ABANDONING AMARI: The Quietest Capital Murder Trial in Texas: A Moral Reckoning for the Death of Amari Boone.

---

ABANDONING AMARI: The Quietest Capital Murder Trial in Texas: A Moral Reckoning for the Death of Amari Boone.

By Pastor Kyev Tatum, Ministers Justice Coalition of Texas & New Mount Rose Missionary Baptist Church

“There is something rotten in the cotton, and we will not rest until we get to the root of this injustice. We can no longer prioritize profit over the protection of our children.” – Pastor Kyev Tatum

A Cry Unheard

FORT WORTH, TEXAS – There is a capital murder trial happening right now in the 371st District Court of Tarrant County. But you wouldn’t know it.

There are no headlines. No press conferences. No public outrage.

The silence is deafening.

At the center of this trial is a little boy—three-year-old Amari Boone—who was placed in a foster care system that promised to protect him but instead became his death sentence.

Amari had a name. A face. A family. A future.

But the people entrusted to keep him safe ignored his cries, turned away from his bruises, and dismissed every warning sign until it was too late. https://www.buttonlawfirm.com/news/lawsuit-filed-against-foster-care-agency-in-texas.cfm

Amari Boone did not just “fall through the cracks.” He was abandoned by the very system meant to protect him.

Now, as this trial unfolds in the shadows, Texas wants to quietly convict two individuals and call it justice.

But this is not justice.

This is a cover-up.

A System Without a Soul

Texas’ privatized foster care system is not just broken—it is deadly.

Instead of protecting vulnerable children, it prioritizes profit, handing millions of taxpayer dollars to corporations like ACH Child and Family Services to manage children’s lives.

Instead of security, Amari Boone found starvation, abuse, and betrayal.

For the last 40 days of his life, Amari endured unthinkable suffering while under the direct supervision of ACH’s community-based care division, Our Community. Our Kids.

• His biological parents, foster care parents, daycare director, neighbors, and even his court-appointed advocate (CASA) all allegedly reported abuse. No action was taken.

• He was allegedly denied food and water, beaten, and left with broken bones and deep facial lacerations—all documented. All dismissed.

• CPS, CASA, ACH case managers, and the courts all allegedly failed to act despite repeated alarms.

• The Texas Abuse Hotline was allegedly called. Still, no intervention.

Then, on April 12, 2020, after days of unimaginable pain, Amari took his final breath at Cook Children’s Medical Center.

His cause of death? Homicide by blunt force trauma to the head.

This was not an accident. This was not a tragedy.

This was a murder that could have been prevented.

Who is Really on Trial?

A $6 million settlement was quietly paid to Amari’s parents—an unspoken admission that the system failed.

And yet, instead of holding ACH, CASA, CPS, and the Texas foster care system accountable, the Tarrant County District Attorney’s Office is pursuing only one person—the foster parent.

Yes, Amari’s foster parent may bear responsibility.

But he did not act alone.

Where are the indictments for:

• The caseworkers who allegedly ignored report after report?

• The court-appointed special advocates who allegedly failed to be his voice?

• The daycare workers who saw his bruises but allegedly saw no action?

• The judges who allegedly placed him in a known unsafe home?

• The state officials who continue to allow children to be trafficked through a system that profits from their pain?

This trial is a distraction. A scapegoat. A way to cover up the real corruption.

And we refuse to let them bury the truth along with Amari Boone.

A Reckoning is Coming

For too long, Texas has sacrificed children on the altar of privatized care—turning our most vulnerable into mere dollar signs.

For too long, Black and Brown children like Amari have been tossed into a system that was never built to protect them.

But the Black Church has always stood for the least, the last, the lost, and the left out. And we will not stay silent.

We demand:

✅ Full accountability from ACH, CASA, CPS, and the courts.

✅ Real criminal consequences for all those responsible—not just a quiet backroom deal.

✅ A complete overhaul of the Texas foster care system, where children’s lives matter more than corporate profits.

This is not a request.

This is a demand.

Amari’s Blood Cries Out

“Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy.” – Proverbs 31:8-9

Who was keeping Amari Boone?

No one.

And because no one did, an innocent child was beaten to death in a system that exists to protect him.

We will not rest.

We will not stop.

Not until justice is served in the courtroom.

Not until this corrupt system is dismantled.

The silence ends now.

Justice for Amari Boone.

Now.

---

About Pastor Kyev Tatum

Pastor Kyev Tatum is a civil rights leader, historian, and pastor of New Mount Rose Missionary Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas. As President of the Ministers Justice Coalition of Texas, he has spent over three decades fighting for justice in Black and underserved communities.

A former student assistant to the president, Dr. Barry B. Thompson, Pastor Tatum has led grassroots movements for civil rights, education reform, and child welfare advocacy across Texas.

He has never backed down from a righteous fight.

And he won’t stop now.

Not until every child in Texas is truly safe.