Daniel Penny, the man charged with second-degree manslaughter for putting Jordan Neely in what authorities say was a lethal chokehold on the New York subway, recently sat down for an interview with the New York Post. Penny and his lawyers may have calculated that an interview could provide some good press for him as he sits at the center of a political and cultural firestorm and awaits trial. But the most striking quote from the interview doesn’t do the defendant any favors.
Penny told the Post that the incident — in which Penny, who is white, is accused of killing Neely, who was a homeless Black man — “had nothing to do with race” and vowed that “I’m not a white supremacist.” But his explanation of why the incident couldn’t have anything to do with race warrants skepticism: “I was actually planning a road trip through Africa before this happened,” he told the Post.
I’d call this the latest version of “some of my best friends are Black” defense.
OK! I’d call this the latest version of “some of my best friends are Black” defense. This reasoning neither rules out nor confirms whether Penny was motivated by racial prejudice, but ironically it should heighten our suspicion that race was at play.
On May 1, Penny reacted to Neely behaving erratically and using threatening language on the New York subway by placing him in an extended, and ultimately lethal, chokehold. According to at least one eyewitness, it lasted around 15 minutes. Some critics have argued that racism was at play in the incident.
Penny responded to those criticisms in his interview in the Post: “I mean, it’s, it’s a little bit comical. Everybody who’s ever met me can tell you, I love all people, I love all cultures. You can tell by my past and all my travels and adventures around the world.” That claim is a hollow deflection from accusations of racism. Even in an era in which the GOP has become an overt white nationalist organ and Fox News pundits float…
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