F ³: Be Prepared

 

Monday afternoon a white man killed a Black man in a New York City subway car. People watched. Someone filmed it. No one took action to stop the killing: a slow, agonizing chokehold that crushed the life out of Jordan Neely’s body. 

Fatal Attack on NYC Subway Ruled Homicide , Marita Vlachou, Huffington Post

Jordan Neely was hungry, thirsty, and experiencing homelessness. He may have been in the throes of a mental health crisis. He could simply have been hungry, thirsty, and exhausted from having nowhere to sleep. 

And now he is dead.

A LYNCHING is an extra-judicial (no trial) killing by civilians for a perceived wrong.

Though white Americans have long hanged Black people from trees to celebrate/advertise the events, not all lynchings are hangings.

They lynched Jordan Neely on the NYC F Train Monday. Period. - - Johnathan Perkins

I didn’t learn about this on Facebook. No, my Facebook feed is full of proms and graduations, college decisions, beautiful nature photos, and information about upcoming local events. I’m sure it was on Facebook somewhere. But the grand algorithm doesn’t think that kind of story belongs in my peaceful, suburban feed. Facebook wants me to be comfortable. It steers me away from things that might make me uncomfortable.

Facebook says: let me show you this beautiful thing! This amusing thing! This thing you want to buy! 

It’s on Twitter that the facts and reactions roll on, relentless.

And Jesus asked: A man was being strangled on the subway. One person passed by and did nothing. Another filmed the killing. A third bent down to help the murderer.

Who treated Jordan as a neighbor? - - Rev. Dr. Jacqui Lewis

If I had been on that subway car, Neely’s behavior would have made me deeply uncomfortable. My social anxiety would’ve kicked in and I would have wanted him to stop being loud and desperate so I could stop feeling so uncomfortable. I know myself well enough that I can say I’d probably just have wanted to be invisible.

Would I have intervened to stop his murder? Would you? 

In a moment when my greatest wish would have been to be invisible, would I have chosen to be wildly, loudly visible? Why can’t I reassure myself that I definitely would have stood up and done the right thing?

Jordan Neely Just Needed Some Help, Albert Burnenko, Defector

The news has been filled recently with white people killing Black people just because they felt uncomfortable. Uncomfortable to see them ringing the doorbell. Uncomfortable to hear their cries for help on a subway train. White people distort that feeling of discomfort to claim that they “feared for their life.”Once you say that, anything you do is justified, right?

It was a Black person and I was afraid. 

If Jordan Neely were not homeless, mentally ill and Black, and another passenger had strangled him to death on the train, the coverage would look very different. We are failing here. - - Nikole Hannah- Jones

You roll up your car windows and lock the doors. You clutch your purse to you more tightly. You see them coming and cross the street. You stop patronizing businesses when you hear the neighborhood has “changed”. You consider moving when there are too many Black faces at the elementary school. You post on NextDoor about that strange Black man who parked out front last week.

You prepare all your life to be the person who would kill Jordan Neely or the ones who looked away as he died.