The System Is Guilty.
Karmelo Is Not.

COLLIN COUNTY, TX — In a scene reminiscent of the antebellum south, a jury with no Black jurors found teenager Karmelo Anthony guilty of murder. Black Lives Matter Grassroots maintains that he acted in self-defense after others initiated physical contact. 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.

Black Lives Matter Grassroots maintains that Karmelo, who was just 17 years old at the time of the incident, was not 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. Instead, he was 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.

Black Lives Matter Grassroots asks how the law’s self-defense protections were applied to a slight and frightened 17-year-old whom the defense says was threatened and shoved. How is a model student with no prior record denied the same legal protection argued in other cases? How can a state that recognizes self-defense convict a child whose defense maintains that he acted to protect himself? 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.” — Dr. Melina Abdullah, Co-Founder & Director, 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.