Cliff Kincaid, News with Views, September 30, 2009
The “conservative” Fox News Channel (FNC) has hired Marc Lamont Hill, a public supporter of convicted cop-killer Assata Shakur, as a paid “analyst” and “contributor.” He has appeared on “The O’Reilly Factor,” hosted by Bill O’Reilly, more often than other FNC programs.
A member of the Black Liberation Army (BLA), a group that worked with the communist terrorist Weather Underground, Assata Shakur, also known as Joanne Chesimard, killed New Jersey State Trooper Werner Foerster “execution style” by shooting him in the head as he lay wounded by gunfire, according to the State Troopers Association of New Jersey. She was convicted of murder and went to prison but escaped to Cuba.
The Officer Down Memorial Page features a page in honor of Foerster. He was only 34 years old when he was killed. The killer is still “at large,” being protected by Communist Cuba.
The decision to feature Hill as a paid FNC commentator has infuriated supporters of the police and law enforcement.
Hill, a fast-talking commentator, is described on his own website as someone who specializes in hip-hop culture and “started a literacy project that uses hip-hop culture to increase school engagement and reading skills among high school students.” It also says that he works with the ACLU Drug Reform Project, “focusing on drug informant policy.” The ACLU favors legalization of all drugs.
{snip}
As a commentator on issues that go far beyond his expertise on hip-hop culture, Hill was recently on the Greta Van Susteren Fox News Channel show defending Obama’s ousted green jobs czar, Van Jones, a communist who also had a record of anti-police agitation. Hill said, “. . . it’s so disappointing that the Obama administration didn’t fight for Van Jones. They put him up there. They hired the guy. And then throw him under the bus when it’s politically expedient. It’s very disappointing.”
{snip}
What’s more, an article on his web page, which appears under Hill’s by-line and photo, declares that Shakur, who is still on the FBI’s Most Wanted List, is “one of the great heroes in the Black Freedom Struggle” and proclaims, “Mother Assata: I am eternally grateful for your life and example. I give thanks to the ancestors for you. I pray for your continued protection and pledge to support you and our people until I die. In Beautiful Struggle, Marc.”
{snip}
He emphasized that he doesn’t support a cop-killer. “If I thought that she had done it, I would not support her,” he said. That goes without saying. Who in their right mind would support a convicted cop-killer?
However, the FBI is currently offering a reward of up to $1,000,000 for information directly leading to the apprehension of Shakur. This didn’t stop Hill from supporting her.
Convicted in the 1973 murder of New Jersey State Trooper Werner Foerster, she escaped from prison in 1979 with the help of members of the communist terrorist Weather Underground and Black Liberation Army and eventually fled to Cuba, where she received political asylum from the Castro government.
While Hill disputed reports that Shakur shot Foerster in the head, the website of America’s Most Wanted, a Fox program, describes what happened this way: “On May 2, 1973, New Jersey State Police Troopers James Harper and Werner Foerster were patrolling the New Jersey Turnpike in the East Brunswick area. They stopped a car with three occupants and began to question them. The female passenger, JoAnne Chesimard, was a member of the Black Liberation Army. She suddenly pulled out a semi-automatic pistol and opened fire. Trooper Foerster was struck twice in the chest and Trooper Harper was hit in the shoulder. Chesimard then picked up Trooper Foerster’s service weapon and shot him twice in the head, execution style, while he lay in the road.”
The attack on Foerster also took the life in the gun battle of Shakur’s associate, Zayd Shakur. Former Weather Underground terrorist leaders Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn named one of their children after Zayd Shakur, who now goes under the name of “Zayd Dohrn” and is a playwright today.
Hill, described as “one of the leading hip-hop generation intellectuals in the country,” appears regularly on programs such as “The O’Reilly Factor,” “Huckabee,” and “Hannity,” according to his website. He is on the faculty of Columbia University as Associate Professor of Education at Teachers College.
{snip}
Alluding to the involvement of other terrorists in getting Shakur out of prison after her murder conviction, the article on Hill’s website which appears under his photo and by-line says that “Fortunately, with the help of her comrades and the ancestors, Assata was able to escape the belly of the beast in 1979 and emerge safely in Cuba, where she’s been granted protection as a political prisoner. Despite the relentless efforts of the federal and state government, she remains safe in one of the last remaining palenques on Earth.” Palenque is said to be a term for a runaway location where Africans can take refuge.
But when asked about the comments, Hill repeated that “I didn’t write that” and “I didn’t post that.” He said he only supports people not being held in prison who are innocent. “I don’t support violence or terrorism of any sort,” he said.
Marc Lamont Hill.