On a day when pundits are being pulled out of the woodwork to honor the deceased candidate who approved the vile, racist Willy Horton campaign ads, the President who enhanced and underscored racial divisions with his crack bag speech from the oval office, the weekend media are notably avoiding any discussion of the latest egregious example of an accurate portrayal of a situation involving a Black American male, kicked out from within their folds. In most media, anything resembling fairness or accuracy in coverage of Dr. Marc Lamont Hill’s firing has been absent.
Unlike Willy Horton or the 1991 DC park crack hustlers, or — most certainly — George H. W. Bush, Dr. Hill is a notable defender of the rights of oppressed people and peoples, whether they are from Ferguson, Missouri, or the gigantic prison camp known as the Gaza Strip. He is currently on the faculty of Temple University, serving as the Steve Charles Professor of Media, Cities, and Solutions. He has written or contributed to four books on culture, centering increasingly on issues regarding oppression and race. I first came upon his writing in my studies of hip hop.
Dr. Hill was fired last week as a paid commentator at CNN for saying the following at a UN address at an event that acknowledges solidarity with the aspirations of the Palestinian people:
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.
The phrase “a free Palestine from the river to the sea” was seen by militant Zionists and conservative pro-Israeli media as anti-Semitic, because of its use in the past by organizations and individuals who seek the elimination, truncation, diminution or alteration of the borders or occupational authority of Israel. Prof. Hill, upon his CNN termination, defined his use of the term:
My reference to “river to the sea” was not a call to destroy anything or anyone. It was a call for justice, both in Israel and in the West Bank/Gaza. The speech very clearly and specifically said those things. No amount of debate will change what I actually said or what I meant.
Incoming freshman U.S. House Representative Rashida Tlaib defended Hill, writing on Twitter:
Calling out the oppressive policies in Israel, advocating for Palestinians to be respected, and for Israelis and Palestinians alike to have peace and freedom is not antisemitic. @CNN, we all have a right to speak up about injustice any and everywhere
Meanwhile, at the same time when many members of her Party are signing on to legislation that might truncate fee speech for those, who like Rep-elect Tlaib, support BDS (as I do), organizations continue to push back against Israeli policies that are hard to define in positive terms, especially by people believing in human rights.
In late November, Airbnb announced it will no longer list rental properties in illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank (excluding expanded Jerusalem). They’ve come under fire, but aren't backing down.
In mid-November, the United Kingdom Quakers announced they will divest from any corporations that profit from the occupation of Palestinian territory.
2019 will probably see:
° More firings or disciplining of American academics and other commentators expressing solidarity with Palestinian aspirations.
° More Christian organizations supporting Palestinian aspirations.
° Deepening divisions in the USA between so-called “liberal Zionists” and young adult Jews.
° and — hopefully — more honest, open discussion of topics important to Palestinians in fora which actually allow Palestinians to be given their own voices.
Since my late youth and early adulthood, I’ve gone from being an almost fanatical supporter of Israel and militant expansionist Zionism to an ardent believer in a single state in what was once called Palestine, in which all who live there have equal rights in every meaningful way. Although seeing Prof. Hill dealt with so abruptly by CNN troubles me, I expect that some year soon, he and other advocates for justice toward Palestinians will be recognized for their humanity, rather than castigated, maligned and marginalized.
So, I haven’t really answered the question I posed in the headline of this diary. I’m not sure whether I can. Can you?