LTP News Sharing:
Ambassadors with the Project 21 black leadership network are responding to woke Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s announcement that a grand jury has indicted Good Samaritan Marine Daniel Penny for protecting subway passengers from violent would-be murderer Jordan Neely.
Project 21 Chairman Horace Cooper:
Our hearts and prayers go out to Daniel Penny and his family. After Mr. Penny stood up to protect defenseless passengers on a subway train, New York’s woke DA has decided that it is Mr. Penny who should be punished for New York’s failure to prevent Jordan Neely’s behavior.
New York’s crime epidemic is out of control. That problem rests with the leadership of New York City and the state legislature of New York. Like others on the train, we’re grateful that Mr. Penny was there when he was.
There have been too many attacks by predators on subway platforms and on the subway in NYC. This is where the NY District Attorney should put his focus.
The right to self-defense is a right that is older than America. Instead of charging Daniel Penny, New York should be honoring him and any other citizen who defends passengers on the subway.
Project 21 Director of Membership Development Donna Jackson:
Unfortunately, woke mob rules are now a substitute for the rule of law. Daniel Penny, a U.S. Marine, faces manslaughter charges of up to fifteen years not because he violated the law but because he fits the prevailing narrative that white men are a danger to black men.
The real indictment is because Penny is white, straight, patriotic and serves his country. We are at a historical moment when persecutions will solely be based on one’s identity.
Former Indiana Attorney General and Current Project 21 Ambassador Curtis T. Hill, Jr.:
This grand jury indictment of Daniel Penny is yet another example of the weaponization of justice by ambitious New York prosecutors who are more concerned with inflaming the public than delivering justice.
Authorities should be encouraging people to stand up in times of distress to help their fellow man, not sit back, look the other way and let violence happen.
Like our police, we ask our military to take an oath to protect and defend our values and our people from threats both foreign and domestic. Daniel Penny, a Marine, was doing what he was supposed to do, what he was trained to do, protecting innocent lives.
I would like to believe that justice will prevail. However, New York DA Bragg makes me less than confident.
Project 21 Ambassador Melanie Collette:
The indictment of Mr. Penny should not be viewed through the lens of race, but through the principle of justice.
Regardless of a person’s skin color, the evidence presented should always be scrutinized with intensity and impartiality. Instead, Al Sharpton and the biased mainstream media sensationalize this incident and misleadingly draw the public’s attention towards race.
The facts overwhelmingly suggest that Penny’s use of force was proportional and necessary to protect himself and the public. For the sake of our justice system, we must reject the notion that race should be a deciding factor in determining one’s guilt or innocence. Justice must be blind to skin color, and only the truth should be allowed to prevail. The Penny indictment serves as a pressing reminder that we must be vigilant in protecting the integrity of our criminal justice system.
Project 21 Ambassador Emery McClendon:
In the United States a person is supposed to be considered innocent until proven guilty, and given a fair and impartial investigation and trial.
Because of racial pressure and the presumption of guilt by the Neely family and the likes of Reverend Al Sharpton, Daniel Penny seems to have been “Trumped” by the DA and the politicized grand jury, regardless of the fact that Neely was out of control and was threatening to kill passengers on the train. Both Penny’s statements and video evidence indicate that he was only trying to subdue Neely to avoid a situation that could have led to innocent passengers being injured or killed.
Why isn’t Penny’s testimony that he was only trying to subdue him until the police arrived being taken into consideration? Why isn’t he being heralded as a hero?
We have reached a point in America that because of undue racial and political pressure people may no longer step up in a time of need to help others. Politics has no place in our justice system.
Author: The National Center
