America: What is Your Threshold for Black Life?

The killing of Jordan Neely exposes the long exposed: in America, the life of a black person has a threshold.

This post was written by Evan Mastronardi, you can find more of his writing on his Substack.

The term "humanity" is frequently thrown around, especially in discussions about human rights. However, most individuals fail to fully grasp its meaning. If you were to ask white Americans, "Do you recognize the humanity in black, Latino, and indigenous peoples?" the majority would probably answer, "Yes." Even among law enforcement, saying "no" sounds too extreme—at least verbally or on paper.

However, if you were to ask the same group whether they believed the killings of Jordan Neely, Eric Garner, and Trayvon Martin were justified, you would receive a much more divided response. And when it comes to law enforcement, there is no need for a poll; the answer is evident in their actions every day.

It feels like, as a nation, we have been woefully inadequate at grasping abstract concepts and understanding how they manifest in real life. Connecting events and individuals with systemic issues is an ongoing challenge. Of course, this lack of understanding is cyclical. Grasping the concept of systemic racism necessitates caring about it, and in an individualistic hyper-capitalist society where empathy is undervalued, why would one care?

Jordan Neely was experiencing a mental health episode, our NYC has skyrocketing homelessness, along with a mental health crisis. In response, our Mayor is proposing to cut services at our Libraries, and housing services, while giving the police department a raise. Under these circumstances, it is likely that an individual having a similar episode would do so in public. Startling encounters with mentally ill individuals can unnerve or even intimidate people, particularly those who are not lifelong working-class New Yorkers accustomed to the MTA. However, not every mentally ill person can be dealt with using lethal force. Doing so would constitute mass murder.

When public safety genuinely serves the public, it is proportionate. Although it is never perfect, its goal should be the preservation of life and futures. Throughout American history, black life has never been proportionate to white life. From our nation's inception, where black life was literally codified as a fraction of white men, to the Jim Crow era, which prohibited black Americans from accessing equal resources, to the present day, where unarmed black individuals are killed by law enforcement with near impunity, setting an arbitrary yet consistently unequal threshold for the preservation of life based on complexion.

Criminal records, drug usage, and mental health issues become qualifiers for the threshold of black life and acceptance of killings. It is essentially stating, "This is when lethal force is tolerable; this is when their future doesn't matter."

However, this threshold changes when we see a future for someone. It changes when we humanize them enough to recognize their pleas for help and mental health episodes as potential footnotes in their journey, deserving of opportunities for a whole and fulfilled life. We have witnessed this same country, this same legal and police system, granting numerous individuals second chances who weren't even in a diminished capacity. Violent white individuals often receive second chances through nonviolent, and especially nonlethal, interventions.

The reaction to their transgressions aims to prevent the ruination of their entire lives. In contrast, Jordan Neely's mental breakdown led to the belief that he had surpassed the point where the rest of his life mattered.

Daniel Penny, the young man who killed Jordan Neely on camera received two million dollars worth of support, while Jordan's family did not accumulate that much in their entire lives. With two million dollars, Jordan Neely wouldn't even be on that train.

As a nation, our expectations for broad empathy and critical thinking are already low, and white America seems content with that. However, let's not be cowards. Let's have the courage to acknowledge that our threshold for humanity is conditional upon color.

Own it, so that the chance for empathy and the desire to protect life extends to individuals like Jordan Neely no longer occupies any space in our minds. Hope is a precious commodity, and we should reserve that space for those who genuinely care about all life. We need every one of them to prevail over those who do not