The United States courts have just openly shown that “self-defense” is whatever white people says it is at the time
The laws shift depending on whatever upholds the system of white supremacy
George Zimmerman followed a 16-year old kid who had an ice tea and skittles and then attacked him and shot him and was acquitted because Trayvon Martin, the victim, was black. Conservatives did not demand he be executed, instead they supported him.
Let me be clear about what just happened in the Karmelo Anthony verdict. Because the celebration is traveling and the discrepancies aren't.
FACT: Karmelo Anthony was found guilty of murder and sentenced to 35 years.
FACT: The jury deliberated for less than 3 hours.
FACT: There were zero Black jurors on this jury.
FACT: The prosecution used peremptory strikes to remove 100% of eligible Black jurors while keeping a white educator after claiming they didn't want educators on the jury.
FACT: Karmelo Anthony never stood up. The confrontation happened while he was seated. Austin Metcalf was standing over him.
FACT: The jury had the option to choose manslaughter. They chose murder.
FACT: The "sudden passion" defense which would have capped the sentence at 2 to 20 years was rejected.
FACT: Karmelo Anthony's mother was the only witness called during the punishment phase. She asked for mercy. The prosecutor responded: "Mercy to the guilty is cruelty to the innocent."
FACT: Karmelo Anthony will be eligible for parole after serving half his sentence, roughly 17.5 years. He is 19 years old.
Now ask yourself, if the races and sizes were reversed, if Karmelo was 6'1" standing over a seated smaller white teenager who reached up with a knife, does this even go to trial?
You already know the answer.
Say his name. Karmelo Anthony.
Stay Dangerous.