Karen Hunter
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Karen Hunter is an American journalist and writing collaborator. She has co-authored books with Queen Latifah, Al Sharpton, Mason Betha, Karrine Steffans, LL Cool J, Wendy Williams, JL King and Cedric the Entertainer [1].
Hunter spent four years as a part of the New York Daily News' seven-member editorial board. In 1999, she was a concurrent member of respective news teams that won the Pulitzer Prize and the Polk Award. Prior to that she was the paper’s first African-American female columnist. She joined the newspaper as a sports writer in 1988, then wrote features and business stories.
Hunter has a B.A. in English Literature from Drew University. In January 2002, Karen was appointed by the Hunter College administration as an Assistant Visiting Professor in the Department of Film and Media Studies, circumventing normal hiring procedure. For the 2006-2007 academic year, she has been given a full-time appointment under the title, Distinguished Lecturer. The position is renewable annually.
Between 1996 and 1998, she taught journalism at New York University.
In 2006 she left her position as a morning talk show host on New York station (1600 AM) WWRL. Her departure followed the dissolution of an early morning team comprised of her and WABC personality Steve Malzberg.
Hunter resides in Orange, New Jersey.
[edit] Controversy
In the Jan 31st edition of "Paula Zahn Now," Hunter was invited to be on a panel of guests to discuss two stories in which a family of atheists were harassed, ostracized and threatened.[2] Hunter incorrectly asserted that atheists believe "nothing" and joined right wing pundit Debbie Schlussel in agreeing that atheists should "just shut up." Hunter also incorrectly stated that atheists had "taken prayer" from "our" schools (in fact, Engel v. Vitale, the ruling in question, declared government-led prayer in public schools unconstitutional, not prayers in school in general, and the case was brought by a coalition of non-believers and Jewish groups).
Hunter's comments on the CNN program has given rise to a great deal of discussion at Hunter and beyond, particularly on YouTube, were the CNN piece has drawn a great deal of attention. While many faculty and students uphold Prof. Hunter's constitutional right to speak her mind, others are bothered by what she had to say, her expressed disrespect for the right of free speech for people in disagreement with her.
Another issue that led to concern were Hunter's and other panelists' assertion that the United States is a "Christian Nation." It has been pointed out that nothing in the United States Constitution or subsequent federal legislation has defined the country as such, and that such assertions have a long association with the history of American intolerance, from the Ku Klux Klan to the powerful American eugenics movement that sponsored anti-immigration and forced sterilization laws between 1900 and the 1930s.
