Edit Article

Texas Senate candidate James Talarico sparked recent backlash for comments on Karmelo Anthony’s conviction for killing Austin Metcalf.

Appearing on the Breakfast Club radio program, Talarico was asked about a clip from early August where he was seen nodding along at a town hall event, after a woman referred to Anthony’s conviction as a “tragedy.” He responded by saying, “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, that’s the only evidence you need to, to really prove this system is not working for black Texans.”

The implication, of course, is that there is something inherently racially-biased and suspect about the jury’s decision in the Anthony case. An alternative explanation: Anthony is obviously guilty, and it isn’t self-defense to respond to being shoved by stabbing someone.

As Talarico himself is proof of, white people are more than capable of harboring liberal or far-left political views on race or any number of issues. He’s also surely aware of the fact that plenty of Anthony’s supporters simply stood by him because he was black, not because of any sober case analysis.

Talarico is no doubt cognizant that he could use the votes of some diehard Anthony defenders, though, and feels comfortable falling back on familiar tales of all-encompassing “white supremacy” as the result of America’s ills. He is, after all, the same candidate who spoke of white people as being responsible for spreading a metaphorical “virus” in 2020, in comments he later claimed were “cringey” but never disavowed.

As Talarico’s comments show, the Democratic Party has not actually done anything to shift away from so-called “Woke 1,” to repeat a phrase recently used by Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. The same black-and-minority victim politics continues to define the party, even as they have diplomatically shifted their official message to “affordability.” If Texas voters don’t want to give rise to Woke 2, they’d do well to reject Talarico come Election Day.