Lee Merritt

June is Men’s Mental Health Awareness Month and we can’t afford to stay silent. Men account for nearly 80% of all suicides in the U.S. 40% have never spoken to a single person about their mental health. And for our Black brothers, the crisis runs even deeper, shaped by systemic racism, generational trauma, and a culture that has long demanded silence over healing. As advocates, we fight for lives in the courtroom. But some battles begin long before anyone calls a lawyer. They begin the moment a man decides he’s worth fighting for. Check on the men in your life. Create space for real conversations. And if you’re struggling, asking for help is not weakness. It is the strongest thing you can do. 📞 Call or text 988 (Suicide & Crisis Lifeline) 📱 Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741

Mamuka Artmeladze was 43 years old. He had no criminal record. No charges. No court date. He entered this country legally and was swept up in a mass enforcement operation targeting truck drivers. ICE’s own records confirm he posed no threat and should not have been detained at all. After 4 months inside Winn Correctional Center, a for-profit facility already under federal investigation for banned chokehold use, falsified medical records, and inhumane conditions, Mamuka was found unresponsive in his cell. He was pronounced dead less than an hour later. The cause of death is still pending autopsy. ICE has offered no answers. This is not an isolated incident. Fifty people have died in ICE custody since this administration took office — the deadliest period for immigration detention in over two decades. This is a system. 🎥: @hereswhykevin

The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation issued a statewide Blue Alert naming an innocent 19-year-old as a wanted suspect in connection with a Covington County deputy shooting. They were wrong. This young man never left his city. He had nothing to do with this incident. Yet his name and description were sent to every phone across the state, branding him a dangerous criminal before a single fact was verified. After he explained his whereabouts and provided his alibi, investigators cleared him and he was released. The Covington County Sheriff’s department confirmed this was a case of mistaken identity. But the damage to his name, his reputation, and his family’s peace of mind cannot be undone with a simple retraction. This is not a minor administrative error. When law enforcement moves this recklessly, innocent people get hurt. Or worse, they don’t make it home. Accountability is not optional. It is owed. 🎥: @WLBT

The gag order lifted. And the mask came off with it. After sentencing, Austin Metcalf’s father Jeff Metcalf went live on TikTok and was caught on a racist rant about Karmelo Anthony, including calling him a “watermelon felon,” saying Black people get “all the free sh*t we give you,” claiming “400 years ago someone sold you to us,” and attacking Black fathers for not being involved in their children’s lives. This is the same man who stood in that courtroom and said “this was never about race.” The prosecution struck every qualified Black juror from the panel. A gag order silenced public response for nearly a year. And the moment the muzzle came off, this is who he showed us he was. Karmelo Anthony did not get a fair trial. And now the victim’s own father has confirmed in his own words what this community has known from the beginning. 🎥: @SamsonCrouppen

On Sunday June 7th in Leesburg, Georgia a Black family was gathered on Autumn Leaf Drive for a peaceful family reunion with over 20 children and elderly adults present. Jeffrey Tyler Kinzer drove past the gathering and began screaming racial slurs including the N-word at the family. The family chose to let it go. Minutes later Kinzer came back, this time on foot, dressed in body armor and armed with an AR-15 style rifle, and opened fire on the crowd. Marine veteran Ramell Green, a family member in attendance, drew his weapon and returned fire to protect his family while others ran for cover. Elderly women were seen diving under cars to escape the gunfire. Kinzer was shot during the exchange, transported to the hospital and later booked into the Lee County Jail. He has only been charged with Aggravated Assault. The family is demanding Hate Crime charges. Ring camera footage captured Kinzer hurling racial slurs before the attack. The Lee County Sheriff’s Office has confirmed additional charges are pending. This family deserved to celebrate in peace. Justice has not been fully served yet. 🎥: @walbnews10

Karmelo Anthony was found guilty and sentenced to 35 years. Now his parents are speaking out, sharing what they believe went wrong, what they wish had been done differently, and what this verdict means for their family. A conviction is not always justice. And a sentence is not always the end of the story. This family is not done fighting. And neither are we. 🎥 mimibrowntv

Young girls in this country’s immigration system are not being “protected.” They are being abused. Underage girls as young as 13 are in immigration custody, testing positive for pregnancy while under government control. Survivor accounts and investigations describe sexual assault, molestation, and sexual coercion by officers and staff in multiple immigration facilities. Quietly, those girls are being moved. Instead of being spread across multiple sites, they’re being transferred into a single facility in Texas, away from public view and real oversight. Last July, the government ordered that all pregnant unaccompanied minors picked up by immigration enforcement be sent to that Texas facility. Now, girls who test positive for pregnancy while in custody are being sent there too. These are children. This can’t be “protection.” This is not what protection looks like, and we all know it. 🎥 @Huncho_woo1

Jake Lang is a January 6 rioter who was previously pardoned by Donald Trump. He came to North Texas during the Karmelo Anthony murder trial and positioned himself outside the courthouse in support of the prosecuting family. According to authorities, Lang is now in the Dallas County Jail on a terroristic threat charge, held on a $1 million bond tied to this case. He is accused of making violent threats during the trial and using racist language while targeting Karmelo Anthony and his supporters. Racial slurs and threats have no place in our courts or our communities. Karmelo Anthony and his family deserve safety and a fair process free from intimidation. 🎥: @somethingblackmade

Karmelo Anthony just received 35 years. A 19 year old Black kid is now facing a sentence that will take most of his adult life. In the same state, the officers who killed Jordan Edwards, Atatiana Jefferson, and Botham Jean received less time combined than this one teenager will serve alone. That is the pattern. When the defendant is a Black youth, the full weight of punishment drops. When the defendant wears a badge, the weight gets lighter. You do not have to believe Karmelo is innocent to see that something is deeply off. One young man gets 35 years while those trusted with a badge keep most of their lives after taking Black life. Remember his name and remember this number. Karmelo Anthony. Thirty five years. Let that sit with you.

GUILTY. But is this really Justice? Karmelo Anthony has been found guilty of murder after just 3 hours of deliberation — but before you celebrate or condemn, let’s talk about what happened inside that courtroom. •No cameras allowed — the public was denied full transparency in a case that gripped an entire nation. •An unreasonable initial bond of $1 million was set for a 17-year-old, signaling how this system viewed him before a single piece of evidence was presented. •Not one Black juror sat on the panel that decided the fate of a young Black man. Let that sink in. •A lackluster defense that left critical questions unanswered and arguments unexplored. Now here’s what you need to hold onto as we enter sentencing: In the entire history of DFW, no cop convicted of murder has ever received more than 10 years. Not one. These are the same courts. The same county. The same Texas justice system that will now determine how many years Karmelo Anthony spends behind bars. The question was never just guilty or not guilty. The question is — how does this system value Black life?

They told us the system was broken. It was never broken. It was built this way. In 2026, police have already killed over 537 people in this country and Black Americans remain 2.8x more likely to be killed by police than their white counterparts. We are not in a post-racial America. We are in a re-packaged one. Qualified immunity still shields officers from accountability. Courts still narrow the path to justice at every turn. And the families, the mothers, daughters, and sons, are left to carry the weight of a nation that refuses to see them. This era demands all of us — organizers, advocates, and everyday people who refuse to be quiet. This is our era. And we are not done fighting. ✊🏾

In the Karmelo Anthony murder trial, both sides have now rested after days of testimony about what happened at the 2025 Frisco track meet. A child lost his life after allegedly threatening physical violence against another minor, and now a jury is tasked with weighing a balanced presentation of the evidence to determine the outcome of this case. Under Texas law, citizens including teenagers have the right to protect themselves reasonably and proportionally in response to a threat of bodily harm, and tomorrow jurors will hear closing arguments before they begin deliberating this Black teenager’s fate.

Natasha Doll Dehumanization: Chinese social media has turned a Black baby–shaped “stress toy” into content, normalizing the abuse and brutalization of a Black infant’s image for laughs and likes. What you are watching is not “stress relief,” it is the casual, ritualized abuse of a Black baby’s image for entertainment. The companies marketing the so‑called “Natasha” doll—and the customers who buy it and use it as a stress toy—are posting videos where a Black infant‑shaped doll is punched, stomped, squeezed, stretched, scalded, run over and otherwise brutalized, then treated as a joke. Some of those same users openly admit they would feel bad doing this to a white baby because that would be “too human.” That is not ignorance; it is a confession of how little humanity they are willing to recognize in Black life, and it should terrify anyone who understands how dehumanization has always prepared the ground for real‑world violence against our children. 🎥: @GodfreyComedian

Today in the Southern Philippines — June 8, 2026, at approximately 7:37 AM local time, a 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of Mindanao. At least 32 people were killed and more than 200 others were injured. The earthquake triggered a tsunami with waves reaching 1 meter (3 feet) that slammed into coastal areas in Sarangani and Sultan Kudarat provinces. Smaller waves were recorded as far as Indonesia, Palau, and southern Japan. Buildings collapsed across General Santos City. A landslide triggered by the quake killed at least 13 villagers in the mountainous town of Glan. Approximately 70,000 people have been displaced from their homes. The Philippine Red Cross, military rescue teams, and disaster response personnel are actively on the ground. A state of calamity has been declared in the affected provinces. At least 138 aftershocks have been recorded, with the largest reaching a 6.7 magnitude. Relief and recovery efforts are ongoing. Our prayers are with the lives lost, the families grieving, and the communities fighting to recover. 🎥: @nytimes

We have a duty to uphold and defend the rights of the people and to demand justice for every family. Standing for justice is more than filing motions or making statements. It means standing on the front line, shoulder to shoulder with the community, as the first line of defense against injustice.

The community has always been the first line of defense, the first to show up, and the last to back down. Happy Sunday, village. ✊🏾