America's Anti-Black Justice System - Karmelo Anthony
Karmelo Anthony got 35 years in prison for the murder of Austin Metcalf. This case and so many others would have a different result if the races were flipped.
A white boy is cornered by a Black boy and his friends who are telling him to leave the track meet they're all attending. He tells them to leave him alone, to back off. He says "touch me and see what happens," reaching into his backpack. The Black boys persist. One of them pushes the white boy, and in response is stabbed in the chest. What's the likelihood that the white boy in this scenario would receive a sentence of 35 years in prison? Very low. How likely is it that they'd get by with an all-Black jury to convict? Not a chance. But we routinely find all-white juries to convict Black men.
Kyle Rittenhouse killed three people with a gun he'd carried across state lines to defend property that wasn't his. He was let off with self defense. Rick Chow shot a kid in the back as he ran away after Chow accused him (falsely) of stealing a bottle of water. Not guilty. Self defense. Andrew Lester shot a kid for knocking on the wrong door. He wasn't even charged with murder, but first-degree assault and pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of second-degree assault. He died before he was sentenced, but the maximum sentence would have been 7 years. George Zimmerman murdered Trayvon Martin for walking in the wrong neighborhood. Not guilty. Self defense. Krieg Butler shot a 13-year-old boy and claimed self defense, despite no evidence that the boy was armed. Murder charges were dropped and he pleaded guilty to improper handling of a firearm and evidence tampering. He got 6 months in jail and 3 years probation.
The point isn't to assert that Austin Metcalf deserved what he got. It's not to say that Karmelo Anthony was justified in the stabbing. It's to say that we have a criminal justice system that routinely and systematically provides leniency to white boys and men, while simultaneously producing excessive sentences for Black boys and men. We consider the damage to a white boy's future, offering no such consideration for Black boys.
The same system that sentences Anthony to 35 years lets Rittenhouse off to tour the country on a white supremacist glory campaign. America is a deeply racist country. Our "justice" system is unapologetically anti-Black. Karmelo Anthony shouldn't be serving 35 years. And all of those white boys and men shouldn't be let off so easily.
In truth, we should have a system of restorative justice focused on problem-resolution and the rehabilitation of a person back into society. We should have a system built around the prevention of crimes, rather than the reaction to them. And when a crime is committed, it should be addressed in a way that gets at the root cause rather than blanket sentences that damn near inevitably result in recidivism upon release, stemming from the trauma faced during incarceration and a lack of resources afterwards. But that feels like a whole lot to ask for when we can't even get an evenly distributed punitive system right.