I live in Garland, Texas, which is about 25 minutes from Frisco without traffic. I have been up to Frisco on many occasions. The borders of Collin County are not far from my house. I remember when the news broke about the stabbing death of Austin Metcalf at the hands of Karmelo Anthony. The case immediately turned to one of race. And every attempt was made to portray Anthony, a black teenager, as a frightened victim of white aggression. The ensuing trial, if anyone paid attention to the case and the facts, completely debunked that narrative. It was similar to the Michael Brown storyline in Ferguson, Missouri, "hands up, don't shoot." That was not the case. However, as usual, the typical race baiters abided by the mantra of Rahm Emanuel, "never let a good crisis go to waste."
The truth is, the saga of Michael Brown and Karmelo Anthony centers around a deeper issue that Marxist leftists and race hustlers, like Black Lives Matter, will not confront. The issue is the decimation of the traditional nuclear black family.
I turned 65 this year, a kid born in the "blacks only" segregated Hughes Spalding hospital in Atlanta, Georgia. I grew up in Atlanta's historic "Old Fourth Ward" neighborhood, which produced Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and was the cradle of the Civil Rights movement, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), and the famous "Sweet Auburn Avenue." It was the home of one of the two all-Black high schools, Howard HS, which produced the NY Knicks' famous basketball guard, Walt "Clyde" Frazier. Howard HS also produced the man who transformed Atlanta, its first Black mayor, Maynard Jackson. He spoke at my Grady HS baccalaureate in 1979, as the last remnants of the old Howard HS graduated.
Even as I was born in a segregated hospital in 1961, at that time, the traditional two-parent, man and woman, Black family stood at over 70 percent. Then came the Great Society farce of Democrat President Lyndon Baines Johnson. One of his "policies" was for the government to provide checks to women who had kids out of wedlock. The caveat was that they could not have a "working" man in the home. In one fell swoop, Johnson destroyed that which had sustained the American Black community through challenging, yes, horrific, times, the nuclear Black family. In essence, Johnson ushered in an era where the Black man was replaced by the government in the home. As well, Johnson's policy instituted a level of irresponsibility among Black men who did not care for their progeny. They abdicated that to "gubmint."
This is the 250th anniversary of our nation's independence. However, what I remember about the 200th anniversary, the Bicentennial, was the challenge that my Dad, U.S. Army Corporal Herman "Buck" West Sr., gave to me, his 15-year-old middle son. He sat me down on the steps of his house on Kennesaw Ave in Atlanta. He told me that for him, there was no greater honor than to have worn the uniform of the United States. Dad was a World War II veteran. My Godfather, William "Stickey" Jackson, his best friend, was a Tuskegee Airman. On that memorable day, Dad told me that I would be the first commissioned officer in our family. My older Brother was an enlisted Marine Lance Corporal, Vietnam War veteran, wounded at Khe Sanh. And it was July 31, 1982 at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, when Mom, a civil servant with the 6th Marine Corps District Headquarters in Atlanta, and Dad pinned on my U.S. Army Second Lieutenant bars.
Maybe if Michael Brown and Karmelo Anthony had men of honor, integrity, and character speaking into their lives, their dads, one would be alive, and the other would not be serving 35 years in prison for taking the life of another teenager.
This is not about skin color. It is all about the lack of Black men, dads, raising their sons. I have never needed to look to anyone as my hero. I had one. I am the son of a Man of the Greatest Generation. I grew up in the inner city, and I ran track in high school. I was not raised to instigate or provoke a confrontation. I was taught that if trouble did come my way, to face it with determination and always be responsible.
I saw a video clip from the Collin County courthouse where a Black woman said, "What do I tell my sons?" My answer is simple: tell them not to provoke a confrontation and stab another person in the heart. There was another adult Black male, not a man, who quipped on social media that the body of Austin Metcalf should be dug up and stabbed again. This is the insidious anger that permeates the Black community like cancer. Or the black female lawyer who characterized the case as a "legal lynching," an attempt to stoke the fears of a dangerous period in America for Blacks. Oh, by the way, at the hands of Democrats.
It was obvious that the defense team for Karmelo Anthony did not believe their case was strong. If they felt otherwise, they would have had the young man testify. The evidence was overwhelming, and the rantings about no black jurors should not be a point of contention. The belief that skin color will overlook facts and evidence is highly disconcerting. It reminds me of the young black student at Northwestern University who asked me, "Do you identify as black?" As if the level of melanin in my body dictates my brain function.
And why were there New Black Panther Party members outside of the trial? Was this about some weak semblance of intimidation? Maybe those "Brothers" should take these fatherless boys under their tutelage and teach them, and not inculcate them with defiance, victimhood, and anger. I was Dad to two daughters and now a PaPop to two Grandsons, with another hitting the drop zone in December. I take my relationship with my Grandsons very seriously. I travel quite a bit, and two weeks ago, my oldest Grandson, Jaxton Bernard, said to me as I was packing, "PaPop, I want to fly on a plane with you and stay in a hotel." It brought tears to my eyes, and that night I called up Southwest Airlines and booked a trip for Jaxton and me to Knoxville, Tennessee. He and I are going to have a grand ol' time in Gatlinburg, Dollywood, and we will walk the campus of Tennessee, just like his PaPop once did.
If we do not start having Black men regain their prominence as men and role models in their families, there will be more Karmelo Anthonys. The only white man keeping black men down is the legacy of Lyndon Johnson. Heck, even NY Democrat Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan was against Johnson's policy. He wrote about it in his essay "The Negro Family." Leftists demonized and denigrated him. The Marxist left has intentionally and purposefully decimated the Black family and created a new economic plantation of victimization and despair, all for the purposes of votes.
Killing another human being has nothing to do with race or racism. It is just wrong. After all, the Ten Commandments state, "Thou shalt not kill." Funny, it is the secular humanists of the Marxist left who do not want that displayed in our schools.
Perhaps it should have been displayed at the track meet where Austin Metcalf was stabbed. And at the high school that Karmelo Anthony attended.
Steadfast and Loyal.