You've Definitely Thought This Through

We live in topsy-turvy times.

“Body positivity” has become about celebrating unhealthy bodies. “Being your true self” has become about injecting yourself with hormones, changing your name, and undergoing invasive surgery. Mental illness has become merely “another way to be.” 

In my article, Everything Is Okay At All Times And If You Disagree You’re A Bigot, I pointed out that things have gotten so crazy that when a mentally ill man starts threatening passengers on a New York subway, a surprising number of people are reluctant to admit that it’s reasonable to act before an innocent bystander gets assaulted.

To be clear, there’s a lot of daylight between “acting” and killing somebody. Jordan Neely didn’t deserve to die for being homeless and hungry and mentally ill. But if we pretend his violent behaviour was normal, how do we get him the help he needs? 

Lois thought that the passengers on that subway train (a well-known stomping ground for affluent white men) were afraid of something else.

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Lois:

If Jordan Neely were a mentally ill and dangerous rich, white man, he’d still be alive. He would have been able to afford help before he got to this point, or even if he did get violent, he’d be given a slap on the wrist, like Trump has been given numerous times.

If he were elderly, white, physically violent and suffering from dementia, people would have compassion for him and be furious at the person who killed him. And yes, older people can be strong and lethal. If Jordan Neely were an old white person, he’d be given a pass.

White people scream in public all the time and live through it. We scream threats at others in the subway. No one ever attacks us. Jordan was just SCREAMING. He hadn’t actually assaulted anyone physically. If he had, then fighting back on the part of the passengers would have been justified. Nonetheless the type of chokehold he was put in was very dangerous and there were less dangerous ways of incapacitating him.

There is a an older white woman in my small city who screams, and no one puts her in a chokehold , at least not at the bus station where I normally see her. That would be abusive. If people are compassionate to older white people, they should be compassionate to everyone, regardless of age and race.

Jordan Neely was a disabled man. Mental illness made him disabled. That white, physically dangerous and strong, non-verbal and mentally incapacitated white people can act like this without being killed, but not black people IS racism. Jordan Neely deserved the same consideration as an old, white, demented person.

Yes, another black man was involved. Even black people can be racist to one another. I doubt this black man would have reacted this way if Jordan Neely was white.

As for people masturbating in public, my white disabled brother does that, but he avoids jail and is still alive because he’s a white male in a wheelchair. If he were black and mobile like Mr. Neely, he’d be punished or dead. As for Jordan Neely hitting that old woman “for no reason”, he could have been hallucinating and thought she was a threat to him, or perhaps he didn’t know how to control himself. If people with low IQ’s can get away with these things, even when they’re very strong, then why shouldn’t people with mental illness be given allowances, too? Mental illness is a disability.

Also, you only get physical with someone once that they start attacking physically. Screaming should not lead to death. And living in a huge city, you should expect to see someone masturbating or doing something inappropriate. You can ignore it at the time, and then confront social issues when you are able, such as by making the #richpaytheirfairshare in taxes, rather than cutting essential social services like social security, Medicare and housing for the poor. Also, the mental health system needs to be more accessible.

And as for protestors not looking at homeless people, I actually talk to them, and protest leads to social change. Speaking of change, I give money to the homeless whenever I have it.

By the way, my brother being a white man in a wheelchair has probably saved his life when he was being inappropriate.

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“As for people masturbating in public, my white disabled brother does that, but he avoids jail and is still alive because he’s a white male in a wheelchair. If he were black and mobile like Mr. Neely, he’d be punished or dead.”

I have to confess, I was skimming by this point in Lois’ reply, so I’m only just seeing this titbit of oversharing.

But it’s almost impossible to believe that Lois hasn’t considered the possibility that if her brother lacks the self-restraint to stop himself from masturbating in public, then surely that’s one of the jobs his carer should be handling.

“Stop clients from masturbating in public,” probably isn’t explicitly mentioned in the carer training manual. But I presume it’s implied.

There really is no limit to the lengths some people will go to while playing this idiotic game.

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Steve QJ:

“If Jordan Neely were a mentally ill and dangerous rich, white man, he’d still be alive.”

Yep. No such things as homeless white men. No white men have ever had mental health crises or been killed as a result of them. No siree.

And, of course, no black person has ever had a mental health crisis and lived to tell the tale. 100% murder rate on those. You've definitely thought this through.

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Lois:

And I never said that all mentally ill black people die as a result of mental illness. Black people are judged more harshly though, and much more quickly, than white people. If Jordan were rich AND white, he would have gotten the help he needed. Don’t pretend that men who are both rich AND white are not privileged. Also, many people see black males as dangerous. Use your common sense.

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Steve QJ:

“If Jordan were rich AND white, he would have gotten the help he needed.”

Yes. Everybody who is rich can afford to get the help they need. Regardless of their skin colour. That's what being rich means. In fact, you're on the verge of understanding something really important here. The key privilege in the point you're making here is "rich."

Poor white people fall through the cracks in the system too. Because, you guessed it, poor people, regardless of their skin colour, can't afford to get the help they need. That's what being poor means.

Yes, many people see black males as more dangerous. Sadly this is true. But in Neely's case at least, he was dangerous. He'd proven it at least 44 times. And those are just the times he was arrested for it.

It's ridiculous to argue that because black people are sometimes the victims of racial bias there's no line that any black person can cross where people might take action for reasons other than racism.

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“It's ridiculous to argue that because black people are sometimes the victims of racial bias there's no line that any black person can cross where people might take action for reasons other than racism.”

This line has been ringing in my ears for the past few days. Because it occurs to me, this is precisely what some people are arguing when it comes to racism.

The absolute certainty I see, over and over again, that any injustice involving a black person is due to racism, is built on the assumption that because racial bias exists, it is always a factor. 

And this, in turn, leads unavoidably to the conclusion that racism is ever-present and will never end. Or, at least, not for several millennia when we’re all “mixed” enough that it’s moot.

Black people have spent centuries fighting to be seen as more than the colour of their skin. Yet somehow, after all these years, that’s still all some people can see. Colourblindness has become a byword for "racist." While proclaiming that you’re racist has become a mark of antiracist virtue. 

Topsy-turvy times indeed.