For Immediate Release: December 9, 2024
Contact: press@socialists.nyc

Statement on the Daniel Penny Verdict

NEW YORK — The murder of Jordan Neely—a beloved street performer and native New Yorker—and today’s “not guilty” verdict are direct results of decisions made at every level of Eric Adams’s administration. Neely was failed by our city’s social services, which were not equipped to provide him the resources he needed; our healthcare system, which treats mental illness as a crime; and our commodified housing market that has generated the highest rates of homelessness in New York City since the Great Depression. Regardless of the jury’s verdict, New Yorkers know the truth: Jordan Neely was murdered.

Today, the justice system did not just fail Jordan Neely, it endorsed his killing and sent a message to other would-be vigilantes that the courts are on their side. No verdict would have brought him back to life, and no verdict would have provided Neely the means to live with dignity before his life was ended, but today’s “not guilty” decision further puts all homeless people at risk. 

Since taking office, Adams has declared war on the working class. Homelessness rose by fifty-one percent under his administration; fifteen percent of all tenants have been targeted for eviction and thousands of homeless people had their tents and possessions destroyed in NYPD “cleanups.” Adams responded only by cutting social services and empowering the police to subject New Yorkers to involuntary psychiatric hospitalization. Our city’s systems were rigged against Jordan Neely. Earlier this month, the mayor gave the killer his menacing endorsement—when Penny choked an unarmed man to death he was “doing what we should have done as a city.” Adams and the political establishment would rather punish the vulnerable than ensure that all New Yorkers have the resources to live with dignity.

While NYC consistently ranks as one of the safest big cities in the US with violent subway crime at a post-pandemic low, Eric Adams has stoked a moral panic that puts Black and brown people at risk of violence from the police and vigilantes. We must call Jordan Neely’s murder what it is: a modern-day lynching. This injustice was not inevitable. It is the result of a political decision to create the illusion of safety for some at the expense of real safety for all. 

Justice for Jordan Neely.

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ABOUT NYC-DSA:  New York City Democratic Socialists is the NYC local chapter of Democratic Socialists of America, the largest socialist organization in the United States with over 85,000 members. NYC-DSA is run by its 6,500+ members who are working together to build a New York that works for the working class in the five boroughs.