The American Dream has long encouraged Black families to move toward opportunity, even when this has meant seeking out predominantly white communities or institutions. In the aftermath of the Karmelo Anthony verdict, some are questioning whether the trade-off is worth it.
This week, Anthony, 19, was sentenced to 35 years in prison after being convicted of murder in the fatal stabbing of rival student Austin Metcalf during a 2025 track meet in Frisco, Texas. Anthony, who was 17 at the time of the incident, was tried as an adult under Texas law.
While the case has sparked debate around race, self-defense, and the criminal justice system, it has also prompted a more personal debate among some Black parents. Across social media and within communities, many are revisiting questions about belonging, the value of raising children among other Black families, and the role that neighborhoods, schools, mentors, and other adults play in helping young people navigate conflict and adolescence.
“A hill I will die on: moving your Black family to a predominantly white town or school is not a flex,” a user on Threads under the handle @__joyluxe began in a post. “Please free yourself from white proximity. Your children should not be the only Black children in a class/grade, sport, club, the neighborhood pool or camp.”
Another user under the handle @nnekacherie added, “And for anyone telling Black people to move to north of Dallas to take up space and ignore what comes with it, Karmelo Anthony is precisely why that needs to end.”
“The sad truth is, no matter where you are, raising a black kid, especially a black boy. Their chances of being murdered, charged unjustly or treated differently is high. Being a parent to black kids is not for the weak. I send you all love,” wrote a third user under the handle @mrsagoins.
Family therapists say the conversation speaks to larger concerns about racial isolation, community support, and the importance of having a village of adults invested in a child’s well-being.
“When I hear that you want to raise your kid around other Black kids, I hear safety,” Dr. Erica Wilkins, a licensed marriage and family counselor based in Philadelphia, told theGrio by phone on Wednesday. “Implied in that is a desire for safety and support, you know, being able to find likeness and sameness, to be in spaces where their kids will not be others.”
Frisco, with a population of roughly 245,000 residents, is about 45% white, 33% Asian, 10% Hispanic, and 10% Black. While not the starkest example of racial isolation—it is home to a visible Black middle-class population—it is not a predominantly Black community.
“Black families often choose a Black or diverse community because the space offers psychological safety; it offers representation and cultural attunement,” Dr. LaTanya Bizor, a licensed family therapist with nearly 30 years of experience in social work and counseling who is based in Dallas, told TheGrio by phone on Wednesday.
However, when they don’t, when they take the leap to move to predominantly white neighborhoods, it is not always rooted in self-rejection.”
“There was this idea of hope, and so the folks that grew up in the ‘80s were the hope generation, and raised with the idea, if you achieve a certain level of educational career attainment, there’ll be some security,” Wilkins explained.
Bizor added, “It’s just parents being parents and feeling that if they move to this quote-unquote ‘better neighborhood,’ that their child will have a better chance, because that is the narrative that we’ve always been fed.”
While the rationale of why Black families would take on the risk isn’t hard to grasp for many, Wilkins said, “The story that is not often told is okay, so if you move to these by-the-books neighborhoods, a “good” neighborhood … who delineates those terms of what good means?”
Both therapists cautioned against drawing sweeping conclusions about the Anthony and Metcalf families or assuming what specific factors may have contributed to the tragedy. But they said the case raises broader questions about the adults, institutions, and support systems surrounding young people before conflicts ever reach a breaking point.
“What were the moments, the days, the months, what did the system and community look like around these kids that either did not offer support or did not seem supportive or did not become a place of the kids running and reporting this is happening, this is bubbling up from the surface?” Wilkins wondered. “Were there counselors in schools that looked like the kids? Were there coaches that looked like the kids that felt like safe spaces of refuge? Pastors? Was there systemic support?”
But both therapists stressed that representation alone is not enough.
“You can have Black teachers, counselors, coaches, you can have kids surrounded by community, but I guess the distinction I’m making is like a healthy trauma-informed deliberate Black community,” Wilkins noted.
“Representation is not cosmetic, it’s developmental,” said Bizor, adding that the concept of seeking out a more pro-Black environment should not be met with the same criticism as a community that wishes to exclude people. “It’s not about segregation, it’s about self-determination.”
For Wilkins, the larger lesson is less about where families choose to live and more about whether children have trusted adults they can turn to when they need help.
“My dream, I guess, is for all kids to be surrounded in community, that they’ll be able to say, okay, if this person isn’t able to help me, I know that there’s 10 other adults that I can run to that will provide me the help to get me out of this situation,” she said.
But ultimately, she added, “Every parent wants to give their kids the best head start at life. You know, the reality is, is that none of us know what’s coming down the pipeline.”
Bizor, who is based in Dallas, described the current mood in the region as “somewhat somber” following the verdict.
“This is now just one more thing to put on top of everything else that’s kind of just happening in the world today, especially in our country, and just that feeling of injustice,” she said. “The bigger sentiment in all of this, is how can we comfort each other, knowing what we know, and just to make sure everybody that we are taking care of ourselves and everybody around us as best that we can.”
She added, “As Black people we have tried really hard this year to, you know, mind the business that pays us… but now we’re kind of being forced into it in a way, in a way that we don’t like.”
The veteran therapist suggested anyone feeling any type of way should express it through safe means, whether that is sorrow, anger, grief or something else entirely.
“Say what you need to say, talk to somebody about it, you know. Just be present in the moment and feel what you feel.”
