Black lawmakers, activists blame racism for Daniel Penny's acquittal: 'This is the evil of White supremacy'

Lawmakers, activists and commentators argued that the acquittal of Marine veteran Daniel Penny Monday shows the United States is a racially unjust society.

Penny was found not guilty of criminally negligent homicide in the death of Jordan Neely on a Manhattan subway car in May 2023. Neely, a 30-year-old homeless man with schizophrenia who had an active arrest warrant at the time, had barged onto the train shouting death threats while high on a type of synthetic marijuana known as K2. Penny restrained Neely with a chokehold with the assistance of two other passengers, one of whom appeared to be Black, and Neely later died.

While the case has been seen by many as an intersection of cultural battles about issues such as homelessness, drugs and crime, the issue of race took center stage.

"The acquittal of Daniel Penny in the death of Jordan Neely has effectively given license for vigilante justice to be waged on the Black community without consequence," the NAACP X account posted Monday. "It's a painful reminder of the inequities in our justice system. Jordan deserved compassion. Instead, he was met with violence. We stand with his family in calling for accountability."

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X users responded with a community note adding the context that "Daniel Penny did not act alone in defending himself and others from Neely. A black man can be clearly seen assisting Penny to subdue Neely. A black woman testified in defense of Penny. There is no evidence that Penny was motivated by race."

A Black woman testified at the trial, according to the New York Post, that she heard Neely saying, "I don't give a damn. I will kill a motherf--ker. I'm ready to die."

"I was scared s---less," the woman testified, and said she thanked Penny after for his help. 

Penny rejected accusations that his actions were racist, telling Fox News Digital in an interview last year, "The majority of the people on that train that I was protecting were minorities, so it definitely hurts a lot to be called that."

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But that did not stop other commentators, including lawmakers, from arguing the acquittal is a sign America still harbors deep racial hatreds.

"Jordan Neely was unarmed. He needed support and care," Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, argued. "Instead, he received a death sentence. His family grieves while the man who took his life walks free."

"This is more than a miscarriage of justice - it is a green light for more violence against unarmed Black Americans," she added.

Rep. Summer Lee, D-Pa., penned a similar statement. 

"The acquittal of Daniel Penny in the murder of Jordan Neely is a painful reminder of a long-standing reality: vigilante violence against Black people often goes unchecked," the lawmaker said. "Jordan deserved compassion, not violence. We stand with his loved ones in demanding accountability."

"Everything that led up to and followed the lynching of Jordan Neely on a New York City subway train by Daniel Penny could have and should have been prevented," Tiffany Cabán, Council member for NYC Council District 22 in Queens, New York, wrote on Bluesky.

Neely, who struggled with mental illness, had been arrested more than 40 times, including for numerous violent assaults on strangers in the subway, and was on the city’s "Top 50" list of homeless people most in need of outreach. Just three months before his death, a warrant had been issued for his arrest after he left a few weeks into a 15-month court-ordered alternative-to-incarceration program. 

Neely had agreed to stay in a treatment facility and abstain from drugs in exchange for his felony assault on a 67-year-old woman that broke her nose and fractured her orbital bone being reduced to a misdemeanor. Instead, he ended up on the subway threatening people.

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Outgoing Rep. Jamaal Bowman, D-N.Y., addressed "White people" as a group he is increasingly frustrated with. 

"Dear White People, I don’t know why I feel the need to keep talking to you," he lamented. "I don’t know why part of me still has hope for you and for us. Some of you are too far gone. But maybe enough of you aren’t and will join us in fighting to end white supremacy."

He continued, "I just wanna call out the hypocrisy and evil of it all and just continue to hope. I won’t rely completely on you because I know what’s most important is to work with my community and other like minded allies in the fight for justice."

"I ask white people, how many times have you seen a white man killed in cold blood on camera on your newsfeed? How many times have you even heard about this?" he asked, while some X users pointed out the irony of the statement with video of the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson dominating the news.

"The answer is never. You never have," Bowman alleged. "And whenever you feel discomfort from your whiteness, Black people are harmed or killed. And there is never accountability or justice. This is the evil of white supremacy. It spans across geography and political parties and sickens us all."

Activists and members of the media shared fiery responses as well.

"Imagine, just imagine, if Jordan Neely had been white and Daniel Penny was black," former MSNBC host Mehdi Hasan implored. "Imagine what some of the folks defending Penny today would be saying. Just imagine."

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On a CNN panel Monday, Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Solomon Jones brought up "the dreaded r-word," saying, "Race plays a role in this."

CNN senior political commentator Scott Jennings countered this claim by bringing up an equivalent case involving a Black man.

"What about the Jordan Williams case here in New York?" he asked. "Same situation. African-American gets on a subway, ends up killing a guy, grand jury tosses it out at the exact same time as the Penny case."

Just one month after Neely's death, Williams, who is Black, fatally stabbed a homeless man on the subway who had been harassing and threatening others, including Williams and his girlfriend, which led to a physical confrontation. Williams had been charged with manslaughter and criminal possession of a weapon but was found to have acted in self-defense and charges were quickly dropped.

After Penny's acquittal, New York BLM co-founder Hawk Newsome told reporters, "We need some Black vigilantes."

"People want to jump up and choke us and kill us for being loud? How about we do the same when they attempt to oppress us?" he added.

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Fox News' Kristine Parks, Rebecca Rosenberg and Danielle Wallace contributed to this report.