GoFundMe fundraiser<\/a> launched by Windrush campaigner Patrick Vernon on Saturday afternoon passed \u00a3107,000 (\u20ac125,000) of its \u00a3110,000 (\u20ac129,000) target on Sunday evening.<\/p>\nWriting on the crowdfunder\u2019s webpage, Vernon paid tribute to the \u201cpioneering\u201d academic.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cI was one of the people who publicly supported Jason during the recent controversy because I was deeply concerned about the nature and intensity of the attacks directed towards him.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was also subject to media scrutiny for signing the letter of support and challenged in supporting Jason.<\/p>\n
\u201cFollowing his death, my immediate concern is now for Jason\u2019s family.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am therefore establishing this fund to help contribute towards funeral, memorial and associated family costs and to provide practical support during an unimaginably difficult period.\u201d<\/p>\n
The organisation Stand Up To Racism has announced plans for a vigil in Arday\u2019s memory.<\/p>\n
It will be held on the steps of the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square, central London, at 6pm on Monday.<\/p>\n
The group\u2019s co-convenor, Weyman Bennett, said in a statement: \u201cJason Arday\u2019s death is a tragedy \u2013 but make no mistake, it was the result of a racist witch hunt.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor more than a week, the right-wing press, politicians and the far right have hounded Jason with the most vicious racism.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey are spreading the far right lie that black people are only appointed because of the colour of our skin, rather than our ability.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey have blood on their hands. Our thoughts are with Jason\u2019s family, but we are furious with those who are to blame. Enough is enough.\u201d<\/p>\n
UK prime minister Andy Burnham described the professor\u2019s death as a \u201ctragedy\u201d and called for a \u201cmoment of reflection\u201d.<\/p>\n
Burnham told reporters during a visit to Cornwall: \u201cIt\u2019s a tragedy on so many levels, but particularly just for everybody who knew Jason, his family obviously, his friends. We think of them today.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not a moment for any rushing to judgment. It\u2019s a moment for reflection, I would say, reflecting on how things came to this.<\/p>\n
\u201cA really sad, sad and sorry state of affairs and I think we all today think of Jason, his contribution, and his family and friends.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the hours before he died, Arday told University of Cambridge professor, and director of the Autism Research Centre, Simon Baron-Cohen that he \u201ccouldn\u2019t go on\u201d.<\/p>\n
Baron-Cohen told the BBC: \u201cHe was being subjected to relentless scrutiny, including ridicule, discrediting absolutely every detail of his life, and he wasn\u2019t coping with the loss of his career, the loss of his reputation, and he felt he couldn\u2019t go on.\u201d<\/p>\n
In a statement issued by his publisher Simon & Schuster UK on Friday, Arday\u2019s family said: \u201cJason was subjected to a campaign of sustained abuse for the more than three years since he accepted the role of professor at Cambridge University by those who would leave no stone unturned in their quest to undermine him.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe campaign of misinformation was too much for Jason, who was a gentle man and who always wanted to see the best in everyone.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are in shock to have lost this amazing father, partner, brother, uncle and son.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe won\u2019t comment further at this point beyond asking the press to leave us alone now, and to stop the campaign of harassment which has been waged against Jason and his family for too long.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A FUNDRAISER FOR the family of former Cambridge professor Jason Arday has topped \u00a3107,000 (\u20ac125,000). Arday resigned from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":642005,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[41],"tags":[271536,9,10,135768,271537,13,14,6,263315,11,12,130,15,16,5,271538,7,8,1294,19561,65,66,67],"class_list":["post-642004","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-world","tag-battersea","tag-breaking-news","tag-breakingnews","tag-condolences","tag-crowdfunding-page","tag-featured-news","tag-featurednews","tag-headlines","tag-jason-arday","tag-latest-news","tag-latestnews","tag-london","tag-main-news","tag-mainnews","tag-news","tag-plagiarism-allegations","tag-top-stories","tag-topstories","tag-uk","tag-university-of-cambridge","tag-world","tag-world-news","tag-worldnews"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/117111628073532292","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/642004","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=642004"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/642004\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/642005"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=642004"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=642004"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=642004"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}