Look, I’m not saying that the family of Karmelo Anthony — the notorious teenage murder suspect whose case has become a racial minefield for reasons less explicable than usual in these situations — is grifting off of the crowdfunding they’ve been getting for his defense and various costs.
All I’m saying is, if they’re not grifting, they’re going to have to get Merriam-Webster and several other reputable dictionaries to change the meaning of the verb “to grift.” To maybe, say, meaning the act of making pancakes. Or to nail a neat skateboard trick. Something like that.
In case you’ve been wondering, the family of Anthony — the 17-year-old Frisco, Texas teen facing first-degree murder charges for fatally stabbing Austin Metcalf, also 17, at a track meet — has been raising money at a surprising clip.
Surprising, given that there’s no especial reason to believe Anthony is being railroaded other than he’s black and Metcalf was white. Anthony reportedly admitted he stabbed Metcalf for trying to move him from an area where he didn’t belong, claimed self-defense even though the grounds he reportedly gave police during interviews didn’t even come close to legally viable, and has — instead of relying on canny legal strategies and keeping quiet until the trial — enlisted every two-bit race hustler in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex eager to make Anthony their 21st century version of Tawana Brawley.
What’s also surprising is the clip at which Anthony’s family seems to be spending the money, and not on high-end legal representation. As of an April 30 report in the U.K. Daily Mail, over $500,000 has been raised.
Initially, it was alleged they had bought a house in a gated community and some high-end automobiles. It was later reported that this was fake news; all of it was merely rented, because they needed security and a new location thanks to Anthony’s notoriety.
Karmelo Anthony is SAFE at home.
This moment is a reminder that a community united can never be divided.
The journey ahead is long, but today—we celebrate a victory for justice, for family, and for the power of people coming together to protect our youth.
Thank you to everyone… pic.twitter.com/CjLTkhbIiL
— Minister Dominique Alexander (@niquealex) April 14, 2025
“The funds raised will also support a range of urgent and necessary needs that have emerged as a result of this situation, including — but not limited to — the safe relocation of the Anthony family due to escalating threats to their safety and well-being, as well as basic living costs, transportation, counseling, and other security measures,” a description of the fundraiser on GiveSendGo read.
“Your contribution not only helps protect and stabilize the family, but also serves as a powerful message of community care and resistance in the face of injustice.”
And now, they apparently need more community care to resist the face of injustice, considering they’ve moved to a new location due to … kids with water guns:
Citing the death threats they were receiving, the Anthony family abandoned the $900,000 home they were renting in a gated community and went into hiding in an undisclosed location.
On Saturday, DailyMail.com exclusively uncovered that at least one of the threats that prompted the family to move out came from teenagers who drove by the home firing water guns.
Frisco cops were called to home April 15 by Andrew Anthony, the suspect’s father, around 7:51 pm after two Jeeps with teenage passengers were seen driving past the house through the door bell camera, according to a police incident report obtained by DailyMail.com.
Within the first minute of his interaction with police, Andrew acknowledged the weapons the kids had were ‘play guns.’
Remember when your parents saw some kids with water guns outside your house and put the place up for sale? “Everyone, pack your bags fast!” I can remember my mom saying so many times. “Some teenager is out in the front yard with a Super Soaker!”
Yeah, that’s never happened to anyone in the history of humanity. And while I’ll admit I was never on trial for murder, I’m pretty sure that wouldn’t (or shouldn’t) have made a difference, either, especially if the family has security.
Furthermore, the two Jeeps with the “play guns” had both black and white male passengers in them and at no point, Andrew Anthony said, were the guns pointed at them.
Keep in mind, too, that in a world where even the gun emoji has been replaced with a water gun emoji, water guns can’t actually even remotely resemble real guns … which means there was no threat at all.
You know, unlike the threat posed by Karmelo Anthony when — by his own admission, according to police reports — he pulled a knife on Austin Metcalf on April 2 because Metcalf told Anthony, who did not go to his high school, to leave his high school’s tent.
Metcalf was killed with a stab wound to the chest.
One would have hoped that the object lesson of Patrisse Cullors and the like would have ended the era of a certain type of BLM activism — you know, the “Buy Large Mansions” style of crying for cash.
Not only have we not learned our lesson, it seems, the grift still works even with accused murderers. Until, of course, we’re told that “grift” means pancake-flipping and any intimation to the contrary is latent white supremacism.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
Read the full article here