Black NYT columnist John McWhorter says Jordan Neely “deserved restraint during the subway tirade” but shouldn’t have been killed, and says he’s sick of the network’s weekly “terrifying” encounters with other deranged individuals
- New York Times columnist John McWhorter has stated that he believes Jordan Neely “deserves restraint.”
- The controversial columnist admits his opinion is “perhaps unpopular” but that he’s tired of feeling “scared” on public transport
- Linguist argues that it is “worth noting” that Mr Neely has a history of violence against women
The New York Times columnist John McWhorter wrote that he believes Jordan Neely, who died on the F-train last week after being strangled by another passenger, “deserved restraint.”
Neely, who was homeless, was put in a chokehold by former Marine Daniel Penny, 24, after she acted erratically and yelled at passengers, “I’ve got no food, I’ve got nothing to drink, I’m fed up.” It’s doing it I don’t mind going to jail and getting a life sentence. I’m ready to die.’
Other passengers helped hold him until he went limp. He was then taken to a hospital by paramedics, where his death was pronounced.
McWhorter also wrote a book called Woke Racism: How a New Religion Has Betrayed Black America.
McWhorter admits his opinion is “perhaps unpopular” but that he’s tired of feeling “terrified” on public transport, especially when accompanied by his two young daughters.
His reserved opinion reflects how the incident has divided New Yorkers, with some, including Democratic Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, calling the incident a homicide, while others arguing the reticence was necessary.
The Columbia University conservative columnist and linguist wrote that it was “worth noting” that Mr. Neely had a history of violence against women, including three arrests for assaulting women on the subway.
McWhorter complained that the subway was overrun with homeless and mentally ill people who he felt needed expert help. However, it must be recognized that these “almost always male” passengers “are most likely to come into direct confrontation with women”.
Neely, who was homeless, was put in a chokehold by former Marine Daniel Penny
The New York City Police Department announced on March 8 that subway crime was down 21.5 percent from the same period last year, although New Yorkers continued to express unease about the lack of security on the subway network .
There were 10 homicides on the subway last year, compared to about two a year in the five years before the pandemic.
In other recent columns, McWhorter has pointed out that race is not always the central factor in news events that spark racial tension.
In April, he wrote that gun violence, not racism, was the cause of the shooting of 16-year-old Ralph Yarl after he was mistaken for an intruder in Kansas City.
“The point isn’t that race doesn’t matter,” he wrote in a Times article, “the point is that we can overstate what it does in assessing what ails America in general.”
Instead, he argues, “the appalling proliferation of guns in this country and people’s willingness to use them” was the determining factor behind the violence.
The columnist criticized “today’s extremes of waking that confuse action”.
He has written to support Gov. Ron DeSantis’ objections to a new AP course in African American Studies and has advocated a more nuanced mindset in discussions of race and police brutality.
McWhorter has also written a book, Woke Racism: How a New Religion Has Betrayed Black America, in which he argues that the rise of so-called “anti-racism” is actually illiberal neo-racism that “harms black communities.”