This past May 1 was a typical day on the New York City subways. Commuters and tourists were transiting beneath the chaos of overhead Manhattan, only to witness New York’s subterranean version of Dante’s Inferno.

Specifically, a homeless man, now euphemistically called an “urban camper” or “displaced person,” was harassing fellow subway passengers. The Guardian went further in their descriptors, calling Neely “a talented dancer” who was “remembered as kind and loving” and even “had a fan club.”

Neely also had a long rap sheet, a fact conveniently overlooked by most media sympathizers. According to the Daily News, Neelly has been arrested 42 times in the last 10 years, most recently in November 2021 for slugging a 67-year-old female stranger in the face as she exited a subway station. He had a history of mental illness.”

Enter ex-Marine Daniel Penny, a fellow traveler on one of New York’s subterranean mental institutions on wheels, noting how Neely was harassing and threatening other passengers. With the assistance of several other like-minded passengers, Penny restrained Neely until he stopped resisting.

Penny then put Neely into a recovery position (with passengers complimenting his actions), hardly the moves of someone intent on killing Neely. "He’s a hero," said another passenger, who has lived in New York City more than 50 years.

One man’s hero is another man’s criminal, specifically to a left-wing Manhattan District Attorney. Soros-funded DA Alvin Bragg, taking a break from chasing Donald Trump over supposed dressing room hanky-panky at Bergdorf Goodman, convinced a grand jury to indict the 24-year-old White Marine veteran for second-degree manslaughter.

Penny’s real crime was that he was acting as a Good Samaritan, trying to do the right thing, protecting his fellow subway riders from harassment and potential injury. His other crime was his skin color.

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That last bit is not hyperbole. Noted in an NBC News article on the indictment was this paragraph, “Penny, who is white, said he acted to protect himself and other passengers when he confronted Neely, who was Black.”

If skin color wasn’t relevant, why did NBC mention it? It wasn’t an issue for Penny. “I didn’t see a Black man threatening passengers. I saw a man threatening passengers,” Penny said.

But to the corporate media and left-wing politicians, everything is about race. NBC went further playing the race card, “The incident evoked memories of the 1984 shooting of four Black teenagers on a New York City subway by Bernhard Goetz, a white man who feared he was being mugged.”

Not surprisingly, NBC neglected to mention another NYC race hustle, the Tawana Brawley fake-rape case, where she tag teamed with racial provocateur Al Sharpton to fabricate a story about a Black teenager being raped and kidnapped by a group of white men.

If a crazed white guy on the NYC subway shouted to passengers, “I’m gonna’ kill you”, as Neely did and a Black Marine veteran took him down, restraining him to protect fellow passengers, he would be lauded as a hero, making the rounds of cable news shows and “The View.” He would certainly not be indicted and facing years in prison, as Daniel Penny is.

“A shirtless man assaulted a 75-year-old woman as she left a Macy’s store in Manhattan at Sixth Avenue and West 34th Street over the weekend, according to NYPD.” Will DA Bragg pursue this recent Black assailant with any of the vigor directed toward Daniel Penny? Don’t hold your breath.

The concept of the Good Samaritan goes back to Biblical times, specifically the book of Luke, chapter 10, and the “Parable of the Good Samaritan.”

What’s the message for fellow New Yorkers, or residents of any large American city under full Democrat control? Is it wise to borrow from Spike Lee’s movie, Do the Right Thing?

Or is the now smarter course of action to say, “Fuhgeddaboutdit”? Those wanting to lend a helping hand had better beware, especially if they are White. If anything goes wrong, they will be castigated, prosecuted, and possibly incarcerated for their noble efforts.

Remembering Bob Dylan’s great song “Hurricane” about racial injustice toward black boxer Rubin Carter, the skin colors and discrimination in the song have done a 180-degree flip since the mid-1960s in Paterson, New Jersey.

Words from the song are appropriate for any Good Samaritan wanabees on the NYC or other big-city transit systems, as it was for Daniel Penny trying to do the right thing, “He had no idea what kinda shit was about to go down.” With a crucial follow up admonition, “Don't forget that you are White.”

It is not only on subways but also in stores that Good Samaritans are persona non grata. In a metro Denver, supermarket King Soopers fired five employees for stopping a shoplifter. A food worker union in Washington told employees to not stop shoplifters. Uber-woke Lululemon fired store employees for trying to stop shoplifters with the CEO standing behind this decision.

Good Samaritans are chumps. Why not make cash registers and paying for merchandise optional? Employees should just watch TikTok videos on their phones and respond only to direct questions from customers. They can leave the store as a free-for-all for thieves. Doing the right thing only leads to big trouble, such as loss of job, or in Daniel Penny’s case, loss of freedom.

Forget Jesus’s Bible teachings. If the Parable of the Good Samaritan now becomes a criminal act, expect wanton crime and violence in Democrat cities to exponentially increase as those wanting to do the right thing follow the lead of the parable’s priest and Levite, looking down and walking away.

Want to be a good Samaritan and do the right thing? Fuhgeddaboudit.

Brian C Joondeph, MD, is a physician and writer.

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