Jason Arday: Former Cambridge university professor found dead
Oluwatoyin Adepoju
Michael Afolayan
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Cornelius Hamelberg
None of this of course having to do with his academic prowess:
Jason Arday : a list of contested claims about his life story. (Microsoft Edge
Jason Arday : a list of contested claims about his life story. ( Google
“No foul play”, but according to Professor Simon Baron-Cohen, they more or less hounded Jason Arday to death…
No one is being accused, and we are not privy to the exact details of the last hours of his life, but In the precarious situation this sensitive, vulnerable soul found himself in, when he would most need some round-the-clock professional psychological counselling and other emotional support in order to cope with the stress, it’s all the more amazing that apparently he was alone - or left alone, in solitude in that flat, to brave the malicious onslaught, possibly even receiving threatening phone calls, afraid to go out to face the vicious unknown ….
When dear friend Bedu Annan departed from this life by self-annihilation I discussed the tragedy with Sheldon Litt , a psychologist and he told me that when a man does that it’s either one of two things: Woman or money problems.
Bedu was in the phase known as manic-depressive
We also know that there’s this other emotional factor :Sense of honour
Salimonu Kadiri
Sent: 16 August 2026 16:05
To: USA Africa Dialogue Series <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Jason Arday: Former Cambridge university professor found dead
Cornelius Hamelberg
Before the shouts about heinous racism start getting too shrill, well, there's always the incontestable academic pedigree of e.g. Kwame Anthony Appiah a distinguished son of Black Star Ghana and Cambridge to write home about.
In his case no cries of plagiarism, radical woke-ism or crucify him!
In multi-racial Britain there was also Benjamin Zephaniah
The first time (very recently) that I looked at a photo of the dearly departed Jason Arday and saw his long hair braids, which must have taken some time to cultivate and meticulously groom to such fashionable lengths, unmistakably, I thought of the hair theme in Adichie’s Americanah and these verses of prayer that beseech the Almighty -
“That You do not bring us into the power of error,
nor into the power of transgression and sin;
nor into the power of challenge,
nor into the power of scorn
let not the Evil Inclination dominate us;
distance us from an evil person and an evil companion;
attach us to the Good Inclination
and to good deeds ….
that You rescue me today and every day
from brazen men and from brazenness
from an evil man, from an evil companion,
from an evil neighbour, from an evil mishap,
from a destructive spiritual impediment,
from a harsh trial, and from a harsh opponent…. “
The centre of gravity there being “the power of challenge” - and in the tragic case of Jason Arday at Cambridge I guess that to start with, the power of challenge must have been symbolised by his revolutionary hairstyle further reinforced by his having said that he was on a mission to correct some of the racism that’s inherent in the system and that his position at Cambridge (hopefully a safe haven) was going to be the epicentre of his acting locally and expanding the fight for justice and racial equality, globally.
That of course wouldn't sound like music in the ears of Baba Kadiri’s super-villain Nathan Cofnas and his disciples….
