TW: the death of Professor Jason Arday, lynch mobs, suicide, death
Since Friday, when our phones first lit up with the devastating news that Professor Jason Arday had been found dead, followed by an outpouring of anger, pain and sadness across our ARC community WhatsApp groups, we have been reeling.
We will have more to say in the coming days and weeks. Including soul-searching about our own role in the toxic environment which killed Jason.
But let’s be clear. Jason’s death was a modern-day, hi-tech lynching. Collectively we have witnessed, and participated in, a racist and unrelenting man-hunt initiated by a racist individual with a white supremacist agenda; and facilitated by an institution who were happy to jump onto the flurry of positive press of his initial hire but quick to abandon at the first sign of trouble. This was then leapt upon by blood-hungry and openly racist press, content creators whose sole concern is engagement over humanity, and a public all too eager to revel in a Black person’s downfall, treating his vulnerability as entertainment.
It hurts. We are still trying to absorb the horrifying loss, and the deep always-there-trauma that his death has further inflamed and agitated.
So right now we want to hold space, and we want to honour a man who was so profoundly dishonoured in his last days.
We don’t want to speak for his loved ones, and we do not want to make him into a two-dimensional example of Black excellence. Instead we want to remember and pay our respects to a human. A person who existed, who loved and was loved, who breathed, and thought, and wrote, and laughed, and cried. Someone who was a living, contradictory, nuanced and flawed individual, in the way all humans are and all the more beautiful for it.
We also want to hold our community close. When someone dies by suicide countless people are impacted and feel that loss – friends, families, communities. So what happens when millions of people are watching through screens? Whilst many of you reading this didn’t personally know Jason, we have all watched his death unfold. This can be especially triggering for people who struggle with mental health or suicidal ideation. Something that is very common, but a struggle which many people suffer silently.
For Black and Brown people watching, Jason’s death is a form of collective racial trauma.
We didn’t just see Jason. We saw all those who came before him.
We all saw past the petulant denials and insistence that this wasn’t about racism. We knew it deep in our bones. If we were in his place it could have been us. It brings all the racism we experience right up to the surface and leaves us confused, tearful, raging and literally incapable of functioning. How many of us have had to go about our days this week, watching a world getting on without a single care for Jason, cutting us to our cores?
If you’re reading this as a white person and you want to understand more about why racism can impact us in this way, start by reading this and this.
Professor Jason Arday, we bid you goodnight. Walk well with the Ancestors 🖤
To honour Jason, and hold space for anyone who needs it, Unify Cumbria will be holding an evening of reflection on the evening of Monday 24th August.
We have been working behind the scenes to organise this, and we will be sharing a specific location and time once this is confirmed with the council.
The evening of reflection is open to all and will be led by Rowan Carr, a Black racial trauma and embodiment practitioner who will hold the space, centering the harm to Black people and the collective grief of us all. As well as just being together in community, the evening will involve some cultural traditional ways of remembering and we will be led through some embodied practices to help us feel our grief and other emotions like anger and fear with dignity and humility. You can participate in a way which feels right for you, and we invite you to come as you are. If you would like to bring a candle you are welcome to do so. We also ask people to bring a stone or a pebble and a marker you can use to write a message on it.
We’ll add more to this deeply layered topic over the coming weeks but for now our focus is on healing and being there for each other.
If you are in crisis, are experiencing suicidal thoughts, or need someone to talk to, we’ve complied a list of places you can get support.
Samaritans. You can contact Samaritans 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Call 116 123 (free from any phone) or visit some branches in person. Welsh Language Line on 0808 164 0123 (7pm–11pm every day).
Papyrus HOPELINEUK. If you’re under 35 and struggling with suicidal feelings, or concerned about a young person who might be struggling, you can call Papyrus HOPELINEUK on 0800 068 4141 (weekdays 10am-10pm, weekends 2pm-10pm and bank holidays 2pm–10pm), text HOPE to 88247 or email pat@papyrus-uk.org
For on-going support and resources:
ARC’s Free Community Safe Space for Healing Racial Trauma: Living Whilst Black
Bayo a hub for resources and support for the Black Community
