The death of Jordan Neely has outraged protestors across New York City and the country. The ex-Marine who placed him in a fatal chokehold on the subway on May 1 was charged with second-degree manslaughter, but nothing will bring the Michael Jackson impersonator back.
Today (May 19), family, friends, and supporters gathered for Neely’s funeral at Mount Neboh Baptist Church in Harlem. Leaders including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, New York City public advocate Jumaane Williams, and Lt. Gov. Antonio Delgado were in attendance. Rev. Al Sharpton, who has delivered the eulogy at the memorial services for other unjustly killed Black people like Tyre Nichols, took some time at the podium to state facts about Neely’s death.
“There has been, since Jordan’s death, a distortion of values that we need to make clear has been violated,” Rev. Sharpton said in the beginning of his eulogy, per The New York Times. He went on to describe Neely’s death as a “crime” and called on people to support his family. “When they choked Jordan, they put their arms around all of us,” he railed. “All of us have the right to live.”
“Jordan was not annoying someone on the train. Jordan was screaming for help,” the reverend stated plainly. “We keep criminalizing people with mental illness. People keep criminalizing people that need help. They don’t need abuse; they need help.” Watch him speak below.
“Jordan was not annoying someone on the train; Jordan was screaming for help. We keep criminalizing people with mental illness … They don’t need abuse, they need help.”
— Rev. Al Sharpton delivers the eulogy for Jordan Neely, the man choked to death on a NYC subway train pic.twitter.com/AGLFNLFNRx
— The Recount (@therecount) May 19, 2023
“Agencies that failed to keep him and give him mental health choked Jordan … He's an example of how you're choking the homeless … choking the mentally ill!”
— Rev. Al Sharpton slams NYC's treatment of homeless and mentally ill people while delivering eulogy for Jordan Neely pic.twitter.com/VHkp8u5ulc
— The Recount (@therecount) May 19, 2023
Sharpton noted that Neely’s mother, who died when he was young, had her funeral at the exact same church. He also pointed out the structural problems that eventually led to Neely’s death at the hands of a vigilante.
“The agencies that failed to keep him and give him mental health [care] choked Jordan. Those that let him go, even though they had his record of needing help, they choked Jordan. The city agencies choked Jordan. He’d been choked most of his adult life,” the faith leader asserted. “He’s an example of how you’re choking the homeless, how you’re choking the mentally ill, how you’re choking all over the city, and we come to say this choking has got to stop.”
Watch the funeral service in full below.