Dr. Russell Rickford is an associate professor of history at Cornell University. According to his university biography, Dr. Rickford “specializes in African-American political culture after World War II, the Black Radical Tradition, and transnational social movements.” In his various writings and teaching materials, Dr. Rickford frequently condemns the nation of Israel and alleges that the United States was founded on slavery and white supremacy.

In a book titled Beyond Boundaries: The Manning Marable Reader, Dr. Rickford alleges that Israel bears ultimate responsibility for the 9/11 terrorist attacks. On page 276, Dr. Rickford states: “The US media and opinion makers repeatedly went out of their way to twist the facts and distort the political realities of the Middle East by insisting that Osama bin Laden’s group’s murderous assaults had nothing to do with Israel’s policies towards the Palestinians. Nobody else in the world, with the possible exception of the Israeli’s, really believes that.”

In a paper for The New Labor Forum (a labor journal published by the Murphy Institute at the CUNY School of Labor and Urban Studies) titled Black Lives Matter: Toward a Modern Practice of Mass Struggle, Dr. Rickford praises the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement as having “reinvigorated confrontation politics.” He describes the tactics of BLM as a commitment to “militancy,” referencing their history of “occupying highways, intersections, sporting events, retail stores, malls, campaign events, police stations, and municipal buildings.”

According to a study conducted by the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED), BLM can be linked to 95% of the riots around the country–notably in Summer 2020 following the death of George Floyd. In an analysis of the study, The Federalist found that “of the 633 incidents coded as riots, 88 percent are recorded as involving Black Lives Matter Activists.” The resulting riots were the largest in American history, causing an estimated $2 billion in damages and 47 deaths.

Dr. Rickford believes the motivations behind BLM riots are “police aggression and racist violence” instigated by law enforcement. Dr. Rickford claims that white supremacy serves as the framework of our criminal justice system—causing law enforcement agencies to view BLM protestors as “enemy combatants.”

Throughout his career, Dr. Rickford has delivered racially charged speeches and lectures. During a September 2014 protest at Cornell University, Dr. Rickford can be heard telling students that each of them benefits from white supremacy.

The full speech, captured by the Cornell Review, may be viewed below.

Also in a 2014 lecture captured by The Cornell Review, Dr. Rickford urged his students to find white people that are “ready to commit race suicide” on behalf of BLM and other racial justice movements.

In a video captured at a BLM protest in 2016, Dr. Rickford tells a crowd of students and activists that a segment of white America is “overtly, irredeemably racist.”

In an article for CounterPunch, Dr. Rickford states bluntly that America was founded on genocide and slavery. He made a similar claim in a 2019 speech at the Vigil to End Human Concentration Camps in Ithaca, NY.

Cornell University frequently welcomes Dr. Rickford to campus to discuss policing, racism, and white supremacy. He has also spoken at anti-Israel protests at Cornell.

The Professor Watchlist Team has reached out to Dr. Rickford for comment but has not received a reply as of publication.

Parents and Students may contact the College of Arts and Sciences at Cornell University at (607) 255-1097.

Updated – May, 2021