(Todd A. Smith)
The case surrounding the tragic death of 17-year-old Texas high school student Austin Metcalf has revealed something I have known for years.
Although many White people criticize Black people for playing the so-called race card, they often play it as well.
Viola Flowers of NBC News reported, “Karmelo Anthony, a 17-year-old from Frisco [Texas], was arrested April 2 and charged in connection with the murder of 17-year-old Austin Metcalf. Authorities say he allegedly stabbed Metcalf in the chest after a confrontation at Kuykendall Stadium. Metcalf reportedly died in the arms of his twin brother, Hunter.”
Anthony has claimed self-defense, saying that he was standing his ground by not leaving another school’s tent during a track meet when Metcalf assaulted him.
What should have been an unfortunate situation that served as a cautionary tale has turned into another incident that has turned racial, dividing an already polarized nation.
Anthony is Black, while Metcalf is White.
Although the shoe is often on the other foot with White people claiming self-defense and stand your ground privileges, now that the tables have turned, it has exposed the hypocrisy that some in the White community have about race relations.
Whenever a Black person is victimized by alleged racism or police brutality, the response from the Black community is often that Black lives matter and that we need to eliminate racism from American society.
However, when Black people do that, they are often met by White people who complain about us playing the race card.
Many respond with questions such as “Why does everything have to be about race?”
Others will say that if we stop talking about race, then racism will disappear.
Furthermore, some argue that systemic racism and oppression are relics of the past, asserting that Black individuals victimized by White violence would not have faced such a fate if they had simply complied.
Black people heard such things when we complained about the killing of Trayvon Martin.
Black people heard those things when we complained about Tamir Rice.
Black people heard those things when we complained about George Floyd, Philando Castille and Breonna Taylor.
Many White people said that those unarmed dead Black people were thugs and criminals.
Therefore, they did not deserve the support and sympathy of the Black community.
When Black people chanted “Black Lives Matter,” many White people responded with the phrase, “All Lives Matter.”
Many others began chanting “Blue Lives Matter.”
Those who did not like the term Black Lives Matter said that specifying that Black lives mattered was racist and divisive.
But now that Metcalf has died tragically like Martin in a stand-your-ground situation, many White people suddenly feel comfortable chanting, “White Lives Matter.”
If chanting “Black Lives Matter” is racist and divisive, how is chanting “White Lives Matter” not the same?
And to be fair, not all White people are chanting “White Lives Matter.”
But I have yet to see a White person call out one of those White Lives Matter protestors for playing the race card.
I have yet to see a White person say that White Lives Matter is racist because it only emphasizes White lives.
When people began raising money online for George Zimmerman’s defense fund as he fought murder charges in the death of Martin, I did not see many people on the political right complaining.
But now that many in the Black community are raising funds to help Anthony’s legal defense in a very similar case, suddenly, people have a problem with it.
Many people on the political right have even begun spreading fake news about how Anthony’s family is spending those funds.
Social media users have lied about the family splurging with the money.
Therefore, Anthony’s parents had to call a press conference to explain to the public that they had not even begun receiving the funds.
Anthony’s mother Kala Hayes talked about the death threats that her other children have received, as well as the threats the parents have received.
Additionally, Collin County, Texas Judge Angela Tucker, who lowered Anthony’s bail, has begun receiving death threats for just doing her job.
To make matters more complicated, the judge is a conservative Republican, not some radical, race-baiting liberal as many on the extreme right probably hoped for.
What is happening is just normal legal proceedings.
What is happening is just another incident of avoidable violence.
Unfortunately, what is really happening in America in 2025 is people blaming others for doing something that they say is divisive, and then doing the same thing when something adversely impacts their tribe or community.
If you had a problem with people saying, “Black Lives Matter,” then you should not chant “White Lives Matter.”
If you thought that chanting “Black Lives Matter” was racist, then you should criticize the racism from those chanting “White Lives Matter.”
If you support stand-your-ground laws when a White person uses it as a defense, then you should support it when a Black person uses it in a similar situation.
If you supported Zimmerman and Kyle Rittenhouse receiving funds from their supporters, then support Anthony when he receives financial support from his supporters and his community.
When I talk about race and systemic racism with some of my White supporters, many often say we are all Americans, not Black Americans or White Americans.
While that sounds good on the surface, it has never been a reality because Americans are treated differently based on whether they are Black or White, and everything else in between.
America often celebrates White people financially supporting someone from their community.
America often gives White people the right to defend themselves and others.
America is. O.K. with White people mentioning race (or playing the race card).
They have a problem when Black people try to do all the same things just mentioned.
And when Black people call that reality out, we’re the ones who get accused of playing the race card, when White Americans shuffled and dealt the loaded deck of cards themselves.
