Unprepared, I saw a shocking video clip online of a violent incident on a May 1 subway train in New York. It was initially unclear what exactly was going on.
Four men were engaged in a struggle on the floor of the train. Three men were found to be restraining one black man. A white man lay beneath this man and wrapped his arms around his neck in a stranglehold. The other two men held the arms of the black man, who was frantically trying to free himself. There were some bystanders who looked on in amazement, sometimes said something (“You kill him”), but did not intervene.
The video ended after about four minutes, showing only – as it turned out – the end of a struggle that had lasted perhaps fifteen minutes. The three men stand up, the black man moves one leg for a moment and then remains motionless. The three men do not immediately seem to realize that they may have killed someone. The white man pulls the victim’s arm in vain.
I don’t advise anyone to look up that movie, because you can’t think about much else for the rest of the day, at least that’s how it happened to me. You have seen someone die who has resisted it with all his might and you involuntarily ask yourself: what would I have done, would I have allowed it to happen? You realize above all: this could have happened anywhere.
In the days that followed, I closely followed the news about it in the American media. The incident quickly grew into the type of black versus white scandal. The victim’s name was Jordan Neely, a 30-year-old homeless man, the strangler was Daniel Penny, a 24-year-old former Marine.
Much is still unknown about the history of the tragedy. According to some eyewitnesses, Neely has been hostile to travelers; he would also have thrown rubbish at them. The videographer, a freelance journalist, also says that upon entering Neely shouted that he was hungry and thirsty and that he didn’t care about going to jail or dying. But according to this filmmaker, Neely had not attacked anyone, not even Penny. Neely allegedly took off his jacket and threw it on the floor, after which Penny choked him from behind.
After such an event, a war of interpretation quickly breaks out in and through the media. One party (often white) thinks Neely has made it to it, the other party (often black) calls it a new race scandal.
The perpetrator, Daniel Penny, has already received $2 million from sympathizers for his defense; he has been released on bail and is charged with manslaughter.
I was especially struck by Neely’s life story. He was fourteen years old when his mother was killed by her boyfriend; her corpse was found in a trunk by the side of the road. Neely had to testify in court. After that, according to an aunt, he became depressed and schizophrenic, ended up in foster care and, as a 16-year-old, started an act as a Michael Jackson impersonator on the streets and subways of New York. He was often homeless, arrested 42 times, three times for assaulting a woman.
So no sweetheart, but life had a stranglehold on him before it had even started.
A version of this article also appeared in the May 19, 2023 newspaper.