It's a great day in America. As you've likely seen, Daniel Penny has been acquitted after being unjustifiably charged with negligent homicide and second-degree manslaughter.
The story is one that should have him called a hero, not tried as a criminal.
Penny protected a subway car full of people, including women and children, after choking out Jordan Neely, a repeat criminal with a history of violence. Penny, a veteran, put Neely into a chokehold until he passed out, then laid him down in the recovery position. Neely was alive when EMTs arrived, but the EMTs refused to give Neely any treatment for fear of catching Hep-C. Neely later died.
(JUSTICE SERVED: Daniel Penny Jurors Reach Their Verdict)
But like every major event, the fallout can be both good and bad.
As I write this, Black Lives Matter representatives are literally advocating for black people to choke out white people "when they oppress us." Once again, a radical racial group is advocating for violence, but I'm sure the amount of media figures and leftists politicians that stand in opposition will be zero.
BLM New York calls for vengeance from black vigilantes after the acquittal of Daniel Penny in Manhattan.
— Andy Ngo 🏳️🌈 (@MrAndyNgo) December 9, 2024
"People wanna jump up and choke us and kill us for being loud? How about we do the same?" pic.twitter.com/UeqDo13kIe
This does need some consideration, however, and not just on the part of Black Lives Matter.
New York has a serious problem, and Penny's trial was a clear indicator of that. As I wrote on Friday, Penny's crime wasn't that he choked out Neely, it was that his actions brought into question why Neely was allowed to roam freely and terrorize people at will.
Penny's trial was a cover-up of the very public trial being held in the court of public opinion about New York Democrats' ineptitude and flat-out corruption of the city's justice system. Its soft-on-crime approach has plunged the city into a crime problem made worse by the fact that it refuses to keep its police force well-staffed and funded.
(READ: Daniel Penny Is a Political Prisoner)
Penny was hardly the first time a citizen took measures into their own hands. In fact, it's been a developing issue in New York that isn't widely talked about by the corporate media.
Vigilantism has begun rising in New York City, and a lot of that is because the people don't have a choice, as I wrote back in June, when an illegal immigrant raped a 13-year-old girl after tying her and a male student to a tree. When the man's description was given over the news, the people were able to identify him on the street.
But they didn't call the police... at least not at first:
WARNING GRAPHIC:
— Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) June 18, 2024
A group of local men tied up and beat an illegal immigrant accused of brutally raping a 13-year-old girl in Queens.
Christian Geovanny Inga-Landi is a 25-year-old Ecuadorian illegal, one of the millions Joe Biden has waved into America like a third-base coach.… pic.twitter.com/ytfRM5B1Jc
Another instance came after a man slashed at people, including an 11-year-old girl with a box cutter. The citizens of New York found the man. Lucky for him, the police arrived before the people had a chance to tear him apart, and they made it very clear they wanted to.
New York isn't a stranger to vigilante justice, either. The Bowery Boys, Dead Rabbits, and Guardian Angels, while all operating in different contexts, all styled themselves as protectors of the people. Each operated on what they thought was proper justice.
And this brings me to my point.
With Penny's acquittal, the green light has been given for moments of vigilante justice in the name of self-defense. While Penny actually did defend people, and his acquittal was right and good, what is "right and good" is in the eye of the beholder.
For instance, what if that beholder is a Black Lives Matter leader who thinks white people are out to get black people?
Vigilantism is going to spike in New York City. I'd bet a lot of money on that, and not all of these vigilante efforts are going to be as pure as Penny's moment of self-defense.
The trouble with vigilantism is that it's subjective justice. A man may shoot another in defense of the innocent, however another may shoot the first man over a perverted idea of "justice." Both men believed they were doing the right thing.
This is why vigilantism, though fun to think about and imagine, is actually a sign of moral decay and can result in some very dangerous situations where innocent people can wind up hurt or dead. Usually, that decay is the result of political mismanagement, corruption in the justice department, incompetence, or in New York's case, a mix of all three.
To be sure, not every case of the people rising up is going to be bad. There will be some serious feel-good stories coming out of New York in the next few months, I imagine, but I also think these will be accompanied by real tragedies.
And all of it will be on the Democrat leadership in New York City.
