Columbia University associate professor and HuffPost Live host Marc Lamont Hill has gotten himself into hot water after tweeting his backing for infamous cop-killer Mumia Abu-Jamal. For years, Abu-Jamal has received an incredible amount of support from the left in academia.
On Wednesday, Hill wrote, “Happy Birthday to my Brother @MumiaAbuJamal. So grateful to know him, write with him, and struggle for his release from unjust incarceration.” Abu-Jamal is currently serving life in prison after having his death sentence commuted. Hill co-wrote a book with Abu-Jamal in 2011. “Mumia stands as one of the most important voices of his generation,” Hill wrote in another tweet. “One of the leading intellectuals, and reminder that unfreedom lingers.”
But he wasn’t done yet: “Mumia represents a cadre of prison intellectuals, who have articulate [sic] dangerous ideas from the dungeons of American prisons.” Then he added, “I stand with Mumia and fight for his freedom because I believe in his innocence. I have no doubt that he is a political prisoner.”
In 1981, former Black Panther Abu-Jamal shot police officer Daniel Faulkner to death after a traffic stop. Abu-Jamal had a shoulder holster that matched a gun found at the crime scene; the gun had ejected five cartridges. The bullet fragments from Faulkner’s body were consistent with the weapon type. The jury convicted Abu-Jamal in three hours.
Columbia University has never shied away from Hill’s more radical statements. Back in February, Hill old CNN that rogue ex-cop Christopher Dorner, who murdered several police officers, was a “superhero” and a “modern day Django.”
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