Rutgers professor posts racially-charged rant on Facebook
James Livingston, a Rutgers University professor in the Department of History, made headlines earlier this month when his visit to a New York City (NYC) eatery lead to a racial rant online.
After leaving Harlem Shake, a casual NYC diner, Livingston posted his frustration at the number of white adolescents at the restaurant on Facebook.
“I just went to Harlem Shake on 124 and Lenox for a Classic burger to go, that would be my dinner [sic], and the place is overrun with little Caucasian a**holes who know their parents will approve of anything they do,” Livingston wrote in a post obtained by The Daily Caller.
Livingston added that he is "resigning" from his race.
“Slide around the floor, you little s***head, sing loudly you unlikely moron. Do what you want, nobody here is gonna restrict your right to be white,” Livingston wrote in the post obtained by The Daily Caller. “I hereby resign from my race. F*** these people. Yeah, I know, it’s about access to my dinner. F*** you too.”
Livingston, who authored “No More Work: Why Full Employment Is A Bad Idea” and “Origins of the Federal Reserve System: Money, Class, and Corporate Capitalism, 1890-1913,” was contacted by Facebook on the night of May 31 about his post and its violation of the site’s hate speech policy, according to The Daily Caller. The post was then deleted.
“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. But if the question is, what is less than white, only (Herman) Melville need apply. and only Moby Dick can answer. But then they're a white whale. Let's ask Benito!” Livingston wrote in a Facebook post.
He then posted, “This post goes against our Community Standards on hate speech, so only you can see it” — presumably quoting the message that appears on posts that violate Facebook’s user policy.
In an email to The Daily Targum, University Spokesperson Dory Devlin 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."
