Historically, mainstream American history excluded black Americans’ contributions to U.S. society and typically demeaned black Americans as racial inferior. Only since the civil rights movement have African Americans and other racial minorities gained much deserved recognition. Black History Month remains an important American institution (regardless of the criticisms that have been launched against it) because it attempts to repair the accumulated damage that racism and historical amnesia have wreaked on American culture and society. In this presentation, Dr. Hill argues that Black History Month has become a comforting ritual for congratulating ourselves on how far we as a nation have come rather than critical assessing the work that remains to be done.

Since the police killing of unarmed 18 year old Michael Brown and especially after the police killing of 12 year old Tamir Rice, black Americans have increasingly labeled police killings as modern day lynching. In a provocative lecture, Dr. Hill explores what are the implications of embracing or rejecting police killings of unarmed blacks as lynchings and why this discussion matters.

Black Lives Matter activists contend that better officer training is not enough to solve the problem of police brutality. Rather true change, won’t arrive until police officers officers who clearly violate established protocols are held accountable for using deadly force against non-threatening and unarmed blacks. Dr. Hill explains what has happened and what needs to happen to transform policing in America.

Today and in recent years, black-on-black homicides are the leading cause of death among black males between the ages 15 and 34. The vast majority of these deaths involve a hand gun. Dr. Hill explains why black America is experiencing unprecedented rates of handgun violence and steps black communities afflicted with the epidemic are taking to make their communities safer.

Despite the fact that is more likely that a domestic terrorist is a young white male and that white Americans have a more extensive history of terrorism against minority population in the U.S., Arab Americans are routinely portrayed as terrorists. In a wide-ranging discussion of topics such as the history Ku Klux Klan to contemporary white prison gangs, Dr. Hill debunks the pervasive myth of the Arab terrorist.

From antilynching activist Ida B. Wells to the Black Panther Party for Self Defense, African Americans have been some of the most ardent supporters of the second amendment. Black support for gun rights belies that fact that they have been disproportionately victims of gun-related fatalities. In a thought provoking lecture, Dr. Hill explains how Americans can gain greater clarity on the gun debate by understanding the black historical experience.