Emma Vigeland, co-host of The Majority Report, suggested the expectation of safety on public transportation was "bourgeois."
The Majority Report co-host provided her own experience being assaulted by a man on public transportation.
"He sat next to me and was elbowing and kind of flailing around," Vigeland said, detailing the man, who was allegedly experiencing a mental health episode, had hit her face and body. "It was jarring."
"The idea that I would want him to be hurt in any way ... I just didn’t want to be near him in that moment because I understood something was going on."
Vigeland suggested her experience being assaulted by someone on public transit was common.
"Every one of us who's taken public transit has had this kind of ... something similar happen, seeing someone struggling," she said, conceding she was scared after being hit by the man. "That doesn't mean that our fear in that instance ... my fear is not the primary object of what we should be focusing on right now. It's the fact that this person is in pain."
"The politics of dehumanization privileges the bourgeois kind of concern of people's immediate discomfort in this narrow instance as opposed to larger humanity and life. It's really freakin' twisted."
Vigeland's comments follow the death of homeless man Jordan Neely who was choked by a 24-year-old subway passenger on the F train after Neely reportedly behaved aggressively.
The 24-year-old passenger proceeded to place Neely in a choke hold on the ground of the train for 15 minutes, according to the outlet.
Authorities were called after the subway stopped at the Broadway-Lafayette Street/Bleeker Street station.
Neely, who reportedly had a history of mental health issues, was unable to be revived by EMS workers, according to law enforcement sources.
The 24-year-old, who declined to comment when approached by the New York Post, was taken into custody and subsequently released without charges, though may face charges after Neely’s autopsy results are made available.
