A rightwing witch-hunt focused on Jason Arday – but so did legitimate journalism | Hugh Muir

Amid the grief and rage at a tragic loss, it’s right to differentiate between those who fought a culture war and others who just sought the truth Even now it is very difficult to process the scale of tragedy that engulfed Jason Arday and those who loved him.

The unbearable sadness at his death; the wretched knowledge that the very public onslaught against him began with the malign machinations of a self-defined “race realist” – who believes that, in an ideal world, black people would “disappear from almost all high-profile positions outside of sports and entertainment”.

The horror that a rightwing and far-right campaign seeking a victim to fuel its nativist prejudices can now crow that it found one.

There is wide and profound grief and of course there is rage, focused and unfocused.

Both were on display as thousands joined a protest vigil in Trafalgar Square on Monday evening.

Hugh Muir is executive editor, Opinion In the UK, the charity Mind is available on 0300 123 3393 and Childline on 0800 1111.

In the US, call or text Mental Health America at 988 or chat 988lifeline.org.

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