In the acquittal of Daniel Penny, a harsh lesson for Black America
When the white former Marine was found not guilty in the chokehold death of a homeless African American, we were all reminded of the disposability of Black lives.
In the wake of former Marine Daniel Penny’s acquittal on charges of negligent homicide in the chokehold death of a homeless Black man, a New York jury has confirmed an uncomfortable truth. In Donald Trump’s America, Black lives simply don’t matter.
Perhaps it’s the cheering people on social media, or the pontificating politicians, or the pundits loudly claiming that Penny is a hero, but I get the feeling that for far too many Americans, Jordan Neely’s life was disposable.
Neely, after all, was a man who had struggled with mental illness and addiction. He was a man whose troubles had led to a criminal record. He was a man who entered a subway car speaking in a loud and aggressive manner. But Neely, more than anything, was Black, and I believe that’s why his death was met with jubilation in some corners of America.
If celebrating a Black man’s death is what “Make America Great Again” actually means, our country has returned to a time when white mobs took smiling photos with the mutilated bodies of Black lynching victims. Sadly, if that is what defines America’s greatness, then greatness isn’t worth the cost.
Like so many Black men whose lives have been choked away in police encounters or other high-profile incidents in recent years, Neely’s final moments were caught on film. According to witnesses, the 30-year-old entered the subway car yelling that he was hungry, that he was not afraid to go back to jail, and that he was prepared to die.
In the ensuing moments, Penny, a 24-year-old former Marine, placed the slightly built Neely in a chokehold. Several minutes of the struggle were caught on video as Neely kicked and tried to free himself while two other passengers helped to hold him down.
On the video, a passenger can be heard saying to Penny, “You don’t have to catch a murder charge. You got a hell of a chokehold, man.”
Prosecutors said that Penny, who claimed he restrained Neely to protect others, continued to grip Neely’s neck after the train stopped, and others had the chance to get off. He held on after bystanders urged him to let go. He held on, prosecutors said, for a full minute after Neely’s body went limp. Those aren’t the actions of someone who is acting to protect others. Those sound like the actions of someone who is seeking to do harm.
When Penny finally let go of Neely and stood up, a passenger said, “Don’t leave him on his back, though, man, he might choke on his own spit if you put him on his back — put him on his side.”
According to the New York Times, Penny did not do so. Instead, he went to retrieve a baseball cap, while one of the men who helped to restrain Neely put the dying man on his side. Neely was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
City medical examiners said Neely was killed by Penny’s chokehold, while a pathologist hired by Penny’s defense team said Neely died from other factors.
Given the choice between a city medical examiner and someone paid by Penny’s defense team, I tend to believe the former, and not just because Penny’s story doesn’t sound credible to me. I believe the chokehold killed Neely because I’ve seen the violent deaths of Black people blamed on “other factors” more times than I can count.
But in the wake of Penny’s acquittal, I believe things have worsened, because now people are cheering, as if killing Jordan Neely was some sort of public service.
I keep rewinding the fatal scenario in my mind, trying to figure out if a reasonable person would find it necessary to choke someone to death for yelling. I keep wondering if it’s about protecting others when the people you’re supposedly shielding tell you to stop. I keep wondering how anyone could call Daniel Penny a hero.
More than anything, I keep wondering if Black lives will ever truly matter.