Social media has put one Texas man on blast after he made a post mocking Cyrus Carmack-Belton’s death.
Lloyd Harrell posted on Facebook over the weekend. It depicts a cartoon of Carmack-Belton’s family, tearfully looking at the 14-year-old’s grave.
Cyrus Carmack-Belton was killed in 2023 by Chikei Rick Chow. The gas station owner’s son accused the teenager of stealing from their store before he was shot and killed. Chow was acquitted of murder charges in early June.
On top of the cartoon grave, there’s an image of Chow holding his hand in an “L” shape.
Under the cartoon, there’s a caption that says: “dead Black kids make the world a better place!”
Adrienne Bronner Minter knew Harrell in elementary school. She spoke with Atlanta Black Star about the post.
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“When I first saw it, it hurt my heart,” she said. Minter has a 9-year-old biracial son. She said Harrell was also friends with many Black people on Facebook from their hometown.
“It’s like a slap in our face because it’s the same man that we grew up with, that we went to school with,” Minter said. “We rode the bus together to basketball games. When kids tried to bully him at school, I stopped them. A Black girl.”
Minter said Harrell was bullied by other white kids.
Harrell’s old employer, Load Trail, issued a statement regarding his post. They pointed out that though his Facebook says he works there, he hasn’t been with the company for several years.
“We can confirm that the individual who made these comments is NOT an employee of Load Trail and has not been employed by our company for more than four years. While some outdated online profiles may still incorrectly list Load Trail as his employer, those profiles do not reflect his current employment status.”
Minter said people were flooding her messages with questions about Harrell’s post.
“We’re just friends on Facebook,” she said. “He never showed me he had a problem with Black people, but people change.”
Several other people who know Harrell commented on the post.
“He has always been this person; he’s just showing more openly now. Don’t be fooled cause you went to school with someone or think you know them, because I went to a predominantly white school and I knew how they felt but they weren’t bold enough to voice it and the one that did never voiced it again,” Yuvonne Harris wrote on Facebook.
“Bro used to be friends with many Black folks. I don’t see why he would ever post this,” Eric Wren wrote. “He’s probably just mad he ain’t got kids or a female or anyone at this moment. I’m disappointed af. Hope you get what’s coming to ya. I know that s—t ain’t gonna be good.”
“I can say I never heard him say anything racist in high school, but that’s f—ked,” Joshua Tucker wrote. He added that he used to play football with Harrell.
It appears Harrell has turned off his message requests on all of his social media accounts.
Atlanta Black Star tried reaching out to him, but has not heard back.
