Biased online encyclopedia Wikipedia is at its usual propaganda tricks, emphasizing the skin color of two people involved in a highly politicized accidental death, but not in the case of a Ukrainian refugee’s death.
Wikipedia’s article on the death of Jordan Neely begins by stating that Neely was “black” and that the man who confronted him just before his death, Daniel Penny, was “white.” Meanwhile, in Wikipedia’s article on Iryna Zarutska’s killing, editors buried any mention of race, even though her alleged killer reportedly expressed satisfaction at knifing a “white girl” he didn’t know.
In 2024, a judge and jury cleared Marine Daniel Penny of manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide charges after he used a chokehold on serial criminal Neely, who was threatening fellow passengers on a New York City subway. Evidence, including expert and witness testimony, indicated Neely died of a combination of drugs and preexisting medical conditions rather than Penny’s chokehold.
But the introductory paragraphs of Wikipedia’s write-up on the death of Neely, who had over 40 prior arrests, offer almost none of the most pertinent details of the situation. Instead, Wikipedia begins with Penny’s and Neely’s race, and does not explain that Penny was acquitted until later in the article:
On May 1, 2023, in New York City, Jordan Neely, a 30-year-old black homeless man, was killed after being put in a chokehold by Daniel Penny, a 24-year-old white United States Marine Corps veteran while riding the New York City Subway… The manslaughter charge was dismissed on the request of the prosecution after the jury deadlocked. He was then acquitted on the remaining charge of criminally negligent homicide. A wrongful death suit by Neely's father remained pending as of December 2024.
Neely's death and Penny's acquittal sparked controversy and division along partisan and racial lines, renewing debates about New York City's treatment of persons with similar histories of homelessness and mental illness.
Wikipedia also provided far more biographical details on Neely. The information about Penny focused almost entirely on where he learned to apply chokeholds, his appearance at the Army-Navy football game as President Donald Trump’s guest and “controversy” surrounding his new job post-acquittal.
In contrast to the above, when writing about Iryna Zarutska’s death, Wikipedia did not acknowledge the race of the victim or the accused murderer until far down in the article, and then only in reference to critiques from “[c]onservative commentators.” Wikipedia’s opening slant was:
The killing drew international coverage for Zarutska's status as a refugee seeking safety in the United States, prompted a public statement from Charlotte mayor Vi Lyles, and footage of the killing sparked outrage on social media, leading to policy discussions about transit security, fare enforcement, and gaps in the criminal justice and mental health systems.
Charlotte’s mayor thanked media outlets that had not shared video of the incident. Wikipedia did not mention the clip of the suspect Decarlos Brown Jr., apparently saying out loud after the stabbing, “I got that white girl.” Wikipedia’s write-up didn’t even mention Brown’s name until the citations at the bottom of the piece.
Notably, while Wikipedia’s write-up on Zarutska referred to “right-wing political commentators” and accused them of making the stabbing “‘politicized’” per The Charlotte Observer, the online encyclopedia did not label any media or commentators in Neely’s article as “left-wing.”
Also of note, Wikipedia cited articles from NPR and PBS as sources for the Neely article. The leftist outlets were defunded by Congress because of their bias as part of a rescissions package this year, for which MRC strongly advocated.
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