Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez slammed New York City Mayor Eric Adams, a former cop, for hitting a “new low” in the wake of the death of a NYC subway rider. The medical examiner’s office ruled that the man, Jordan Neely, died from a chokehold administered by a fellow subway patron.
As the Times reported, Neely, who was said to be homeless, “had been screaming at passengers when the other rider wrapped his arms around Mr. Neely’s neck and head and held him for several minutes until he went limp.”
As Ocasio-Cortez characterized it, a man being choked to death by a civilian beneath the New York City streets drew a far too tepid and timid response from Mayor Adams. Ocasio-Cortez essentially accused Adams of not responding more forcefully because the victim was deemed to have possessed insufficient value in society.
The Congresswoman wrote of the Mayor’s statement: “This honestly feels like a new low: not being able to clearly condemn a public murder because the victim was of a social status some would deem ‘too low’ to care about.”
This honestly feels like a new low: not being able to clearly condemn a public murder because the victim was of a social status some would deem “too low” to care about.
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) May 3, 2023
The last sentence is especially rich from an admin trying to cut the very services that could have helped him. https://t.co/0DtXl9DOO5
Ocasio-Cortez had earlier tweeted about what she sees as the “appalling” hypocrisy of those who stump for “law and order” yet occupy the same overlapping space on the Venn diagram as those who are letting an actual murder slide. Or as she puts it, those who “look the other way.”
It is appalling how so many take advantage of headlines re: crime for an obsolete “tough on crime” political, media, & budgetary gain, but when a public murder happens that reinforces existing power structures, those same forces rush to exonerate&look the other way. We shouldn’t.
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) May 3, 2023
“It is appalling,” the Congresswoman writes, “how so many take advantage of headlines re: crime for an obsolete “tough on crime” political, media, & budgetary gain, but when a public murder happens that reinforces existing power structures, those same forces rush to exonerate and look the other way. We shouldn’t.”
Ocasio-Cortez also shared the New York Civil Liberties Union’s hot take on the chaotic video shown below wherein NYPD and citizens clash, allegedly during a vigil for the victim Neely. The “NYPD’s Strategic Response Group brought force and chaos to a vigil for Jordan Neely,” the NYCLU wrote, calling for the unit’s disbandment.
Today the NYPD’s Strategic Response Group brought force and chaos to a vigil for Jordan Neely. ⁰⁰This militarized unit has no place in our communities, at vigils, or at protests. It must be disbanded. https://t.co/w6g77DLIuN
— NYCLU (@NYCLU) May 3, 2023
_(cropped).jpg){kind=link}