Collin County, TX – In a scene reminiscent of the antebellum south, a jury with no Black jurors, found teenager Karmelo Anthony guilty of murder for defending himself against bullies who put hands on him first. Black Lives Matter Grassroots has been organizing to #FreeKarmelo and was on the ground for the duration of the trial. We condemn this shameful verdict in the strongest possible terms as yet another example of how the whole damn system is guilty, corrupt, and deeply racist.
Karmelo, who was just 17 years-old at the time of the incident, was never the aggressor. A child of impeccable character, a multi-sport athlete, an A student, and the captain of his football team, Karmelo should have been protected when he was being bullied. Instead, he was forced to defend himself, then criminalized, arrested, prosecuted, convicted, immediately remanded into the custody of the Collin County Sheriff, and sentenced to 35 years in prison. The state plans to cage him, stomp out his infinite potential, and deprive the world of his light until he is 54 years-old.
How is a slight and frightened 17 year-old child, who was threatened and then shoved by 200-pound twin brothers not acting in self defense, when fully armed and professionally trained cops win much flimsier claims every day? How is a model student with no prior record not allowed to defend himself from physical attacks when American justice permits a family of adults to hunt and kill a 14 year-old Black child, Cyrus Carmack-Belton, with no accountability just the week prior? How can a state like Texas which professes the right to self-defense prosecute and convict a child who was forced to do just that? What is clear is that none of these rights apply to Black people.
“Karmelo Anthony was a child, who should be cared for after a deeply traumatic experience. Instead, the system has shown how brutal and racist it is. It will never give Black people justice. What is happening to Karmelo makes the case for abolition. We will continue to fight to free Karmelo and every Black child that the system intends to chew up and spit out,” said Dr. Melina Abdullah, co-founder and Director of Black Lives Matter Grassroots.
The verdict comes against a backdrop of white supremacist agitators calling for Karmelo’s hanging and making death threats against the family, threats so persistent and credible that the Anthony family had to be relocated and protected by armed guards.
The case was presided over by right-wing Republican Judge John Roach, who barred cameras in the courtroom and permitted only a limited number of approved media.
Months earlier the judge issued a gag order that left Karmelo Anthony’s family without a voice to defend their child in the media while white supremacists, including a January 6th insurrectionist publicly disparaged Karmelo’s character and sullied his name. The jury was not sequestered during the trial and all Black potential jurors were struck. The judge’s jury instructions were not immediately available for public review. Almost immediately following the verdict, the judge handed down an extraordinarily harsh 35 year sentence.
Black Lives Matter Grassroots is calling for Karmelo’s immediate pardon and release, an investigation into potential conflicts of interest and corruption, a review and suspension of Judge John Roach, and continued support for the Anthony family.
We also know that the San Diego killers did not act in isolation, but in the context of a city, county, and country that has long criminalized people of color through so-called gang documentation and enhancements, white nativism, ICE raids, police violence, and racism and xenophobia writ large.
Charleston, SC – Black Lives Matter Grassroots stands in full solidarity with the Charleston Reparations Taskforce and the Gullah Geechee community in demanding the immediate transfer of over 7,000 acres of plantation land, including Middleton Place, Boone Hall, and Magnolia Plantation, to permanent Gullah Geechee stewardship.
We are grateful for the courage, vision, sacrifice, and power of Black Lives Matter Grassroots Twin Cities lead Chauntyll Allen, courageous comrade Nekima Levy Armstrong, and other principled organizers for their righteous resistance to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) federal invasion and fascist repression in Minneapolis/St. Paul. Rather than submitting to an unparalleled evil that murders mothers in their own vehicles, explodes chemical weapons upon infants, kidnaps and imprisons preschoolers, brutalizes children, separates families, and terrorizes communities, grassroots organizers in the Twin Cities are putting their own bodies, freedom and livelihood on the line to secure community.
