The Verdict, the Implications, and the Rising Dangers for Homeless Individuals
May 1, 2023, marks the last day that a young, homeless street performer named Jordan Neely took a breath of air on the streets of New York City. Neely’s life was cut short at the tender age of 30 when a 24-year-old military veteran strangled him on a crowded subway train in the middle of the afternoon. This would mean no more entertaining strangers on the streets in his Michael Jackson-inspired apparel, no more moonwalking past commuters with a gentle, easy grin, and no more aspirations of fame, fortune, or even a hope of co-existing amongst his housed peers.
The life and death of Jordan Neely has served as a polarizing topic for homeless advocates and their opponents. However, only when we zoom out do we catch a glimpse of the actual man in the mirror. Here’s what the not-guilty verdict for Neely’s assailant reflects about society as a whole.
Homelessness Through Childhood: How Neely’s Rocky Upbringing Set a Bleak Stage for His Future
When people speak of Jordan Neely, it is often through the lens of what society saw on the day he was murdered – an unsheltered, middle-aged man suffering from mental illness. But that is not who Neely was. It is who he became after a broken system repeatedly failed both him and his mother as well. There was a time in the not-so-distant past when Jordan Neely was, in fact, a homeless child, which, given the currently available data, should come as no surprise.
ABC News reports that during adolescence, Neely was shuffled through a series of homeless shelters, aptly fitting the description of America’s true face of homelessness: a male, African American child.
According to the National Center on Family Homelessness, children account for almost 40% of the homeless population in the US, and 61% of all homeless people are male. When you add in factors such as racial discrimination and poverty, it’s clear that Neely was on a pathway paved by inequity and hardship already. But at age 14, his life took a turn for the worse.
Researchers note that the most impressionable age range lies between 12 and 18 and that experiences during that period tend to shape our lives, building bridges to brighter futures or draping eclipses over them. Neely was no exception. The chronically homeless youth was mentally and emotionally shattered when he came home from grade school to learn that his mother, Christie Neely, was brutally murdered by her then-boyfriend, Shawn Southerland.
Friends and family members who knew Neely well claim the incident scarred him, leaving him to fight a lifelong battle with mental illness and, in a bitter twist, to die equally violently as a result.
As a 14-year-old child, Neely exhibited all of the characteristics that make someone susceptible to homelessness in adulthood, including:
- Having experienced childhood homelessness
- Suffering from mental illness
- Coming from a home where domestic violence took place
- Being institutionalized
- Hailing from an impoverished and ethnic minority background
The person everyone saw on the subway the night Neely was strangled to death was emblematic of a broken social system, one that perpetuates inequities without ever seeking to solve them.
Not Guilty: How the Legal System Stacks Odds Against Unhoused People Even in the Face of Murder
Daniel Penny, the man charged with criminally negligent homicide after murdering Neely in cold blood while horrified subway riders watched, was speedily acquitted. In many circles, he was even celebrated.
His trial parallels the recent Grants Pass decision, which overturned previous rulings and legalized the arrest of homeless people for sleeping outside. This applies even when there are insufficient shelter beds. Both cases set a troubling precedent for how homeless individuals can and will be treated in the future.
The message is clear. Our leaders are saying that if you want to get away with murder, all you have to do is murder a homeless person. The not-guilty verdict, particularly now, at a time when anti-homeless legislation continues to rise and the simple act of being homeless is a crime in every state (and a felony in some places), will undoubtedly encourage more vigilantism. As such, violent crimes against housed and unhoused people are likely to spike.
*It should be duly noted that unsheltered individuals are always more likely to be the victims of violent crimes than the perpetrators of them, even though current legislation implies the opposite to be true. We are working from a place of intentional dishonesty through a system that has been rigged since its inception.
Experts Call Society Out for Bloodlust and Blatant Racism
In response to the Daniel Penny acquittal, experts have expressed concerns over the broader ramifications.
In an exclusive interview with Invisible People reporters, Professor Sara Rankin, who serves as founder and Director of the Homeless Rights Advocacy Project (HRAP), stated:
“Jordan Maurice Caine Neely’s murder is an unspeakable tragedy, not only because Jordan and his family were repeatedly denied justice throughout Jordan’s life, but also because Jordan’s murder exposes a mounting societal bloodlust to further punish already marginalized people. Jordan’s case shows how society is increasingly conflating racism, criminality, and homelessness in dangerous, inaccurate, and even deadly ways. Jordan’s life and his death show that we can and must change.”
New York Staff Attorney Siya Hegde of the National Homelessness Law Center expressed similar sentiments while speaking with Invisible People team members, saying:
“As a New Yorker and as a civil rights attorney for those experiencing homelessness, I am disgusted but not at all surprised by the jury’s decision to acquit the man who murdered a homeless person in broad daylight. Jordan Neely, like many New Yorkers, especially Black people and people of color, suffered from New York City’s failure to ensure that everybody has the housing and healthcare they need.”
“His public murder is a natural byproduct of a mayor who uses trash trucks and police to punish homeless people, a governor who has failed to address the lack of affordable housing, a Supreme Court that said cities can throw people in jail for using a blanket, and a President-elect who has proposed rounding up homeless people and forcing them into detention camps,” she continued. “One man murdered Jordan Neely, who was the victim of America’s racism and overt discrimination against the hundreds of thousands of poor people like him who experience homelessness every night. The solution to homelessness is housing, not chokeholds, police, or jails.”
Demand Justice for People Living Unsheltered. Their Lives and Yours Are Depending on It.
It should never be acceptable to murder a man merely because he is homeless. At the time of the fatal attack, the downtrodden street performer was proven to be unarmed. In fact, the only thing he had in his pocket at the time of his demise was a muffin.
Jordan Neely’s life and death have since become symbolic of a broader trend that goes beyond just criminalizing homelessness and has transitioned into barbarism. Contact your legislators and demand justice for Jordan Neely and others like him before more lives are senselessly taken away.
