Reaction this week to both a Northern Ireland incident and a verdict in a Texas criminal case illustrate that we're replacing the idea of "equal justice under the law" with something that depends on the identity of the criminal and the victim.

A graphic video was released Monday depicting a Sudanese migrant sitting on top of a victim in a Belfast street.

The attacker repeatedly stabbed the victim in the head and neck while allegedly preparing to behead him when bystanders intervened and held him for police.

Rather than reassess their open border policy, especially in light of other attacks by other migrants from Muslim-majority countries, local politicians condemned anyone who dared to point out the obvious.

Irish Member of Parliament (MP) Colum Eastwood, who previously served as leader of the Social Democratic and Labour Party, was concerned that conservatives might use the attack for political purposes.

"The horrific scenes in North Belfast should not be used by English, right wing politicians to further their own ends," he said. "I don’t ever remember them commenting on any of the other hellish things that community has experienced over the years."

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer asked for everyone to avoid getting upset over the attempted beheading. "[Starmer] has called for 'calm' after a migrant was arrested over an attempted beheading in Belfast," reported GB Politics.

Irish MP Claire Hanna, whose district includes South Belfast, warned everyone to disregard the video altogether.

"The violence in North Belfast was horrific, the video will create fear and shock," she said. "No good will come of sharing it or of turning on each other in this society, including for the clout of online voices who don’t know or care about us and who offer absolutely nothing for the future."

Meanwhile, on this side of the pond a Texas jury found Karmelo Anthony guilty Tuesday of the April 2025 murder of Austin Metcalf at a high school track meet.

Anthony used his knife to stab Metcalf in the heart.

The victim was unarmed and died in the arms of his twin brother.

The case was pretty much open-and-shut for the prosecution, and the jury deliberated less than three hours before reaching its verdict, and Anthony received a 35-year prison sentence.

But because the defendant was Black and his victim was White, the verdict was somehow a miscarriage of justice.

A Court TV panelist was devastated.

"Wow . . . Guilty of murder. That's heavy," she said.

Another Court TV panelist expressed rage.

"What happened?! It was a 4-inch knife, he used it one time! He was pushed! … how did you get this verdict?" he asked. "I’m enraged right now!"

Rep. Jasmine Crockett, a Texas Democrat and purportedly a lawyer, implied that because Anthony only stabbed Metcalf once, he should have been acquitted.

"He ended up hitting Austin one time. . .  two inches," she argued.

"This wasn't someone who said, 'Hey, let me stab you, five, six, seven times.'"

Rep. Crockett believed that there was a racial component to the verdict.

"To me, this is the culture that is being instigated . . . they gettin' real bold with us right now," she claimed. "This whiteness, this replacement theory crap that they on and all this kind of stuff, and it's like, oh, we the victims."

Crockett concluded," I mean, we've all interpreted that there was a race component to this."

Labour Party Politicians in the UK, just like Democrats in the United States, often claim that "diversity is our strength." This is nonsense and suggests that immigrants should not be required to assimilate to the customs and culture of their new home.

It also suggests that native-born citizens should simply accept and tolerate the customs and beliefs of the newcomers.

The late English author Gilbert K. Chesterton submitted that "Tolerance is the virtue of people who do not believe in anything."

Add to that, the belief of U.S. politicians like Crockett that we should be merciful to convicted murderers like Karmelo Anthony, just as British politicians believe they should be more understanding and merciful to their Islamic immigrants.

Eighteenth century Scottish philosopher and political economist Adam Smith observed that "Mercy to the guilty is cruelty to the innocent."

It all comes down to the fact that we should all strive for the ideal that's expressed in the final four words of the Pledge of Allegiance: " … and justice for all."

Each of us used to recite those words each morning in school. Now it's time to live them.

We need to get back to basics.

Michael Dorstewitz is a retired lawyer and is a frequent contributor to Newsmax. He's also a former U.S. Merchant Marine officer and a Second Amendment supporter. Read more Michael Dorstewitz Insider articles — Click Here Now.