海角大神

When former U.S. Marine Daniel Penny restrained Jordan Neely with a rear naked choke earlier this month, killing him on a New York City subway car, the moment touched the nation鈥檚 most sensitive of cultural nerves.

Caught on a bystander video, it was an intimate moment of violence, punctuated by the contexts of recent rising crime, the ethics of self-defense, and the enduring specter of race in America. Mr. Penny, who is white, lay flat on his back on the subway floor as he held Mr. Neely, who is Black, on top of him, clenching his neck in an arm vice from behind.

Images of Mr. Neely鈥檚 killing have sparked deeply emotional reactions across the country, laying bare not only the country鈥檚 deep partisan divides, but also the contrasting values underlying the profoundly different reactions to Mr. Penny鈥檚 actions on the New York subway. Today in Harlem, hundreds of people gathered to mourn at Mr. Neely鈥檚 funeral at the Mount Neboh Baptist Church.

Witnesses have described the actions of Mr. Neely, an unhoused person who had a history of arrests, including an assault on an elderly woman in 2021, as . He screamed that he had no food or drink and didn鈥檛 care if he went to jail, and took his coat off and threw it down. That鈥檚 when Mr. Penny took him down to the floor from behind, witnesses said, keeping him in a chokehold for 15 minutes, even after he went limp.

Before the video became public, police questioned Mr. Penny and released him. But the video caused an uproar, and homeless advocates and Democratic politicians such as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, said the circumstances of the encounter did not justify the former Marine鈥檚 violent reaction. The video also led New York officials to later charge Mr. Penny with manslaughter.聽

鈥淲as Mr. Neely behaving erratically? Reports indicate that he was. Might one feel threatened by such behavior? Certainly,鈥� says Christopher Fee, professor of English at Gettysburg College in Pennsylvania, who has taught service-based courses on homelessness for two decades. 鈥淪hould Mr. Neely have died for this behavior? No, of course not. Further, if he were not an African American man, it is quite unlikely that he would have.鈥�

Stand your ground vs. duty to retreat

Since 2005, however, there has been a momentous shift in the ethical and legal understanding of self-defense as Republican states began to pass so-called stand-your-ground laws. Today, , mostly Republican-led, have passed laws that protect individuals鈥� rights to use deadly force whenever they have a reasonable fear they are being threatened with danger. These laws eliminate what was legally known as a 鈥渄uty to retreat.鈥�

Bebeto Matthews/AP

Andre Zachery (second from left) father of Jordan Neely, stands outside with mourners at a funeral service for his son at Harlem's Mount Neboh Baptist Church, May 19, 2023, in New York.

Thirteen mostly Democratic-led states, , still impose the duty to retreat, which means individuals cannot resort to deadly force to defend themselves outside their homes if they are able to safely avoid the risk of harm and flee the situation.聽

So Republican politicians and many conservatives have seized upon the case to declare Mr. Penny a hero, a 鈥淪ubway Superman,鈥� an avatar of bravery and justified self-defense in the midst of an urban crime wave 鈥� and to castigate Democratic notions of justice in this case.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, in a reference to a well-known parable of Jesus, proclaimed Mr. Penny a 鈥淕ood Samaritan,鈥� altering the New Testament story about kindness to strangers to describe him as trying to take back the streets from criminals.

鈥淲e must defeat the Soros-Funded DAs, stop the Left鈥檚 pro-criminal agenda, and take back the streets for law-abiding citizens,鈥� Governor. 鈥淲e stand with Good Samaritans like Daniel Penny. Let鈥檚 show this Marine ... America鈥檚 got his back.鈥�

Former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley, echoing her likely Florida rival this week, also urged New York鈥檚 Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul to pardon Mr. Penny.

If she doesn鈥檛, Ms. Haley said that 鈥渃riminals will continue to rule the streets of New York because they will know that there is no accountability for anyone who tries to stop them,鈥� . 鈥淚f she pardons him, that sets right a lot of things. It鈥檒l put criminals on notice. And, it will let people like Penny 鈥� who really were very brave in that instance 鈥� it will let them know that we鈥檝e got their back.鈥�

In fact, the crime rate in New York City remains a fraction of the rampant crime and violence the city experienced in the 1970s and 1980s. And while subway crime spiked during the pandemic and has remained an issue, . Overall subway crime is down nearly 20% in 2023 compared to last year. Major crimes have fallen 10% since this time in 2022.

Daniel Perry and Bernie Goetz

In a similar case, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said last month he plans to pardon the former Army Sgt. Daniel Perry, who was convicted of murdering an armed man during a Black Lives Matter protest in 2020 in Austin. Last week, a Texas judge sentenced Mr. Perry to prison for 25 years.聽

鈥淭exas has one of the strongest 鈥楽tand Your Ground鈥� laws of self-defense that cannot be nullified by a jury or a progressive District Attorney,鈥� Republican Governor Abbott in April, noting that the parole board would have to issue a recommendation for pardon. 鈥淚 have already prioritized [reining] in rogue District Attorneys.鈥澛犅�

Images of Mr. Penny choking Mr. Neely on the subway, however, have deeper associations in New York. In 1984, the notorious case of Bernhard 鈥淏ernie鈥� Goetz also gripped the nation. Mr. Goetz, who had been a victim of subway crime, shot four Black teenagers after they attempted to rob him. Also hailed as a hero at the time, a jury acquitted Mr. Goetz of the charges of attempted murder and assault.

But the killings of Eric Garner in 2014 and George Floyd in 2020 have also informed the national debate over Mr. Neely鈥檚 killing, as well as New York鈥檚 reaction to chokeholds that have killed unarmed Black men.聽

In 1993, the New York Police Department banned the use of asphyxiating chokeholds. And after the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer, the state of New York to ban the use of chokeholds by law enforcement statewide.聽

In 2022, a state court also reinstated a local law the New York City Council passed after the murder of Mr. Floyd in 2020. The Eric Garner Anti-Chokehold Act, or banned the use of chokeholds 鈥� or any type of sitting, kneeling, or standing on a person鈥檚 chest or back that could suffocate them.

Many observers say Mr. Penny鈥檚 actions to restrain Mr. Neely on the subway should be understood in the context of the nation鈥檚 epidemic of mass shootings. In 2022, a Black nationalist entered a New York subway car, threw smoke grenades, and fired a handgun 33 times, injuring almost 30 people. No one was killed.聽

鈥淚 don鈥檛 think this actual episode was as much about race 鈥� no real evidence that was a factor 鈥� and more about too many guns and gun shootings and the lack of government help for mental illness and homelessness,鈥� says Lori Brown, professor of sociology and criminology at Meredith College in North Carolina. 鈥淎nd I do think there is an issue for the passengers on the subway who didn鈥檛 trust the police to take care of things and decided to take care of things themselves.鈥�

鈥淎cts rooted in fear鈥�

But the contexts of gun violence can鈥檛 be separated from the wider history of race in America, others say.

鈥淭hese acts are rooted in fear: fear of death, fear of bodily harm, fear of the other, fear of that which we do not understand,鈥� says Professor Fee at Gettysburg College. 鈥淛ordan Neely represented a terrible trifecta of sorts, in that he represented three categories Americans most fear: Black men, the poor and unhoused, and the mentally ill.鈥�

Rodney Coates,聽professor of critical race and ethnic studies at Miami University in Ohio, says it is not surprising that those who would ban discussions of the history of race and racism, or expel Black lawmakers from their midst, would then defend the chokehold killing of a Black man in a crisis situation.

鈥淲e鈥檝e got tens of thousands of people who have heard that clarion call and are trying to enjoy that thing called freedom,鈥� says Dr. Coates, animatedly. 鈥淎nd we have lost the capacity, if we ever had the capacity, or the empathy, to say, you know what? These deaths, these murders, even urban crime, or a young man walking and saying, 鈥業 don鈥檛 have anything to eat and drink, I don鈥檛 have a place鈥� 鈥� these are screaming huddled masses yelling, 鈥楬ey, we鈥檙e here.鈥欌��

鈥淲hat are we going to do about them?鈥� he says. 鈥淲here is the American dream, and how do we make that American dream a reality? What does that look like? We are at this existential point in time. It鈥檚 an existential moment that is going to define us as a people. Not Black, white, Native American, homeless without shelter, but as humans, as Americans.鈥�