Walter Jack Lanier

For weeks, some racist Western media outlets published story after story against Professor Jason Arday, at times every few hours, branding him a plagiarist. They hounded him relentlessly, and the pressure became too much for him. He committed suicide in August, aged just 41. This week, he was cleared of plagiarism yet again. A fresh investigation by the academic publisher Taylor & Francis found nothing to support the allegations. Of the four formal investigations into his work, not one substantiated the charge. The same publications that hunted him are now silent. They have not corrected their reporting, and they have not had the decency to admit they were wrong. This is how hard it is to be Black in a deeply racist world, and to succeed where they expect you to fail. Even those who present themselves as the moral conscience of the Western world have nothing to say. In a shameful act, the Oxford Reform Society has invited Nathan Cofnas, the self-described "race realist" who first raised the plagiarism allegations against Professor Arday, to speak at Oriel College next month. Oriel College, the home of Cecil John Rhodes’ statue. These institutions are racist. Sadly, Black leaders have failed to build rival institutions that give Black people respect and intellectual dignity. We are forced to endure disrespect because our leadership has failed us completely. Black billionaires line up to hand money to these institutions in exchange for meaningless honorary titles, instead of building our own. May Professor Arday's soul rest in peace. You were hounded to your death by publications that today do not even have the shame to admit they were wrong.