I am Karmello Anthony

The following are my words. I wrote them in response to a post on Idaho Falls Drinking Liberally Facebook page.

If I lived in a white body and did not view myself as an inherent threat, I would make the same argument you made, one which trusted the legal process and viewed the altercation between Austin Metcalf and Karmelo Anthony as “boys being boys” or as a bullying situation which escalated to dangerous levels.

However, I live in a Black body. Race and racism affect me on a regular basis. I have to engage in the double consciousness concept articulated in 1903 by Dr. W.E.B. DuBois.

When I state this, hundreds of white bodied people want to affirm, "No! That is not necessary for you to do around me. I am safe! I am not your enemy. I have no intentions of hurting you. Do not let those who want to divide us make you see me as white. I am more than my skin color."

Which is a true argument. You are more than your skin color. You very well might be a safe person for me to interact with.

The problem may not lie in you or myself. The problem DOES exist. White supremacists do exist.

And, here is how racism affects you. Neither you nor me can tell who is a white supremacist until it is too late.

By too late, I mean, we both learn they hate me at the same time, when they are actively hurling an insult; actively denying me access to a room, product, or opportunity; actively assaulting me. Up until that point, they were acting "normal."

It is the "acting normal" part which hurts you, who live in a white body. That "normal" is what Black people HAVE TO associate with "racism."

Why? Back to the "neither one of us can tell who is a white supremacist until it is too late."

I am not seen as human by white supremacists, like you are.

I am Karmelo Anthony.

My Dad is Karmelo Anthony.

My Uncle is Karmelo Anthony.

My little brothers are Karmelo Anthony.

I have a lifetime of experiences being in a "tent" surrounded by white men/boys, fearing for my Life, and having to survive the encounter.

I wish racism meant skin-based bullying. I wish it was limited to individual actions alone. Unfortunately, that is not what racism is.

The challenge before millions of people who live in white bodies is called: individualism.

I can't be an individual under a racial caste system. No matter how polite I am, no matter how loving I am, no matter how good I am - the white supremacist is ALWAYS going to see me as livestock that needs to obey them and see you as human - simply because I live in a Black body and you live in a white body.

Now, I wrote a lot. I hope I minimized the emotional charge around my message to the best that it can be minimized. No matter how much sadness and grief is felt, whiteness is still violent and race is still affecting us both.

That is the missing element in your analysis. Four white teenagers surrounding one Black teenager is not what you "think" it is.

And, that hurts.