The circumstances in these two cases are remarkably similar. Two men confronted on a subway train, a confined space, by an unpredictable, potentially violent individual. One witness in the Penny case stated that, while she did not see a weapon on Jordan Neely, she said, "But I truly felt that he was most likely armed."

The outcomes in these cases, however, are very different. Jordan Williams killed Devictor Quedraogo on June 13, 2023. It took a little more than two weeks for a Grand Jury to decline to indict him on the manslaughter and weapon possession charges. Daniel Penny's fate is now in the hands of a jury. Besides the outcomes, there is also another difference. Jordan Williams is black; Daniel Penny is white.

These are both cases of self-defense, and one might also argue, being a good Samaritan, looking out for fellow subway passengers. Daniel Penny has not been charged with any hate crimes, yet his life hangs in the balance. If there is a racial component in the Penny case, it has been created by the prosecutor herself. Manhattan prosecutor Dafna Yoran claims that Penny "didn't recognize that Jordan Neely was a person" and merely "saw him as a person that needed to be eliminated." Yet Yoran allowed witnesses to describe Penny as "the white man" and even a "murderer." Really? So, is it okay to dehumanize some people but not others? Penny's defense team rightly objected to the language and asked for a mistrial but was denied