Watch: Talarico Says Without Black Jurors Karmelo Anthony Couldn't Get Justice
James Talarico has a problem with black voters — which is a huge problem if you’re looking to make a Texas Senate seat blue for the first time since Lloyd Bentsen retired in 1993 and you look at what Texas’ Democratic base consists of.
He’s been heckled at town hall events for not caring enough about black issues. His erstwhile opponent in the Democratic primary, the risible U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett, has thrown more fuel on that fire by blaming her loss on “a racist race.” And as for personality, Talarico himself emanates mayonnaise-white vibes that make Pete Buttigieg look like Isaac Hayes.
Ergo, Talarico attempted to make up for it by appearing on “The Breakfast Club,” the black-centric syndicated radio show where Democratic candidates with problems turning out the black base usually turn to when they need to burnish their sincerity on racial issues.
This so seldom ends well, mind you; you may recall this as the venue where then-candidate Joe Biden infamously told co-host Charlamagne Tha God that “if you have a problem figuring out whether you’re for me or Trump, then you ain’t black.”
Talarico continued the storied tradition of white Democrats with race problems making things worse on the show by saying that a justly convicted murderer with a mountain of evidence against him didn’t get justice because there wasn’t a black juror in the pool.
We’re talking, of course, about the case of Karmelo Anthony, who stabbed 17-year-old Austin Metcalf to death in a tent at a Frisco, Texas track meet during a weather delay in April 2025. Anthony entered the tent reserved for Metcalf’s team, refused to leave even though he definitely wasn’t supposed to be there, got aggressive, and then stabbed Metcalf when Metcalf tried to make him leave the tent.
Despite telling police “I was protecting myself,” Newsweek noted that all video and eyewitness testimony more or less confirmed this was nonsense.
Anthony, now 19, was convicted of murder and sentenced to 35 years in prison. He’s appealing for a new trial on a number of grounds, and got a bit closer when the original trial judge was removed from the decision-making process earlier this week.
Much of the uproar stems from the fact that none of the jurors in the case were black, which apparently affects the facts of the case in some more febrile minds where race is the only lens through which anything can be viewed.
Anyhow, this was a great opportunity for Talarico to brush up on those black-voter bona fides and opine on something that was clearly beyond his ken.
“I’ve done a lot of work in the state House on justice reform, and right now we’ve got a system that doesn’t serve all Americans equally, and we know that black Texans have not gotten the justice they deserve in many cases,” he said regarding the Anthony case.
“I’m not an expert on this particular case, but I know that there were no black members of the jury, and to me, that’s the only evidence you need to really prove that this system is not working for black Texans.”
James Talarico says Karmelo Anthony was convicted because “there were no black members of the jury” and the “system is not working for black Texans.”
Karmelo Anthony stabbed 17-year-old Austin Metcalf to death for absolutely no reason.
And @jamestalarico sides with the killer. pic.twitter.com/kFIPWiMxp2
— Brandon Gill (@realBrandonGill) August 20, 2026
Once you’re looking through the verbal prestidigitation there, what he’s saying is that the system isn’t “working for black Texans” because Anthony was convicted of a crime pretty much everyone agreed he committed with no defensible or exculpatory factors.
He was an angry young man looking for a fight who found one and then stabbed a teen who tried, with very mild physicality, to eject him from an area where he was not supposed to be and (clearly, from the sequence of events that followed) was a danger being anywhere near the track meet, much less in another team’s tent.
Add to that the fact that you can see this all on video, like the jury did, and this is damning stuff from Talarico:
All the more critical that video footage of the murder is released so everyone can see who and what Talarico is defending.
— Jeremy Carl (@realJeremyCarl) August 20, 2026
In short: Talarico basically believes justice wasn’t served because blacks don’t have the right to jury nullification in an open-and-shut murder case. That’s racial justice for him. They get to let murderers off because, you know, the system and stuff!
Really, the only way this would have been more perfect is if he had said, “if you have a problem figuring out whether you’re for me or Ken Paxton, then you ain’t black.” Might as well hit all the squares on “The Breakfast Club” grovel-fest bingo card while you’re at it.
Advertise with The Western Journal and reach millions of highly engaged readers, while supporting our work. Advertise Today.
Truth and Accuracy
We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.
