๐๐ฎ๐๐ผ๐ป ๐๐ฟ๐ฑ๐ฎ๐ ๐ผ๐ป ๐๐ ๐๐ถ๐ป๐ฑ
As I sit in the belly of sadness regarding the recent unfortunate events in relation to Jason Arday, I think I have a few things to say.
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Even though Iโve largely excused myself from joining the Jason Arday conversation online, I cannot unread some of the things I have read, and there are just a few things that I think we must bring back to our consciousness.
- Cofnas calling himself a โrace realistโ is him telling us that heโs a racist. There is no other way to put it. Because how can there be โrace realismโ if race itself is a social construct and a tool of white supremacy? Someone of high IQ, not bereft of emotional intelligence and interconnection with others, would know that. He would also know that being neurodivergent means some people might process things differently within the spectrum of intelligence. But, not when he had a cruel agenda backed by other white supremacistsโฆ
2. Any African or Black person who is engaging in this representational burden, where we put pressure on somebody else to be the representative of Blackness, to make no mistakes, to not live their own life, but to answer for the entire Black community and ancestry, must understand that this is us giving whiteness the upper hand to decide who we are in this world. Thatโs still us being under oppression and someone elseโs control. Someone is playing the piper and dictating the tune. At this juncture, I hope Leila Djansi in particular gets this memo because her position on Ghbase News, where she openly blamed Arday for lying and said that this attack is not racially motivated, is blatant ignorance.
3. Anybody who is still excusing what happened with and to Jason Arday as purely a meritocracy and accountability issue, and not racialized hounding and witch-hunting, to the point of his demise, is so delusional and needs to really take a break and go and meditate for a bit. Many of us, including myself, were initially misinformed. We were swept along the smear campaign against Arday, where it was easy to call him a fabulist and fabricator without enough facts. We were swayed to judge someone we knew nothing about, too quickly and too soon, to the point of thinking he weaponised his mental health to avoid accountability for his actions. Facts are now emerging to the contrary, making it clear why Simon & Schuster were pushing ahead to publish his memoir, ๐ฎ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐ผ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ป๐๐๐๐๐, amidst the torrential cyber attacks.
For me, I am continually finding our humanity questionable. We think this is civilisation, but if you look keenly enough, you will see how the past is interwoven with the present. The pillory, the gallows and lynching are happening right in front of us, and not in any historical books or films, but on social media and in mainstream media. And without throwing a physical stone, Arday was lynched to death. Right there while we all continue to consume orchestrated fables. Without question, Massa metaphorically led Arday to the gallows, netizens pilloried and lynched, and now he is dead.
How I wish I could say weโve learnt our sorry lessonsโฆ That we will be more compassionate, ask complex questions, be suspicious and curious, and lead accountability processes through restorative justice pathways. That we will be less punitive and judgemental in our approaches towards people whose shoes weโve never walked in. That we will be more invested in reducing harm instead of increasing itโฆ
How I wish.
