Jordan Neely’s death reminds us of the lynching atmosphere that still exists for Black people

OPINION: We live in a time when racial vigilantism is offered once again to eliminate Black lives. Some white people believe taking Black life is acceptable when Black people make them feel uncomfortable.

Editor’s note: The following article is an op-ed, and the views expressed are the author’s own. Read more opinions on theGrio.

Jordan Neely, an unhoused, young Black man living with trauma and mental health challenges, was lynched on a New York subway because he was hungry, thirsty and in need. And his killer, white subway rider Daniel Penny, is a hero to a segment of white society, including white nationalists in the Republican Party.

This week, as we mark the third anniversary of the lynching of George Floyd — who was killed by a cop who kneeled on his neck three years ago — we are reminded that when a Black man is lynched, it brings a sense of relief to white folks who feel discomfort at the sight of Blackness and being in the presence of marginalized Black people. And the lynching of Black people, whether by police or vigilantes, is acceptable in a nation that always normalized anti-Black violence and has a particular appetite for that taking of Black life right now.

And since George Floyd, things are getting worse, not better.

Penny has enjoyed support from 2024 GOP presidential hopefuls, such as Vivek Ramaswamy, who donated $10,000 to the man’s legal defense fund, and former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, who called for New York’s Gov. Kathy Hochul to pardon Penny. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said the country should show that “America’s got his back.”

A GoFundMe set up for Penny’s legal defense has raised over $2 million, far more than the $150,000 the family of Jordan Neely has raised.

Daniel Penny is a reminder of Bernhard Goetz, who shot four Black teenagers in the New York City subway in 1984; George Zimmerman, the self-appointed neighborhood watch volunteer who killed Trayvon Martin in 2012 and gave birth to #BlackLivesMatter; and more importantly, Kyle Rittenhouse, who was found not guilty by reason of self-defense in the killing of two Black Lives Matter activists and wounding a third in Kenosha, Wisc., in August 2020.

Like Rittenhouse, Penny has become a hero for white nationalists, domestic terrorists and Republican Party operatives who hope to kill Black people, Black activists and allies without facing consequences. Today, Republican-controlled states enact “stand your ground laws” that enable white people who feel threatened to shoot to kill Black people, and even laws that greenlight those who run over and kill political protesters.

And yet, some Democrats, including Black Democrats, are no better in the ways they disregard Black people, particularly marginalized people who are poor, without shelter and facing trauma and mental health crises. In major cities that are too expensive for many Black people to live, such as New York and San Francisco, there is a Black exodus taking place. And those who remain are viewed as bad for white business and racially profiled by the police under law-and-order policies. Unhoused people and those with mental health challenges are criminalized, and low-income, young Black and Latino people are targeted for stop-and-frisk.

It matters little that Black mayors are in charge when the white hedge fund managers, tech bros, real estate moguls and other movers, shakers and campaign donors feel unsafe, uncomfortable and teary-eyed with all these Black folks walking around freely. One can’t even go to pilates class or pick up a double latte without seeing one of them.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams, who spoke at the CUNY Law School commencement and was rightly met with boos and the backs of newly minted graduates who turned on him, has demonized unhoused people while cutting social services and opposed bail reform. “We cannot just blanketly say what a passenger should or should not do in a situation like that,” Adams said of Daniel Penny.  
Reacting to Neelys’ death, New York Gov. Hochul said “There are consequences for   behavior.” Hochul, whose political beliefs and instincts have been questioned, proves once again that mediocrity can and often does rise to the top.

Jordan Neely reminds us of Banko Brown in San Francisco. Brown, 24, a Black transgender man, was shot and killed last month by a Walgreens security guard over allegations of shoplifting. A community organizer known for helping Black transgender young people, Brown had experienced violence and abuse and had desperately sought safe housing.

San Francisco, like New York, has a Black mayor who is calling for law and order. Chesa Boudin, the White progressive reform-minded district attorney was recalled and replaced with Brooke Jenkins, a Black woman who is none of these things. Republican and conservative donors, investment firms and real estate and tech companies poured millions into the recall effort.

The new tough-on-crime Black D.A. will not seek charges against the guard who killed Brown and said the shooting of the unarmed Brown was reasonable.

Meanwhile, San Francisco Mayor London Breed, a Black woman, said that “Compassion is killing people,” and that more arrests would be needed to address the city’s drug crisis. “Force is going to have to be a part of it, whether people like it or not. We’re going to have to do more.”    

 We’ve been living in times that are hostile toward Black life.

An unhoused and hungry Black person living with trauma and mental health challenges, Jordan Neely represented the ultimate marginalized population that the white establishment and even some Black elected officials hope to make disappear. The chokehold has a far-too-special relationship with Black men, with Eric Garner, Elijah McClain and now Jordan Neely as prime examples.

Ultimately, it matters little whether the killer is a vigilante or a police officer. For centuries, since the days of the slave patrols monitoring the plantation state, the policing and erasure of Black bodies has been a community effort, with white men deputized and self-deputized to lead the effort and keep white America safe and in power.

We live in a time when racial vigilantism is offered once again to eliminate Black lives. And some white people believe taking Black life is an acceptable option when Black people make them feel uncomfortable. Black life has always been cheap in America.

David A. Love is a journalist and commentator who writes investigative stories and op-eds on a variety of issues, including politics, social justice, human rights, race, criminal justice and inequality. Love is also an instructor at the Rutgers School of Communication and Information, where he trains students in a social justice journalism lab. In addition to his journalism career, Love has worked as an advocate and leader in the nonprofit sector, served as a legislative aide, and as a law clerk to two federal judges. He holds a B.A. in East Asian Studies from Harvard University and a J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Law School. He also completed the Joint Programme in International Human Rights Law at the University of Oxford. His portfolio website is davidalove.com.

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