Marc Lamont Hill talks BLM, mass incarceration in America and his new show on Vh1

Jul 18, 2016

[griojw id=”WhFHQZfG” playerid=”GqX43ZoG”]

CNN political contributor and BET News host Dr. Marc Lamont Hill says there is a “war on the vulnerable” going on in America that has to stop.

In light of the shootings of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile by police officers, Hill spoke to theGrio’s Natasha Alford about the institutional and structural problems in this country that have lead to the deaths of many black men and women in America.

In his newest book, Nobody: Casualties of America’s War on the Vulnerable, from Ferguson to Flint and Beyond, Hill goes into a deeper analysis of the country’s “state of emergency” in reference to race and class relations.

Hill said of his book:

“I wanted to tell the story of Ferguson. I wanted to tell the story of Mike Brown, because when I saw Mike Brown, I saw somebody who wasn’t merely killed by a police officer’s bullet… Darren Wilson is the reason he died that day, but a bunch of stuff, before he even meets Darren Wilson happens for him to be in this place. Things that render him, as the girl who told me when he laid there, ‘Like he ain’t belong to nobody.'”

—Marc Lamont Hill gets live talk show on VH1

—CNN panel explodes: Marc Lamont Hill slams female conservative for being ‘sexist’ comments

Hill also discussed the efforts of the Black Lives Matter movement and how everyday people can actively demand justice from officials and lawmakers. According to Hill, it starts with a dialogue.

“We’ll say in a minute, ‘The school system’s broken. My mom’s a good teacher, I had a good teacher, but the school system is still broken.’ We don’t deny that,” said Hill. “But with police officers, it’s as if we can’t say the system is broken. We’re like trained to not be able to say that.”

—Melissa Harris-Perry to join BET News as ‘special correspondent’

Hill premiered his new show ‘VH1 Live!’ on Sunday on VH1 and will be reporting from the Republican National Convention with Melissa Harris Perry for BET News.

Check out his full interview below and join the conversation on theGrio’s Facebook page.