A man of decency and civility — late Bobby Hill honored

A man of decency. Civility. A true gentleman. A trailblazer.

Those were some of the tributes paid to the late Bobby Hill, Macomb’s
first and only black county commissioner, as the lobby of the county
Administration Building was christened the “Bobby Hill Welcoming
Center” on Wednesday.

Dozens of current and former county officials, community leaders, and
family and friends gathered for a ceremony in the airy, mostly glass
lobby to memorialize Hill, who died last April at age 81.

The labeling of the distinctive downtown Mount Clemens building’s
first floor in memory of Hill is believed to be the first time a public
space in the county has been named after an African-American.

“Throughout his life, he had to break through color lines. But he
forged on without hesitation,” said Veronica Robinson, Hill’s daughter,
who attended the festivities along with her sister, Andrea Hill Jackson,
and two of the former commissioner’s granddaughters. “He … realized
that he would be the first in some circumstances, and the only in
others.”

A longtime Mount Clemens resident, Hill served 20 years as a Mount
Clemens school administrator, was elected to the Mount Clemens City
Commission from 1979-89, and held office as a county commissioner from
1990-2006.

A product of the segregated South, Hill was born in Clarksville,
Texas, one of eight children. As a teen he excelled in both sports and
academics, holding positions of football captain, choral and band club
president and class president. He also was a member of the drama team.

But drama was not his style in the political arena. An Air Force
veteran, Hill was known for his soft-spoken, gentlemanly approach toward
issues, no matter how heated the debate. Throughout his years in city
and county government, the Democrat routinely won election from a
white-majority electorate.

Wednesday’s event was held in conjunction with Black History Month
and Greg Murray, an activist in the local black community and a Hill
protégé on the Mount Clemens school board, referred to Hill as a role
model for African-Americans because he had broken racial barriers.

But Murray also remembered his mentor as a collaborator and a “smooth
operator,” who adopted a “white glove mentality” so as to tread
carefully and not damage the path forward for other African-Americans
who would follow in his footsteps.