"The life of a Black, homeless young man in a mental health crisis still has value – or, it should. I believe Daniel Penny was not trying to kill Jordan Neely, on camera, but he did. And while the level of accountability may be difficult to determine, no accountability at all is not an acceptable option. Does anyone doubt that if the roles were reversed, and a white former Marine in a moment of crisis was choked to death by a Black homeless man, there would have been a different outcome?
"This is the result that our mayor and many others wanted – that’s why he said that Penny did what the city 'should have done.' That the right response to a man in desperate need of food and support is violence. Instead of adding services to support people like Jordan Neely, the mayor has added to an environment of fear, rather than one of compassion.
"We don’t know everything that passengers saw or felt on that train car, and can't dismiss any real or realized fears. We do know that neither Blackness nor poverty nor nuisance constitute an imminent threat. Yet this verdict tells people that the system is okay with violence against marginalized people.
"Much has been made of the precedent a guilty verdict would have set, that New Yorkers would no longer intervene to help New Yorkers in need of aid. I am alarmed by the opposite precedent being set forth – another man killed on camera, without any consequences, will only invite more violence.
"Jordan Neely needed aid – and intervention would have meant food, or shelter, or mental health support, or a simple acknowledgement of his humanity. Instead he was met with violence. Jordan Neely is dead, and Daniel Penny is being celebrated, and that is neither safety nor justice."
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