The phrase “Dear white people” has been trending on X, formally Twitter — and it has caused quite the uproar.

On Tuesday, Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.) shared a plea to white people in a post that has since amassed thousands of likes: “Dear White People, I don’t know why I feel the need to keep talking to you. I don’t know why part of me still has hope for you and for us. Some of you are too far gone. But maybe enough of you aren’t and will join us in fighting to end white supremacy.”

His post was met with furor. One X user accused the representative, who is Black, of making “racist comments,” while another said he was “race baiting.” Others replied to his post with more inflammatory comments and memes.

Bowman published his post days after a Manhattan jury acquitted Daniel Penny of criminally negligent homicide in the May 2023 death of Jordan Neely.

Penny, who is white, used a chokehold on an unarmed Neely, who was Black, for about six minutes on the floor of a New York City subway train. Medical examiners ruled the death a homicide.

Penny’s lawyers have argued that he was protecting himself and other passengers, and that Neely was making alarming remarks and gestures. Prosecutors said that Penny “used far too much force for far too long,” and that he didn’t recognize the “humanity” in Neely.

The case and Penny’s subsequent acquittal have sparked ongoing conversations about public safety, race relations, racial disparities in criminal charges and white vigilantism.

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) released a statement on Monday condemning Penny’s acquittal, saying Neely was “experiencing a mental health crisis” in the subway train before Penny placed him in a chokehold.

“Let’s be clear — mental health crises are medical emergencies, not crimes,” the statement read, in part. “America has yet again criminalized our community and subverted accountability.”

Bowman followed up his “Dear White People” post with a thread of posts calling out “countless incidents of brutal police violence and killings” he’s seen in his lifetime, and the trauma it has caused him. He said the 1991 brutal police beating of Black motorist Rodney King was the first time he saw a Black man violently attacked on camera.

The congressman, who lost his primary bid for a third term in Congress over the summer, then named other prominent cases in which Black people were killed by police, including the deaths of Philando Castile, Breonna Taylor and George Floyd.

“White supremacy is not skin color. It’s a state of mind,” he wrote, after referencing the killing of Tyre Nichols, who was beaten to death by five Black police officers.

“Jordan Neely is the latest. He was sick. He was not a threat,” Bowman wrote in one post. “He was subdued. Still not a threat. Daniel Penny choked him for 6 minutes. And killed him. We all watched it on camera, and he was still acquitted.”

“RIP Jordan Neely. The justice system failed you,” he wrote in a later post. “Kyle [Rittenhouse] and Daniel Penny are free. You’re gone. We must still fight.”

After receiving backlash for his posts, Bowman followed up with another post on X hours later, writing: “Seems like I hit a nerve.”

“Wow. This has been so triggering for so many of you. Do you realize you’re actually proving my point?” he later continued in another post. “If you are that triggered by this, imagine how I must feel when Black people are murdered consistently and there is no Justice. Y’all can’t handle a tweet. Fascinating.”

While some people on X slammed Bowman, and called his posts “unproductive,” others have joined him in calling Penny’s acquittal an example of systemic racial injustice.