My Facebook newsfeed has many pictures of Cannon Hinnant on it, a young boy who was murdered this past week. And I am as horrified as everyone that someone – anyone – could murder a 5-year-old in broad daylight.
The world became darker that day. And I cannot imagine the pain and rage his parents feel.
I weep for them. And I cannot believe I need to write the rest of this blog post.
Something dark and nefarious comes with these posts. The refrain read, “White Lives Matter!” Some include unsubstantiated and probably false claims the man murdered him due to his whiteness. Comments about the “urban community” and how “awful” George Floyd was flood the conversation below the photos.
I notice one stark difference between Cannon’s murder and Breonna Taylor, Elijah McClain, and even George Floyd: they already attested Cannon’s murder and charged him with first degree murder.
Breonna Taylor’s murders still go free, Elijah McClain’s murders still go free, George Floyd’s murders were only charged because of a video and the protests – and only one received a second degree murder charge.
Why call for protests for this young life? Who will you protest against? You only need to protest justice not given, and the justice system came down hard on Cannon Hinnant’s murderer.
No one claimed his life didn’t matter, and the system declared his life mattered.
His death was senseless, and we long for something to make sense of it. Making it about race helps the world make sense – even if horrific – and without that, we lost a little boy for no reason.
And people took advantage of that vacuum of pain and made it a story for pushing racist agendas.
Shame on you if you use a child’s death to further your racist beliefs. Shame on you for creating a false narrative and claiming anyone – including the system – said his life was less than sacred. Shame on you for caring less about the death of a child and more about you and your insecurities as a system of racism finds itself more reveled every day.
All like is sacred, and the justice system treated Cannon’s life as sacred. The protests and cries for justice come because the system does not treat Black, Brown, and other lives of color as sacred.
As soon as you see people of color the same as you see this child, then you will see; until then, I cannot engage with your racism because we have no common ground.
I weep for you, Cannon. I weep for your parents. I only wish I could not believe people took your death and made it into something worse.
Red Shoe Pastor 