Why The Victims Of Blacks-On-White Crime Go Out Of Their Way To Denounce Racism

Blaming it all on a federal agency is too comforting to be entirely true

A promising white teenager was stabbed to death over a seat last week. At a track meet in Frisco, Texas, Austin Metcalf asked Karmelo Anthony to move out of a seat. Anthony threateningly told Metcalf to ask him again and see what happens. Metcalf insisted on the black stranger moving, which prompted Anthony to pull out a knife and fatally stab his white opponent. The suspect claims it was self-defense, a line that is eagerly believed by Black Twitter. Black X users turned Anthony into a hero while mocking his victim. His people have raised nearly $150,000 for his legal defense.

Metcalf’s father delivered a very different response from Anthony’s defenders. In his first television interview, Jeff Metcalf angrily denounced those who saw a racial angle in the murder or tried to “politicize” it. “Do not politicize this. It’s not,” he told Fox News. “This is a human being thing. This person made a bad choice and affected both his family and my family forever.” He reiterated this position in a follow-up interview, condemning anyone who would see this as a “black and white issue” and saying he felt compassion towards his son’s killer over his “bad choice.”

This is an all-too common response from the families affected by minority-on-white crime. They will go out of their way to condemn racism and attack anyone who tries to politicize their loved one’s murder. Some on the Right believe a federal agency is responsible for this response, with officials swooping in and pressuring the families to make such statements. There is some evidence that Justice Department’s Community Relations Services (CRS) gets involved in some of these cases. However, this theory fails to take account that many white Americans would make these statements regardless of whether the feds told them to. Even in grief, they don’t want to be perceived as racist. They want to be seen as good people, and they will publicly forgive their loved one’s killer and condemn any “politicization” of the case to gain this status.

There are many examples of whites reacting in this way. The family of Andreas Probst, a retired white police officer fatally run down by two non-white youths in 2023, demanded outsiders not politicize their relative’s death and insisted race had no place in the case. The family of Elijah DeWitt, a star high school football player gunned down by black during a robbery in 2022, told the media that they would not allow hate to grow from their son’s murder and forgave the assailants.

There are a few extreme examples where the family directly attacks those who draw attention to the crime. Last year, a father in Springfield, Ohio, who lost his son in a horrific bus accident caused by a Haitian’s careless driving, said he wished it had been a white guy responsible for his child’s death. He lashed out at Donald Trump and other Republican politicians who highlighted his son’s death to show the dangers of mass migration. The father, Nathan Clark, vigorously defended immigrants and demanded apologies from Republicans:

They have spoken my son’s name and used his death for political gain. This needs to stop, now. They can vomit all the hate they want about illegal immigrants, the border crisis, and even untrue claims about fluffy pets being ravaged and eaten by community members. However they are not allowed, nor have they ever been allowed to mention Aiden Clark from Springfield, Ohio.

Another extreme example occurred in 2018. Mollie Tibbetts, a University of Iowa student, was raped and murdered by an illegal immigrant. Donald Trump Jr. and other prominent conservatives cited the story to show the dangers of illegal immigration. The Tibbetts family responded by aggressively defending illegal immigrants and denouncing “racist” politicians. Mollie’s mother even took in an immigrant who was friends with her daughter’s killer, who convinced her to sympathize with the suspect.

The victims of the rare instances of white-on-black crime offer a very different response. For instance, Ahmaud Arbery’s family fought vigorously to ensure that the white men involved in their loved one’s death were sent to a horrible state prison, knowing they would be surrounded by vengeful blacks. None of Arbery’s relatives went to the press to say it wasn’t a race thing or claimed the suspects made a mistake. They politicized it and made it all about race.

Jeff Metcalf’s response could be defended on certain grounds. His insistence that there was nothing racial counters the claims of those who justify his son’s stabbing. Metcalf tells them that they don’t know the full story and that it was a murder, period. However, the grieving father’s line also applies, if not more so, to the whites who would count this as another grim example in black-on-white crime.

It seems unnecessary in this case. Why not just say the family wants justice and their son is blameless? There’s no need to lash out in anger at “politicization” or the obvious race angle. Just focus on the need for the killer to be punished.

This is why a number of conservatives think the feds may be responsible for this all-too typical response. The DOJ’s CRS has involved itself in similar incidents in the past. When Somalis killed Donald Giusti in a race-fueled crime in 2018, CRS sprung into action to “defuse” local tensions (translation: getting whites to ignore the obvious) in Lewiston, Maine. The agency shared lessons with the locals on how to respect Islam and the importance of cultural tolerance.

It’s unconfirmed whether the CRS has involved itself in any of the above cases, but it’s possible feds could have reached out to some of the families. But even if the feds did this, it overlooks the audience for this message. Blaming it all on CRS assumes the families would go full Jared Taylor if it weren’t for the authorities telling them what to do.

While enraging, the theory is also comforting. It supposes Middle Americans are genuinely BASED, but outside forces suppress their true beliefs. Only federal threats force these people to make such pathetic statements. If we get rid of the CRS, heartlanders will wake up and speak truth to power about black-on-white crime.

This isn’t the case. The families reiterate what society has told them throughout their lives. They need to turn the other cheek when faced with non-white offenses and never see race–unless a white person did something wrong to a minority. Then it’s okay to politicize it. But a non-white aggression towards a white is just something that happens, like a tornado or cancer. It’s tragic, but you can only shrug your shoulders and bear it. You hope it doesn’t happen to you. But if it does, you have to assure the public you’re still one of the good whites. You’re not going to let “hate” overtake you. You’re going to control your impulse for vengeance. You’re going to treat it as an accident and hope life returns to normal. But life will never return to normal. The most you can hope for is that no one will demonize you as a racist.

The only ones who will criticize them are online right-wingers and some conservative commentators. Their social circles will not judge them. In fact, their peers will likely validate and encourage them to make such statements. Their pastor/priest, a figure the families would rely on heavily in such a terrible moment, would be inclined to push them in such a direction. This is just what good white people are supposed to do in such a moment. Denounce racism and forgive the transgressor.

White Americans are intensely individualistic and don’t like to “collectivize” problems. Metcalf sees the stabbing as just a matter between two individuals, not between groups. His son just happens to be white and the killer happens to be black. Group identity doesn’t matter to most whites, especially those living in the suburbs. Colorblindness is a luxury of the standard middle-class white. Even when tragedy strikes, these whites will cling to it. It’s a cherished value and makes them feel good. To openly see race–outside of avoiding “bad schools” and “bad neighborhoods”--is just not possible with their worldview.

Whites are also very private people. They don’t like strangers involving themselves in their business, especially at their worst moments. Some of the anti-racist denunciations are driven by this desire to keep others from prying into their affairs.

Middle-class white people don’t experience these kinds of tragedies. They live far away from urban crime in the suburbs. They send their kids to good schools where gangs are unheard of. Their kids would never kill each over a seat. These things don’t happen to them.

But it’s a different world for blacks. They will stab each other over such pettiness. Whites can’t comprehend such a thing. All they know is that it’s racist to notice the differences.

The CRS deserves to be investigated and likely defunded under the Trump administration. The public should know what cases it’s meddled in and if it instructed citizens to make these kinds of statements. This is not the government’s duty, and the Trump administration should end it.

However, whites will continue making these statements regardless of the CRS. It’s what many of them are programmed to do.