Austin Metcalf's Killing Prompted Racist Vitriol Online--Then the Internet Came to Frisco

[Nevilledog]

https://www.texasmonthly.com/news-politics/austin-metcalf-killing-racist-online-vitriol/


As three masked young men Sieg heil–ed across the street, Jake Lang spoke softly into a cellphone, listing off Black crime stats to a grieving father he hoped to recruit to his cause. On the other side of the line, Jeff Metcalf exhaled and paused to collect his thoughts. “Okay, my turn to speak,” he said sternly. “You are part of the f—ing problem, my friend. You’re trying to create more race divide. I do not condone anything you do. . . . You do not have any f—ing—”

Lang quickly interjected. “That’s called white guilt,” he said. “You’re creating more Austin Metcalfs with your weakness, sir,” he said, referring to the white Frisco teen who was killed April 2 by a Black high school student. As Metcalf pleaded with Lang to stop using his son’s last yearbook photo to promote his movement, a Black Texan in a blue button-down leaned in to add his thoughts. “Black man here,” said Phillip Anderson. “You are being weak.”

Not long ago, Lang and Anderson were each facing felony charges for their roles in the January 6, 2021, Capitol insurrection. Since President Donald Trump’s mass pardon, however, the two have focused their energy on what they claim is an epidemic of Black-on-white crime. Last week, they led a “Protect White Americans” rally near the Frisco ISD stadium where Austin Metcalf was killed by seventeen-year-old Karmelo Anthony during an altercation at a track meet. (Anthony confessed to the stabbing but claimed self-defense, according to a police report, and was charged with first-degree murder. The investigation is ongoing.)

The rally was poorly attended, but that hardly mattered—the remarkable confrontation went viral on social media, drawing condemnation and cheers and adding to the division that’s raged online since the killing. In the three weeks since Metcalf’s death, the internet has been flooded with threats, misinformation, hate, and invective. Some people have grown their online platforms by wildly speculating on the tragedy. It took just a few hours for the narratives to form; online political operatives pushed them to their millions of collective followers, sparking waves of harassment against both families. Some have called for Anthony’s execution, via mob or court sentence. Others have used the killing to provoke long-sought racial violence or stoke fears of Black teenagers in communities nationwide. At least one new web show has been launched, and fledgling influencers have been elevated. One company even started selling a Ghost of Austin Metcalf digital currency.

*snip*