The Columbia student activist who was banned from campus after a resurfaced video showed them calling for the murder of Zionists once told a hometown committee meeting that they “hate white people” and expressed interest in working for far-left “Squad” member Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
Khymani James, 20, grew up in Boston and graduated from the Boston Latin Academy in 2021, according to a profile in the Bay State Banner.
They were accepted early to Columbia, where they said they planned to study economics and political science.
“The ultimate destination is Congress,” James told the outlet, noting that they also hoped to work with Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) during college.
James’ feelings about AOC, however, seemed to have changed in the past three years: On Friday, they retweeted an X post that slammed her visit to the Columbia tent encampment as “co-optation.”
The Post has reached out to Ocasio-Cortez for comment.
During high school, James was a non-voting student rep on the Boston School Committee, which oversees the city’s public schools, the Boston Globe reported.
On the committee, they developed a reputation for being vocal on issues like budget cuts and school reopening plans during the COVID-19 pandemic, the outlet noted.
They resigned in March 2021, a move they chalked up to “blatant disrespect and adultist rhetoric,” according to an X post.
James and six other students also stepped down from the Boston Student Advisory Council, Boston.com reported at the time.
After their resignation, James sparked controversy by saying during a committee meeting that “I, too, hate white people” while discussing two former members accused of discriminating against white people, the Boston Globe said.
One X user posted a clip of the comment and tagged Columbia with the caption, “Is this the type of student you want at your school?”
James, however, doubled down.
“I stand firm on everything that I say/do,” they wrote. “I made my honest testimony unapologetically as a Black man in America and I won’t be apologizing for anything.”
James’ academic standing at Columbia is currently unclear after they were formally banned from campus on Friday in response to backlash to a resurfaced video of them saying “Zionists don’t deserve to live.”
“Be grateful that I’m not just going out and murdering Zionists,” James said in the clip, which was captured while they were being questioned by officials from Columbia’s Center for Student Success and Intervention over a past Instagram post.
“I feel very comfortable, very comfortable, calling for those people to die,” they added when a school official pushed them on the “problematic” statement.
James — who is a spokesperson for the Columbia Apartheid-Divest — issued an apology for the statements on Thursday, but blamed the bulk of the pushback on “far-right agitators.”
They are one of the leaders of the Gaza Solidarity Encampment, which first cropped up on the Morningside Heights campus on April 17.
The tent setup has now been in place for nearly two weeks — even after the NYPD raided the campus and arrested 108 participants.
In a statement issued Friday, Apartheid Divest negotiator Mahmoud Khalil said that the students are not discussing removing the tents until Columbia officials capitulate to their central demands.
By the weekend, the administration’s position appeared to be weakening, as the supposed Friday deadline for the students to clear out came and went without any action.
