AIBU to think USA has gone crazy - Karmelo Anthony is a murderer not a victim

[Neutralnames]

From what I have read, Karmelo Anthony (who is black African American) took a concealed knife to a track event. When it started raining he ran to another team's tent to shelter. He was told to leave by a white athlete called Austin Metcalfe. KA refused saying ' 'Touch me and see what happens', According to one account I read he was repeatedly told to leave and replied the same way each time. Austin Metcalfe then pushed KA to get him to leave and KA pulled out the knife and stabbed AM in the chest, killing him.

Apparently sections of America are outraged that KA has now been convicted of murder. Possible sentence range in America is 5 to 99 years for this offence and he got 35 years.

I don't understand how this is not murder. In UK law if you can run away you must, and he didn't. In UK law if you kill someone when you could have run, you will be tried for murder.

KA took a knife. He could have left (even if he thought it was a dick move to ask him to leave when it was raining - you can't murder people for being dickish about their gazebo) but chose to not to, escalating the situation with threatening language and then stabbed a young man in the chest.

I just think something has gone terribly wrong in USA society where this man is treated as a victim, not the person who he killed, and this case is regarded as an injustice against him. I hope the UK does not go down this route.

What worries me is how black children are seen as dangerous adults through the eyes of prejudice; things like Child Q in the UK whereas every benefit and excuse is applied to white offenders…like the man who drove into people in Liverpool who was described as a “family man”
There are complexities in the rape case you probably didn’t want to consider like 2 of the boys having very low i.q.s etc.. I don’t believe in children being handled by the justice system as if they are adults. Other countries have amazing detention schemes to actually rehabilitate child offenders.
There are many many rape cases where the perpetrators have evaded justice ..I care about them all..especially the series of ‘accidental’ strangulations

No, you don’t have a leg to stand on here.
He was in his tent
He refused to leave
He was asked multiple times
He was the one carrying a knife

Nothing you say is going to swap the victim and the aggressor here.

That’s funny because the Fordingbridge perpetrators are white and the public have been outraged by their ‘soft treatment’ to the extent they’re reviewing it..?

Right… I mean, it’s on the national news so people definitely have heard of it, but that doesn’t mean normal people are treating it like some great reckoning. Half the country probably heard “Karmelo Anthony,” thought of Carmelo Anthony for two seconds, and then moved on with their lives.

This comparison doesn’t apply at all. Because KA was not complying. He was being verbally aggressive and refusing to comply with them telling him to leave, instead provoking them with ‘touch me and see what happens’.

The account I read did not sound like Austin said ‘I won’t fight you’ whilst pushing him. But rather was saying ‘ I won’t fight you’ in response to KAs apparent invitation to a fight by saying ‘touch me and find out what happens’ .

Black boy saying words is more threatening, aggressive and scary than a white boy pushing and shoving.

That’s exactly the kind of racism we are highlighting.

Yes KA killed and should be punished, but the punishment should match the crime and when events are filtered through lens of racism that’s when you get punishments that do not match the crime. Certain criminals are let off easy and others have the book thrown at them and are made an example of.

Are you really equating a shove or push with murder?

I am not swapping them. So we are in agreement.

I don’t believe for a single moment he felt terrified by being pushed. This was a boy carrying a knife - he set out to do violence. Why else would you carry it?

We’re really not in agreement. No.

Your minimising is fooling absolutely nobody and just reveals you as somebody desperate to downplay something because of the races of those involved.

No. There was no equating going on. Please don’t put words in my mouth. I was replying about perceived threat. Apparently being pushed and shoved is not at all threatening, whereas verbal challenges are very threatening.

So if someone came into your house and you repeatedly told them to get out, but the refused and said ‘ touch me and see what happens’ as well as other verbal aggression and you said ‘I won’t fight you’ and they carried on, so after the 15 th or so time of telling them to leave you pushed them to get them out of your house, would you honestly think you were the one being aggressive?

What next? Breaking into somebody’s house and if they push you to get you out, that’s threatening too is it? 😂

There’s a clear aggressor here and no amount of ‘hE pUsHeD hIM’ is going to make us believe he stabbed Austin in ‘self defence’.

Right, I am minimising when it’s you lot claiming words are more of the threat than physical assault. Love to see you argue that in any other context.

This is an absolutely ridiculous distortion. See my other reply above.

its this sort of distortion that undermines attempts to deal with racism.

Are you in America? Some of your responses sound as though you are. Is this being seen a a big deal outside of Texas? Or is it really only in that state (and online) that tensions are high?

"you lot".

Says it all doesn't it.

No, I’m English and in England. I have no idea how this has been viewed in Texas but this relentless downplaying of stabbed teen boys because the aggressor fits a narrative is tedious.

Advising others to not download a random Google Drive file from in Internet troll on MM.

Dont be so bloody ridiculous. Pushing into somebody else’s space and acting like a twat and refusing to leave means he very much started it and deserved to be removed.

Sensible.

Ah, I thought something you said earlier suggested you were in the US.

Why would that be next? You have obviously failed to understand the concept of escalation when it comes to situations that end in violence. Surprising really as I thought all women knew that physical assault is the more serious escalation of verbal threats and increases the likelihood of serious injury or death.

Yes he started it, but it was then escalated. I was more reacting to the OP claiming the words were more threatening and aggressive than the shoving as well as indicating more of a physical threat. How can words be more of a physical threat than when someone is actively assaulting you?

Yes I thought it was strange you raised it…though I think I have seen slurs on MN about them being travellers …my understanding about KA is that the outrage relates to NOT being tried by a jury of his peers and that if a black boy was aggressive and put hands on a white boy and then he used a folding knife and stabbed him..and the black boy died ..the sentence, even IF going to trial (and self defence wasn’t accepted) would not be the same. The supporters state cases to support their view.
Notwithstanding all that; he has been sentenced to 35 years in prison. So the faux outrage here seems to have another agenda, as do so many other threads on MN