Friends, community leaders gather to mourn at Jordan Neely funeral in Harlem

The sanctuary at Mt. Neboh Baptist Church in Harlem on Friday; the site Jordan Neely's funeral.

About 100 mourners filled the pews of Mount Neboh Baptist Church in Harlem on Friday to remember Jordan Neely, who was choked to death on a subway train earlier this month.

The Rev. Johnnie Green Jr. started by saying that the ceremony would honor how Neely lived — not how he died.

Neely was laid to rest in a white casket which stood before the pews, adorned with gold and covered in a heaping bouquet of red and white roses.

The somber service was punctuated by bouts of joyful music, as the pastor and a choir led the mourners in gospel songs. People danced in the pews and clapped along. Between speeches, four young men sang an a cappella rendition of “People Get Ready.” As they crooned about the “train to Jordan,” people applauded and cheered.

Neely’s aunt, Mildred Mahazu, said her nephew had made a living as a Michael Jackson impersonator, performing on city streets and subways, “where he was well-known and loved.” She said Neely had idolized the pop star since he was seven years old.

Mahazu said her nephew had also been a soccer and basketball star in high school. She said Neely and his mother, who was strangled to death when he was 14, had an “unbreakable bond.”

But the service was about more than mourning Neely’s death or celebrating his life. It was also a call to action.

“Let me say as I begin that we should not not celebrate Jordan’s life, but we should not ignore how he died,” Rev. Al Sharpton said during his eulogy. “This funeral was not on the schedule. We’re not here because of natural causes. We’re here because of unnatural policies.”

Sharpton said Neely was not “annoying” his fellow subway passengers.

“Jordan was screaming for help,” he said.

Sharpton condemned the criminalization of people with mental illness and others who need help. He questioned why the man who killed Neely wasn’t immediately arrested and whether race had played a role. Then he called for changes to the systems that allowed Neely to fall through the cracks — systems that he said had “choked” Neely for most of his adult life.

“We won’t stop until the Jordans get help,” Sharpton shouted. “When they scream, we’re going to help them, not choke them. We’re going to stand up. There’ll be no justice. There’ll be no peace.”

People in the pews rose to their feet and erupted in chants of “no justice, no peace.” Several elected officials, including Public Advocate Jumaane Williams and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, also stood and clapped.

Yusef Salaam, a member of the Central Park Five who is now running for City Council, called Neely’s killing a “lynching.”

“We are here today under the grace of the Almighty, with a generational opportunity to save our city's soul,” he said. “And it is our responsibility to figure out how all of these independent entities can fail Jordan, but somehow the system lay all blame at his feet and his feet alone rather than hold up the mirror.”

Neely, 30, was riding an uptown F train through Manhattan when a witness said he started shouting that he was hungry and thirsty and tired — that he didn’t care if he went to jail or died. At some point after that, another straphanger took Neely to the ground and wrapped his arm around Neely’s neck, according to Juan Alberto Vazquez, the journalist who recorded part of the incident.

The video shows Daniel Penny, a 24-year-old former Marine, continue to choke Neely even after he was no longer moving, as an off-camera voice tells him to stop. Two other men, who have not been identified, appeared to be helping to restrain Neely.

Police arrived several minutes after the train pulled into the Broadway-Lafayette station. First responders took Neely to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Outreach workers told Gothamist that Neely had been living in shelters and public spaces at the time of his death. Family and friends said his mental health had declined after his mother’s murder.

The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office last week charged Penny with second-degree manslaughter, which applies when someone is accused of recklessly killing another in New York. Defense attorneys have said he was acting to protect himself and others on the subway.

Penny surrendered and was freed after paying a $100,000 bond shortly after his arraignment. An online crowdfunding campaign created by his attorneys had already garnered more than $2.6 million in donations as of Friday morning, after receiving public support from conservatives like Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who has called Penny a “Good Samaritan.”

During his eulogy, Sharpton said Penny was no “Good Samaritan.”

“A ‘Good Samaritan’ helps those in trouble,” he said. “They don’t choke them out.”

This story has been updated.