Executed for poverty: Jordan Neely’s death exposes systemic flaws of US society
The parable of the Good Samaritan, as told by Jesus Christ in the Gospel of Luke, is about a traveler (assumed to be Jewish) who is stripped, beaten and left to die on the side of a road. He is approached by a Jewish priest and a Levite, who both ignore the man. But then a Samaritan comes along and, despite the enmity between Samaritans and Jews, the former chokes the man to death.
Maybe it doesn’t go exactly like this but that’s apparently the interpretation of the US National Police Association and many conservatives. On May 1, a homeless black man named Jordan Neely was choked to death by an ex-Marine named Daniel Penny on the F train in Manhattan in the New York City Subway. Witness accounts vary, with some saying that Neely was acting erratic, throwing trash at people and making threats.
Others, including a freelance journalist named Juan Alberto Vazquez, said Neely didn’t attack anyone and that he was shouting that he was hungry and thirsty, didn’t mind “going to jail or getting life in prison” and was “ready to die.” One video just before the incident confirms what Vazquez said, with Neely begging passengers to buy him food. However, the media has dug into Neely’s criminal history, suggesting that he had a proclivity to violence – which doesn’t appear relevant to this incident since no one could have known this.
The incident sparked serious outrage not only because a desperate homeless black man was publicly executed, but the police questioned Penny and let him off without any charges initially. It wasn’t until May 12 that he was arrested for second-degree manslaughter, most likely in response to protests in New York City. The National Police Association also weighed in on the affair by referring to Penny as the “NY subway Good Samaritan” and sharing info on his defense fund.
To no surprise, as the New York Times reports, that defense fund has raised well over $1 million in only a few days. And it probably won’t be long until prosecutors drop the ball on this case, Penny gets off and then he’s on the stage of CPAC shaking hands with Donald Trump and decrying the “woke mind virus.” It seems almost written in the stars, with the trends displayed by the US right lately, having already deified the likes of Kyle Rittenhouse.
On the contrary, Jordan Neely’s funeral fund, which was started almost two weeks before Penny’s defense fund has, as of writing, received $140,000 – almost double the amount requested. That is certainly more than enough to pay for a funeral but it shows a deep incongruence in power and will. Anyone with relative familiarity of US politics knows that conservatives are the political faction of wealth and “the left,” as it is called, is often dominated by small donations. But doesn’t it at least suggest that liberals can’t put their money where their mouth is?
Certainly, if we look at not only this facet, but the entire incident in question, then it seems to be the case. After all, New York City is a liberal bastion and, we may assume, the majority of people on that fateful train with Neely were nominally liberal. So why didn’t they do anything to help him from being publicly executed? Well, if you look at the smug faces in the videos of the event, it’s obvious these folks didn’t really care. And they were also made very uncomfortable by this display of visible poverty.
Anyone who’s been to New York City a few times can say that Neely’s desperate plea was extraordinarily mild. There are extreme cases of genuinely terrifying homeless individuals in the city. It’s not pretty and can make you feel unsafe, for sure. But his behavior was almost nothing in comparison. Unfortunately, it seems our liberal friends are so disgusted with poverty that they can’t even save a dying man.
Their reaction is even more relevant when you consider how liberals across the country treat homeless people via policy. Democrat New York City Mayor Eric Adam ran on a pro-police platform and has since launched an unprecedented campaign against homeless people. One example is by involuntarily hospitalizing homeless people and implementing police sweeps to steal homeless people’s property in an effort to eradicate them.
Go over to the left coast, California, and the problem is potentially even worse. A lot of homeless people flock to the sunny state to escape the elements and now, as America becomes unlivable due to skyrocketing prices, places like Los Angeles and San Francisco are seeing record numbers of homeless people. Entire streets are tent communities now. LA actually implemented an ordinance in 2021 that essentially criminalized homelessness, which is a deeply anti-human policy that does nothing to solve the root causes of it, namely inequality.
Altogether, with conservatives rallying around murderers of homeless people and liberals doing jack, you have a uniquely American problem of normalized public execution just because the majority of people are uncomfortable with the poverty that their society creates. It goes to show that, no matter how you slice it, the so-called land of opportunity is more akin to Thomas Hobbes’ state of nature: a war of all against all.
The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RT.
