Rutgers University professor James Livingston accused of racist rant against whites on social media

Cheryl Makin | Courier News and Home News Tribune

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NEW BRUNSWICK – Another Rutgers University professor has taken to social media to rail against a race — in this case, his own.

In an expletive-laced rant, professor James Livingston complained about "little Caucasian a--holes" as part of a Facebook post Thursday evening.

Livingston, who is white, began his post saying, "OK, officially, I now hate white people." The rant apparently stemmed from an experience that annoyed him at Harlem Shake, restaurant, in New York earlier in the evening, according to The Daily Caller.

On staff as a professor in the history department in the School of Arts and Sciences at Rutgers-New Brunswick since September 2003, Livingston is the author of several books including "The World Turned Inside Out: American Thought and Culture at the End of the 20th Century," "No More Work: Why Full Employment Is A Bad Idea" and "Origins of the Federal Reserve System: Money, Class, and Corporate Capitalism, 1890-1913."

"I am a white people [sic], for God’s sake, but can we keep them — us — us out of my neighborhood?," he said. "I just went to Harlem Shake on 124 and Lenox for a Classic burger to go, that would [be] my dinner, and the place is overrun with little Caucasian a**holes who know their parents will approve of anything they do. Slide around the floor, you little s**thead, sing loudly, you moron. Do what you want, nobody here is gonna restrict your right to be white."

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Livingston's post concluded with "F**k these people” as he also "resigned from his race" and acknowledged he knew it was about access to his dinner.

"F**k you too," were his parting words.

Rutgers is investigating the Facebook post and whether Livingston broke university discrimination and harassment policies. In a statement from the Rutgers University Media Relations department, officials said, "There is no place for racial intolerance at Rutgers. This matter has been referred to the appropriate leaders at the Rutgers-New Brunswick campus, where Dr. Livingston teaches, to determine whether his comments violate university policies prohibiting discrimination and harassment."

This is not the first time Rutgers has had to investigate discriminatory posts by professors. In December, Michael Chikindas, a Rutgers-New Brunswick tenured professor, was relieved of some duties following anti-Semitic remarks he posted on social media.

According to Rutgers officials, Chikindas was "found to have posted extensive bigoted, discriminatory, and anti-Semitic material on social media" earlier in the fall. Chikindas's comments on his Facebook page were first reported by Israellycool.blog and The Algemeiner, a Jewish newspaper in America. According to the reports, he wrote about dozens of anti-Jewish conspiracies, described Judaism as “the most racist religion in the world,” and called Israel a "terrorist country."

There have been other incidences of racism and anti-Semitism reported on campus in the context of white supremacist flyers and swastikas on buildings. Last fall, Rutgers professor Jasbir Puar published a book accusing Israel of "what amounts to a modern blood libel," according to Andrew Getraer, executive director of Rutgers Hillel.

Previously, the Political Science Department employed Mazen Adi, former spokesperson for the Syrian government of Bashar al-Assad to teach international human rights law. Adi had also voiced support for the thoughts spread by Puar "that Israel harvests Palestinian children’s organs for some nefarious cause," Getraer said in December.

According to Rutgers officials, Adi is no longer employed by the university as of summer 2017. Puar remains on staff as an associate professor in the Department of Women's and Gender Studies.

Livingston's original post has since been deleted. In additional posts, Livingston acknowledged Facebook received a complaint about it. The professor said early Friday morning that he was contacted by the social media company in connection with its hate speech policy. Further, he was blocked for 36 hours.

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Livingston continued his diatribe on the subject after quoting the message from Facebook as "This post goes against our Community Standards on hate speech, so only you can see it."

"I've just been told by FB that my rant v, white people makes me dangerous, socially media speaking, even though I'm a white people, or person, or whatever," Livingston said. "But if the question is, what is less than white, only Herrman Melville need apply. and only Moby Dick can answer. But then they're a white whale. Let's ask Benito!"

Later Friday morning, Livingston posted that he did not "get the FB threat thing against me because as far as I can tell, my page is intact, including my earnest, angry, and ridiculous resignation from the white race. As if I could!" Livingston then called upon "Noel Ignatiev," an American author and historian who is known for his work on race and social class and his own call to "abolish whiteness."

"The FB algorithm conjoins the words 'race' and 'hate' and designates the origin, which would be me, as a problem. OK, God knows I am. But not in this regard," he said. "I just don't want little Caucasians overrunning my life, as they did last night. Please God, remand them to the suburbs, where they and their parents can colonize every restaurant, all the while pretending that the idiotic indulgence of their privilege signifies cosmopolitan — you know, as in sophisticated 'European' — commitments."

On Sunday morning Livingston said on Facebook that he was "inundated with hate mail."

"Crazy sh*t out there," he said.

A few hours later on June 3, Livingston added that Facebook won't let him "post about the mostly hilarious email and messages" he has received since Friday.

"Roughly 30 announcing that I'm the racist, not them, three promising bodily harm," Livingston said. "One guy even left me a phone message, which I took as a warm and personal approach to the matter. And the designations! 'Racist F**kstain' is my fave so far. Let's see if this goes through."

On the student rating website RateMyProfessor.com, there were 28 comments about Livingston. Most called the professor "chill," but said he often went on "tangents" and "rambled" in his classroom discussions. He rated a "3.2" out of 5 and was designated "hot" by a chili pepper icon and several agreeing comments. Overall, most said the classwork was not difficult, but they did not intend to take another class with him.

Livingston did not respond to requests for comment.

Staff Writer Cheryl Makin: 732-565-7256; cmakin@gannettnj.com