Jordan Neely was lynched because he was Black, poor, and homeless. He was strangled to death in a New York City subway car on the afternoon of May 1.
Neely’s murder is no different than the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis policeman Derek Chauvin, who put his knee on Floyd for 9 minutes and 29 seconds. Or the death of Eric Garner, who cried “I can’t breathe” 11 times as he was choked to death by a cop in Staten Island.
It took 15 minutes to strangle Jordan Neely on the “F” subway line at the Broadway/Lafayette stop in Manhattan. The homicide was recorded on video.
The perpetrator, Daniel Penny, a white ex-Marine sergeant from West Islip, N.Y., wasn’t even arrested by police and was allowed to leave the scene. Nor were the person or persons detained who had assisted the killer by holding down the 30-year-old Black man.
The only arrests were several people demonstrating against this racist atrocity on May 3 in the subway station where Jordan Neely died.
The murder of Jordan Neely is linked to the campaigns against poor and homeless people by New York Mayor Eric Adams and the capitalist media. Homeless people are hounded, and police attack their encampments.
Thousands of cops infest the subway trains and stations, arresting people who can’t afford the $2.75 fare. But they couldn’t stop the murder of Jordan Neely and refused to arrest his killers.
The U.S. capitalist government claims that its bloody trillion-dollar war machine defends freedom. Meanwhile, this regime can’t even stop lynch mobs in the capital of capitalism, New York City.
Thirty-two years ago, on March 30, 1991, 18-year-old Manuel “Manny” Mayi was murdered by a white racist mob in Corona, Queens, New York City.
The Dominican honor student who wanted to be an engineer was killed two blocks from the former home of Louis Armstrong, now a museum. None of Manny Mayi’s killers were brought to justice; some may have become police officers.
Jordan Neely was murdered on May Day when millions of workers worldwide marched for their rights. The first workers’ May Day was on May 1, 1886. Hundreds of thousands of workers demonstrated across the United States for the 8-hour workday. Their leaders, the Haymarket Martyrs, were hanged in Chicago on bogus charges on Nov. 11, 1887.
The labor movement needs to speak out against racist killings, like the lynching of Jordan Neely. We need a new Solidarity Day to fight back against hate and cutbacks.
Bring the lynchers of Jordan Neely to trial!
No Justice, No Peace!
Join the Struggle-La Lucha Telegram channel