The suicide of Prof. Jason Arday speaks to the larger issue of modern-day lynching of minority in a European-dominated world... The story is the same everywhere - U.S., Canada, EU.... The door is often closed on you because of the color of your skin... They frequently talk about meritocracy, but underlying bias fuels reasons why many people of African descent are ignored in top positions. Before you open your mouth, you are already being second-guessed. I face this daily in my job here in the U.S. on many fronts - they never believe you are fit for your position, you are excluded from opportunities deliberately, you are talked down at, you are ignored when you seek support, and the worst of it is that you are SCRUTINIZED all the time... You are told to your face you are not good enough... This is in the face of your unmatched outstanding RECORDS that transcend just one unit or organization that prove otherwise... the records do not matter; you have to do it over again all the time that you are fit... You have to prove almost all the time you are qualified to sit where you are seated... You cannot afford to make mistakes like any human being when you are in a position; otherwise, it is a trait of an unqualified and incompetent person from "shithole continent," right?
But when a 27-year old is made media secretary to the most powerful president in the world because of big mouth, she is not DEI; when an unqualified junior officer is made the head of Generals who are thousands of years combined more experienced than him and are made to salute him and take stupid orders from him or get fired, he is not DEI, but qualified; when lawyers who have never argued a case once in their career are made judges because of their political declaration and affiliation, they are deemed qualified... they are protected and treated as sacred...
For Africans not to incur the wrath of Europeans who dominate our world, they have to be the best of us in and out - otherwise, they are dead on arrival...Obama had to be perfect - perfect wife (zero cheating scandal, no divorce), perfect education (Ivy League graduate), perfect life, perfect father to his children, and super smart - sometimes have to be a "white apologist" to be given a chance...
Arday's story is sad because he was made a poster child of diversity at Cambridge University, and he was then publicly lynched when it appears he had shortcomings. If Jason was guilty as accused, why not investigate and mete out to him what people who lie and cheat face...? Why tag him and make a public charade of him...? Why humiliate him and bully him to death?
What the media and many right-wing racist groups and political parties did to Arday is tantamount to cyber and media BULLYING... If someone did that in any sane organization, they would be fired and, in some cases, prosecuted for causing the death of another human through vile comments...
The right-wing media are seizing on Arday's story to attack DEI impact as if DEI is about fielding incompetent people for positions, or as if it is a zero-sum or replacement theory.
I hope the UK government examines some of its laws and makes changes that will ensure this type of cyber-bullying does not occur again in the name of journalism and freedom of expression.
But when a 27-year old is made media secretary to the most powerful president in the world because of big mouth, she is not DEI; when an unqualified junior officer is made the head of Generals who are thousands of years combined more experienced than him and are made to salute him and take stupid orders from him or get fired, he is not DEI, but qualified; when lawyers who have never argued a case once in their career are made judges because of their political declaration and affiliation, they are deemed qualified... they are protected and treated as sacred...
For Africans not to incur the wrath of Europeans who dominate our world, they have to be the best of us in and out - otherwise, they are dead on arrival...Obama had to be perfect - perfect wife (zero cheating scandal, no divorce), perfect education (Ivy League graduate), perfect life, perfect father to his children, and super smart - sometimes have to be a "white apologist" to be given a chance...
Arday's story is sad because he was made a poster child of diversity at Cambridge University, and he was then publicly lynched when it appears he had shortcomings. If Jason was guilty as accused, why not investigate and mete out to him what people who lie and cheat face...? Why tag him and make a public charade of him...? Why humiliate him and bully him to death?
What the media and many right-wing racist groups and political parties did to Arday is tantamount to cyber and media BULLYING... If someone did that in any sane organization, they would be fired and, in some cases, prosecuted for causing the death of another human through vile comments...
The right-wing media are seizing on Arday's story to attack DEI impact as if DEI is about fielding incompetent people for positions, or as if it is a zero-sum or replacement theory.
I hope the UK government examines some of its laws and makes changes that will ensure this type of cyber-bullying does not occur again in the name of journalism and freedom of expression.
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