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jordan neely
Juneteenth and the Battle Against Deadly Racism
We should celebrate Juneteenth, but we must also remember this nation's bloody history and the violence motivated by racism and white supremacy that continues to this day.
Jun 17, 2023
Juneteenth is the newest federal holiday, signed into law by President Biden in 2021. It commemorates June 19th, 1865, the day enslaved people in Texas first learned they were free, more than two and a half years after they were declared free by President Lincoln in his Emancipation Proclamation.
For generations, formerly enslaved people and their descendants have observed Juneteenth. It has grown over the decades, embraced by an increasingly diverse population that realizes its historical importance. But despite Juneteenth’s long overdue acceptance as a federal holiday, the Black population of the United States still suffers intolerable levels of discrimination, de facto segregation, health and wealth disparity, and many other symptoms of systemic racism.
Olympic track and field star Tori Bowie was just 32 years old when she died at home last month. The Orange County, Florida medical examiner reported she was eight months pregnant and in labor when she died, most likely from eclampsia, a complication of pregnancy. Bowie, who was Black, won bronze, silver and gold medals in the 2016 Olympic games in Rio de Janeiro. The CDC recently marked Black Maternal Health Week in April, noting that Black women are three times more likely to die from pregnancy complications than white women.
Bowie’s Olympic teammate Tianna Bartoletta wrote after learning of her death, “As of June 2023…3 of the 4 members of Team USA’s 4×100m relay team…who ran the second fastest time in history, and brought home the gold medal…have nearly died or did die in childbirth. We deserve better. #BlackMaternalHealthCrisis.”
Despite Juneteenth’s long overdue acceptance as a federal holiday, the Black population of the United States still suffers intolerable levels of discrimination
In Colorado, Jor’Dell Richardson had just finished 8th grade at Aurora West College Preparatory Academy. On June 1st, the young African American boy was chased into an alley by two Aurora police officers and tackled. “You got me,” Jor’Dell can be heard saying on the police body camera footage. An instant later, an officer shot him in the abdomen. Screaming in pain, Jor’Dell shouted, “I’m sorry! Please…I can’t breathe…” He died in pain on the ground.
Aurora, a large, diverse working-class and immigrant suburb of Denver, is where police killed Elijah McClain on August 24, 2019. A call to police reported a “suspicious black male” who was “acting weird.” In fact he was heading home from the store after buying iced tea. The police response was caught on body camera. Elijah was 23-years-old, he was 5’6” tall and weighed only 140 pounds. He was believed to be on the autism spectrum. Elijah volunteered at the local animal shelter, playing violin for the stray dogs and cats. Moments after police arrived, he was tackled and put in a choke hold. “My name is Elijah McClain … I’m an introvert and I’m different. [Sobbing] I’m just different, that’s all…Why are you attacking me?”
“I can’t breathe,” Elijah McClain cried. Emergency Medical Technicians arrived and injected him with a lethal dose of ketamine, a sedative. He never regained consciousness and died in the hospital several days later. In the wake of the police killing of George Floyd in 2020, a violin vigil was held outside the Aurora Municipal Center, honoring Elijah McClain’s memory with classical music. Aurora riot police attacked the vigil.
Three of the officers and two of the EMTs involved with McClain’s death have been criminally charged, with trials scheduled to start in September.
And in New York City, Jordan Neely, a Black street performer and Michael Jackson impersonator, was assaulted and killed while on the subway on May 1st. He was crying out that he was hungry and thirsty. Daniel Penny, a white 24-year-old former U.S. Marine, put it in, in a chokehold, claiming that Neely was threatening passengers. Two other men joined in the vigilante action, pinning Neely’s hands and legs as he struggled to breathe. Some of the assault captured on cell phone video shows Neely struggling for several minutes before going limp. His death was ruled a homicide, caused by “compression of neck (chokehold).”
Daniel Penny was questioned by police then released. Following growing outrage and protests, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg charged Penny with second degree manslaughter, more than a week later. A grand jury has now formally indicted Penny.
These three cases, the deaths of Tori Bowie, Jor’Dell Richardson and Jordan Neely, each under different circumstances within weeks of each other, are all connected by the painful throughline of the Black experience in America, stretching back to 1619, the year the first ship arrived on the shores of Virginia delivering enslaved Africans.
White supremacists are trying to obliterate that history, to prevent it from being taught. We should celebrate Juneteenth, but we must also remember the bloody history that led to that day in Galveston, and commit to fighting racism as it exists today.
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We Need More Accountability, Not More Black Trauma Porn
Instead of sharing video after someone is killed by police, it’s time to prioritize preventative measures.
May 23, 2023
When Black street performer Jordan Neely was murdered on a New York subway, four minutes of video by a freelance journalist captured the event, prompting last week’s protests and a nationwide outcry. This is part of an ongoing flood of video documenting violence against Black bodies.
This month alone, body cam video showed Alabama police sending a police dog after an unarmed Black man and Minnesota officers mistakenly attacking a 65-year-old Black man using a walker (after the video had been suppressed for three years). Also, San Francisco supervisors unanimously passed a resolution demanding the release of video footage of the killing of Banko Brown, a 24-year-old Black transgender man killed in late April.
Thanks to technology, cameras are now ubiquitous tools that save lives and hold the perpetrators of state-sanctioned violence accountable, but I see a sinister effect in motion as well. It’s no coincidence that when the video of Tyre Nichols’ murder was released in January, my Facebook timeline included trigger warnings. These images stay with us, and have an insidious impact. Who can forget the haunting footage of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin murdering George Floyd on the sidewalk in plain sight in May 2020?
When these murders do occur, society should be more mindful about sharing the resulting footage and shaping the public narrative.
The frequency of publicized police violence on social media, television, and in print is desensitizing us to violent acts against Black bodies, fueling an obsession with Black trauma porn. The infatuation with Black trauma porn has real consequences for real people. It can lead to further deaths by police as their workforce becomes more desensitized to unpenalized and incentivized violence.
Instead of sharing video after someone is killed by police, it’s time to prioritize preventative measures.
First, alternatives to calling 911 should be made more widely available. Mental health crises or Black BBQ-ers are not situations that require police to respond. When they do, this can lead to unnecessarily hostile contact with police and unintended deaths.
Additionally, the police force should come from or look like the communities they represent. To be sure, racial and ethnic commonalities did not protect Mr. Nichols at all. However, the foundation of Memphis law enforcement is rooted in anti-Blackness that affects Black officers too.
Statistically, White men are less than one-third of the U.S. population but represent two-thirds of the police force. Yet, countless studies show that diverse workforces are safer. For instance, economist Bocar Ba and colleagues found that Black officers made 15.16 fewer stops and 1.93 fewer arrests than their White counterparts over 100 shifts. This behavior resulted in a 32% reduction in use of force among Black officers compared to White officers. Less force leads to fewer deaths.
There should also be a SWOT analysis (a type of program assessment that identifies strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) for existing implicit bias training for police officers, as little research exists proving its efficacy. A study of the NYPD by criminal justice professor Robert Worden and colleagues shows that while implicit bias training does impact attitude, it doesn’t always change behavior. Implicit bias training for their department showed no significant reduction in the frisks in stops, summonses, and arrests involving Black and Hispanic people after police were trained.
Lastly, there needs to be frequent and equitable internal and external review of any police misconduct allegations. Police officers are supposed to serve and protect the public and should be held to the highest scrutiny when they unnecessarily kill citizens instead.
When these murders do occur, society should be more mindful about sharing the resulting footage and shaping the public narrative. The Black community suffers from the harmful tropes resulting from narratives that are not our own. The public witnesses these narratives and internalizes harmful tropes that lead to us being even more discriminated against and stereotyped.
Headlines depicting White mass murders read more like their dating app profiles than a description of their gruesome crimes. Meanwhile, Black perpetrators of petty crimes are shown by their mugshot. This has to stop.
Sending thoughts and prayers to mourning families on the receiving end of society’s obsession with Black trauma porn is not enough—and it’s not fair. Implementing policies and practices that create an anti-discriminatory system with accessible 911 alternatives is the most effective and genuine response.
The death rate of marginalized peoples at the hands of police is a public health crisis. In the last 12 months, police have killed over 1,100 people, with a disproportionate number of deaths being Black or Brown people.
Police departments, judicial systems, and infrastructure are all needed to fight this ugly reality and uphold the responsibility to build a diverse, well-trained police force that doesn’t contribute so heavily to Black trauma porn and holds its members accountable.
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DA Says Man Who Choked Jordan Neely to Death on Subway Will Face Manslaughter Charge
"It's 10 days too late," said one protester in New York City. "Yes it's some step towards progress, but we've been waiting too long."
May 11, 2023
The office of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg confirmed Thursday that Daniel Penny, who last week fatally choked Jordan Neely on the subway in New York City, is set to be charged Friday and could face up to 15 years behind bars.
"Daniel Penny will be arrested on a charge of manslaughter in the second degree," Bragg's office said in a statement. "We cannot provide any additional information until he has been arraigned in Manhattan Criminal Court, which we expect to take place tomorrow."
While riding the F train on May 1, Neely—a 30-year-old Black subway performer known for impersonating Michael Jackson—was "acting erratically," but he did not attack anyone on the train, according to witness and freelance journalist Juan Alberto Vazquez.
Neely, who was unhoused, shouted about being "fed up and hungry" and "tired of having nothing," said Vazquez—who posted on Facebook footage of Penny putting Neely in a chokehold that the medical examiner concluded killed him.
Penny, a white 24-year-old Marine veteran, was initially questioned and then released by police; his attorneys claim he acted in self-defense.
Meanwhile, the video has spread online and sparked not only demands for justice but also national conversations about homelessness, mental illness, and racism in the United States.
According to NBC New York:
Multiple protests have taken place in Manhattan since Neely's death, with dozens arrested. Protesters again ratcheted up the volume Thursday, even after learning of the charges said to be coming.
"We need people to be held accountable for their actions, however, we don't want this just to be about the need to incarcerate this man," said Jawanza James Williams, the organizing director for Vocal NY.
Still, some said it has taken too long for the charges to come.
"It's 10 days too late," said protester Tanesha Grant. "Yes it's some step towards progress, but we've been waiting too long."
In a Wednesday speech, Democratic New York City Mayor Eric Adams used Neely's death to promote his unpopular policy of addressing NYC's intertwined mental health and homelessness crises with forced hospitalizations.
"There is no evidence supporting Adams' harmful and dangerous rhetoric," responded New York Civil Liberties Union executive director Donna Lieberman. "This kind of stigmatization and fearmongering contributes to the victimization of people with perceived mental illness—the same that led to the killing of Jordan Neely."
"The mayor is right that there are more Jordan Neelys in our city," Lieberman added. "They deserve housing, healthcare, and supportive services to get back on their feet, not to be controlled, criminalized, or killed."
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