Karmelo Anthony is not Rodney King. King, whose assailants were acquitted in 1992, endured a savage beating. Anthony, who is black, stabbed Austin Metcalf, who is white, to death at a high school track meet in suburban Dallas last year.

The guilty verdict rendered on Tuesday in Anthony’s murder case is now being assailed as an overzealous prosecution decided by an “all white” jury. Scenes outside the courtroom were reminiscent of the OJ Simpson trial. Unfortunately for Anthony, though, the facts in this trial were not complicated.

First, the jury was not “all white”. It’s true that black jurors were dismissed, which the judge reportedly explained as a “race-neutral” decision, but it’s not true the jury was comprised solely of white people. Journalist MaryAnn Martinez of the Daily Mail listed out the jury’s racial breakdown from days of coverage inside the courtroom, reporting that the group appeared to be mostly white, but also included Hispanics and Asians. Collin County is 63% white, 21% Asian, 16% Hispanic, and 12% black.

It’s remarkable to see how fiercely the “all-white jury” narrative spread. The claim was repeated on CNN. It showed up in News Nation. Rep. Jasmine Crockett said it too, as did a spokesman for the family.

On her podcast, Crockett seemed to accept the asinine story of Anthony’s legal team that he was acting in self-defense. An officer testified that after the stabbing, Anthony was captured on body-camera footage saying, “I’m not alleged, I did it. He put his hands on me.”

Witnesses testified that Anthony wandered into Metcalf’s team tent and would not leave when asked multiple times. The local Fox affiliate reported: “The situation quickly escalated as Anthony verbally provoked Metcalf, stating, ‘Touch me and see what happens.’ Witnesses noted Anthony kept his hand hidden inside his backpack, warning that he had something. When Metcalf finally pushed or shoved Anthony’s shoulders, Anthony immediately stood up and stabbed him in the chest.”

Anthony’s defense strained to argue: “You are justified to use deadly force when you believe it is immediately necessary.” That anyone would think their life was in danger because another teenager pushed them at a track meet is absurd.

Racial tensions boiled outside the courtroom. One analyst said Anthony had been “legally lynched”. Right-wing influencer Jake Lang announced a press conference on behalf of “Protect White Americans” and claimed to be attacked by “ANIMALISTIC black people”.

It’s enough to remind the country that what appeared for decades to be unstoppable progress against racial prejudice is dissolving in real time. The old hope was that race would gradually become less salient in public life. Instead, Americans are increasingly encouraged to see every tragedy, verdict and controversy through a racial lens, even when the facts stubbornly point elsewhere.

Metcalf’s father sought to heal the divide. “This was not a race thing. This is not a political thing. Please do not comment if you do not know what happened,” he said last year on Fox News. “Do not turn this into a racial thing. It was not. Do not politicize this. It’s not. This is a human being thing. This person made a bad choice and it affected both his family and my family forever.”

---

Emily Jashinsky is UnHerd‘s Washington correspondent.

emilyjashinsky

---