[9][2] On April 29, 2017, Jordan Edwards, a 15-year-old African American male, was fatally shot in the back of the head by police officer Roy Oliver in Balch Springs, Texas, while riding in the passenger's seat of a vehicle leaving a house party.

[12][13] Atatiana Jefferson was fatally shot in her home by a police officer in Fort Worth, Texas, United States, in the early morning of October 12, 2019.

[17] Alongside the lawyers for the families of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, Merritt plans to bring the case to the United Nations.

[18][19] In 2017, Merritt appeared before the National Black Caucus of State Legislators 41st Annual Conference on a Town Hall panel to discuss mass incarceration.

In his biography, Merritt is described as an "emerging as a new leader in the fight for racial justice, standing on the front lines of making sure people know that black lives matter.