Daniel Penny’s ‘Crime’? Wrong Race, Wrong Place

Opinion
By Larry Elder

The same day Daniel Penny, the retired Marine and architecture student, pleaded not guilty to manslaughter and negligent homicide, a New York grand jury declined to recommend charges against Jordan Williams.

Williams and his girlfriend, who are both black, were on a Brooklyn subway train when Williams, 20 years old, was approached by an aggressive 36-year-old ex-con homeless black man, Devictor Ouedraogo. In a confrontation captured on video, Ouedraogo punched Williams’ girlfriend in the face, and Williams then pulled a knife and fatality stabbed Ouedraogo in the chest.

Williams was later arrested and charged with manslaughter and criminal possession of a weapon.

Williams’ lawyer said, “The victim was menacing people, as all of us have probably seen on the subway, erratic, deranged, crazy and in many people’s faces before he even encounters my client.”

New York Mayor Eric Adams said: “A person with severe mental health illness, what appears to be severe mental health illness, got engaged in a very violent way. The investigation is going to take its course.”

A grand jury, citing self-defense, declined to indict Williams, who worked at FedEx and had no criminal record. The Brooklyn district attorney dropped the charges. Unlike in the case of Penny, no “activists” publicly accused Williams of engaging in “racially motivated vigilantism.”

As to the case of Penny, who is white, Jordan Neely, a black schizophrenic on drugs and a career violent criminal with over 40 arrests, boarded a New York subway train and threatened passengers. Penny took Neely to the floor with the assistance of two other passengers, one named Eric Gonzalez, and applied a chokehold for several minutes until the police arrived. Penny, unaware that Neely had died, spoke to detectives without requesting a lawyer, and was released without charges.

In come the “activists.” CBS News wrote: “Protesters have said they will continue to demonstrate until Penny is arrested. … Authorities say a crowd of about 100 people stormed the (subway) station, with some jumping onto the subway tracks in protest. At least 12 people were arrested during the demonstration, where multiple officers were injured …”

The New York public advocate, an elected position, demanded charges against Penny: “To say anything else is an equivocation that will only further a narrative that devalues the life of a Black homeless man with mental health challenges and encourages an attitude of dehumanization of New Yorkers in greatest need.”

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg got the message and charged Penny.

The jury deadlocked the first charge of manslaughter, and the judge dismissed it. The head of the New York chapter of Black Lives Matter said;

“Today, white supremacy got another victory. Today, the KKK (Ku Klux Klan), the Klansmen, the evil in America got another victory.”

After Penny’s acquittal on the second charge, the BLM head said: “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?”

Meanwhile, nearly half of the nation’s homicide victims are black, almost all killed by other blacks. Of New York’s nondomestic homicides, in a city that is around 25% black, the NYPD statistics show black victims and black perpetrators account for 71% of the total. In Chicago, over the Fourth of July weekend, more than 100 people were shot, 19 fatally, almost all in the mostly black areas of Chicago’s South and West Sides. Where’s Black Lives Matter, if black lives matter?

If Penny were black, there would have been no charges. If Neely were white, there would have been no charges. If both were black, or both were white, there would have been no charges.

So, to summarize, Daniel Penny, a white man, subdued Jordan Neely, a black man, with the help of two other good Samaritans, one named Eric Gonzalez. Neely posed a threat to passengers on the subway, many, if not most, of whom were black. The D.A. who charged Penny is black. The mayor of New York, who praised Penny’s heroism, is black. The jury that found Penny not guilty included four “people of color.”

Yet Penny’s acquittal, according to the head of the N.Y. chapter of Black Lives Matter, means “white supremacy got another victory”?!

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Larry Elder is a bestselling author and nationally syndicated radio talk-show host. To find out more about Larry Elder, or become an “Elderado,” visit www.LarryElder.com. Follow Larry on X @larryelder.