News Release

Heard on campus – Marc Lamont Hill

March 2, 2009

Marc Lamont Hill has a message for the Hip-Hop Generation – think, act, love, and be brave.

Considered one of America’s youngest members of the growing body of “Hip-Hop Intellectuals,” Hill brought his message of hope and deep reflection to the Morrison Gallery in the Penn State Harrisburg library Tuesday, Feb. 24.

“Every generation has a mission,” Hill said directing his message to the young college students in the audience. “As a generation and a nation we must listen carefully and form coalitions that are about connectivity. Listen to the suffering of others or no one will have freedom.” And, he said, “It takes generational listening; listen to the stories and narratives of those generations who came before.”

Hill, a faculty member at Temple University, advised the youths to “never forget the past” and to learn from it. “America is obsessed with memory, but yet forgets the pain of the underside. We as a generation have to go out and do something. Confront the world and push back against those who promote suffering. Protest, organize, form organizations and respond to need.”

That listening and deep thinking he terms “critical reflection” includes an encouragement to question the status quo. “Question what’s going on: why we have first class prisons and second class schools; why there are gangs; why there are drugs. Until we do that, we won’t win.”

His call for critical thinking was supported by his encouragement for bravery coupled with love. “Act bravely and go beyond just talk – place a spotlight on injustice,” he says. “Your responsibility as a community is to be thoughtful, articulate, and complex about what are the problems, coupled with a deep and profound love for people. Be driven by a sense of hope that the world can be better.”

He concluded with a message for the black community to have eternal hope and not be a prisoner of circumstances. “That kind of hope led to a skinny senator from Illinois being elected President of the United States.”