, Hill told the audience. Instead of focusing on the Flint water crisis or the Dakota Access pipeline, young Black people spend too much time on Beyonce’s pregnancy announcement and celebrity gossip, Hill said. He urged students to get more active through existing organizations, even campus ones like black fraternities and sororities. A new generation of activists are needed to replace the veteran leadership, Hill said.
Hill’s call for activism also attracted students of all races. New Orleans resident Miles Jordan, who attends Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, La. asked Hill how other groups can help work alongside marginalized communities to bring about change.
“It’s important,” said Jordan, who is white, for solidarity among races. “LSU has a program [in] African and African-American studies, and it’s rare that you see any white people [in it],” Jordan said.
Student leaders on both campuses were challenged to take Hill’s call to service while in college and in their careers.
“I felt rejuvenated,” said Jasmine Merlette, Miss Xavier 2016-2017. “I feel empowered to move forward and to stop wallowing,” she said.
Hill said the ability to return to an HBCU for a Black History Month lecture was his way of paying it forward.
“I knew I needed to go back [to an HBCU] to help somebody the same way somebody helped me,” he said. “Right now we find the world pretty messed up. Every battle we have fought in the last 200 years is back on the table,” he said.
This article originally published in the February 13, 2017 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.
