Frisco, Texas, is a wealthy suburb of Dallas, 28 miles North of the city. It ranks high as one of the wealthiest cities in the United States. It has a very low unemployment rate as well as an extremely low poverty rate. Frisco has also been ranked as the number two safest city in the country. It is a quiet and peaceful city that most people do not even know exists. But all of that changed on April 2 of this year. On that day, a track meet was held among the high schools in the city. Two of those schools were Frisco Memorial High School and Frisco Centennial High School. It was a cloudy day threatened with rain, and all the schools had tents. A young Black student, Karmelo Anthony, found his way into the Memorial tent but was not a student of that school. He attended Centennial High School. A white student, Austin Metcalf, who was a student at Memorial, was also under the tent. He confronted Karmelo and told him to leave and go to his school’s tent. Instead of complying with Austin’s demand, Karmelo responded, “Touch me and see what happens.” Ignoring Karmelo’s threat, Austin pushed Karmelo and again told him to get out. Karmelo reached into his backpack, pulled out a knife, and stabbed Austin in the chest, penetrating his heart. He stumbled back into his twin brother’s arms and later died at a hospital. Karmelo tossed the knife away and started to run out …
Fred Williams
Fred Williams
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Frisco, Texas, is a wealthy suburb of Dallas, 28 miles North of the city. It ranks high as one of the wealthiest cities in the United States. It has a very low unemployment rate as well as an extremely low poverty rate. Frisco has also been ranked as the number two safest city in the country. It is a quiet and peaceful city that most people do not even know exists. But all of that changed on April 2 of this year.
On that day, a track meet was held among the high schools in the city. Two of those schools were Frisco Memorial High School and Frisco Centennial High School. It was a cloudy day threatened with rain, and all the schools had tents. A young Black student, Karmelo Anthony, found his way into the Memorial tent but was not a student of that school. He attended Centennial High School. A white student, Austin Metcalf, who was a student at Memorial, was also under the tent. He confronted Karmelo and told him to leave and go to his school’s tent. Instead of complying with Austin’s demand, Karmelo responded, “Touch me and see what happens.” Ignoring Karmelo’s threat, Austin pushed Karmelo and again told him to get out. Karmelo reached into his backpack, pulled out a knife, and stabbed Austin in the chest, penetrating his heart. He stumbled back into his twin brother’s arms and later died at a hospital.
Karmelo tossed the knife away and started to run out of the stadium. He was caught and arrested. He claimed to the arresting officer that he was protecting himself. When news spread throughout this usually quiet and peaceful town, it was just like a bolt of lightning had struck. Quickly, it became a racial issue. Both sides of the issue began to take positions according to their race. White Frisco demanded that Karmelo be charged with first-degree murder, and Black Frisco argued that he was only protecting himself from an attack by a boy much larger than him. The Collin County District Attorney did charge him with first-degree murder. A grand jury will be convened to decide whether to formally indict him on the first-degree murder charge filed at the time of the arrest or a lesser charge.
This usually quiet Dallas suburb has now erupted with racial tension. Anthony’s parents have been threatened to the point that they do not feel comfortable remaining in their home. The Black community is insisting that Anthony was just using the “Stand Your Ground” law and should not even be tried. But the most damaging part of all this is that one young boy’s life is over, and the other boy will have to live with that for the rest of his life, no matter the outcome of the trial.
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