Karmelo Anthony brought a knife to a high school track meet, made threats, and used the weapon, murdering Austin Metcalf. The jury reviewed the evidence, found the facts clear, and reached a verdict rather quickly.
The system worked; there’s no doubt about that.
But activists and media figures spent months racializing the case, turning a straightforward murder trial into a political and cultural flashpoint. By the time the verdict came down, many people had stopped looking at the facts and started looking at the skin colors of the people involved. That helps explain why so many on the left reacted to a predictable verdict as if it were an injustice.
The verdict itself came as little surprise. The defense’s case was weak, and the evidence against Anthony was substantial. What was remarkable wasn’t the outcome, but the reaction surrounding it. After months of activists and media figures portraying Anthony as the victim, concerns about unrest following a guilty verdict were entirely understandable. A GiveSendGo fundraiser set up last year for Anthony (which I won’t link to) had already raised more than $600,000. And donations have continued pouring in since the verdict.
I can’t even.
Left-wing influencer Brian Krassenstein immediately tried to politicize the verdict in a video by pretending that he believed the jury was biased and the judge was corrupt. “That's what Republicans would say if this went the other way.”
I think he thought he was throwing shade at Trump, but the situations aren’t even close to comparable. Trump was targeted by a partisan prosecutor in a city where Trump couldn’t possibly get a fair trial. But I’m not going to rehash that case right now.
"Unlike the other side, we shouldn't jump to the conclusion that the jury is biased or the judge is biased or corrupt merely because the side we thought was going to win, didn't win," Krassenstein continued. "Just like all cases, he's going to have the opportunity to appeal it. And if the appellate court thinks he's guilty, then he's going to remain guilty."
That’s really not what appellate courts do, but I digress.
Karmelo Anthony found guilty of murdering Austin Metcalf.
— Brian Krassenstein (@krassenstein) June 9, 2026
“Biased jury and corrupt judge?” https://t.co/8K9yrL7dZ0 pic.twitter.com/6q9BYIShtm
The problem is, the “other side” in this case, the side that apparently supported Karmelo Anthony, has done exactly what Krassenstein claimed Republicans would do. Anthony's supporters fought outside the courthouse and called the process corrupt.
The outrage came from the left.
A black woman outside the courthouse has gone viral for her response to the verdict. "What do you want us to do?” she said. “What do you want us to do at this point? What? I'm lost for it. I don't know what to do. I got five boys. I don't know why. I ain't got nothing to tell them no more."
Karmelo Anthony supporter: "What do I tell my 5 boys? What do we do now!?"
— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) June 9, 2026
Uh… don't murder? pic.twitter.com/DGrnCbhhe6
She could start by telling people not to kill people. That seems like a reasonable place to begin, considering that’s exactly what Karmelo Anthony did.
A CourtTV panelist went further, calling the judge an "imbecile" for barring cameras, and he even attacked the speed of the jury's deliberations. "My whole identity as a defense attorney would be in question," he said. "I'm questioning my identity right now, and I have nothing to do with this case. How could you, how could you come back like that? I would be enraged. I'm enraged right now."
Court TV panel melts down over the Karmelo Anthony guilty verdict:
— johnny maga (@johnnymaga) June 9, 2026
“What happened?! It was a 4-inch knife, he used it one time! He was pushed!… how did you get this verdict?… I’m enraged right now!” pic.twitter.com/pHlhV9lZM5
A legal professional, questioning his entire identity because a jury convicted someone who brought a knife to a track meet and used it.
The problem for those trying to turn Anthony into a sympathetic figure is that the facts keep getting in the way. Nothing the defense alleged about the confrontation came close to establishing a credible self-defense claim. The evidence pointed in one direction, and it wasn’t toward innocence. So when the facts look this bad and people are still bending over backward to portray Anthony as the victim, it’s worth asking why. The answer isn’t complicated. Race has become the driving force behind the narrative.
I’ve argued for years that Barack Obama bears significant responsibility for the racial division that has poisoned this country.
I still believe it.
Polls backed it up, too. Americans said race relations worsened during his presidency. That’s hardly surprising. Obama repeatedly chose to elevate racial grievances instead of fostering unity, and the activists, media figures, and politicians who followed him took that approach even further. Case in point: Obama’s mass commutations of federal inmates, driven by the belief that racial bias had produced unfair sentencing disparities. The result has been a culture on the left where racial identity often outweighs personal responsibility, and where being black is increasingly treated as a get-out-of-jail-free card by activists.
We should be better than this. The evidence was clear, and justice worked. Accepting that and moving forward requires nothing more than basic decency. The radical left refuses, because division is the point. It always has been.
