The name Cannon Hinnant ought to be plastered all over the news today. You see Cannon was a 5-year-old boy from Wilson, NC. Cannon was on his bike Sunday afternoon right in front of his father’s house. His two sisters, ages 7 and 8, were also playing in front of the house. As the children were playing, Darius Sessoms, 25, who lives next door to Cannon’s dad, ran out of his house and into the yard where he put a gun to little Cannon’s head and pulled the trigger. Cannon died almost instantly and his sisters will never get over what they witnessed. Darius Sessoms was later arrested and is being held without bail. Cannon’s funeral is being held this evening.
Why do I tell you Cannon’s story, other than the fact it is a horrible tragedy? I just searched Cannon’s names on all of the major “news” websites to see if they carried the story. The ONLY national news site that carried anything on the story was FOX. The following websites, when I looked up Cannon’s name, had no coverage or story at all:
· ABC News
· CBS News
· NBC News
· MSNBC
· CNBC
· CNN
· NY Times
· Time Magazine
· Huffington Post
· Wall Street Journal
· USA Today
· The Washington Post
· NPR
Why would such a horrible crime deserve no national coverage? The answer seems obvious, at least to me. It does not fit the Black Lives Matter narrative that they are pushing. You see Cannon is white and Darius is black. I’m not suggesting that Darius killed Cannon because he was white or that this was racially motivated. No one at this point knows what was in Darius’ mind when he killed little Cannon, who was scheduled to start kindergarten this Monday. But I believe that if Cannon had been black, and Darrius had been white, all of those news agencies would have had the story if not the lead story, near the lead.
I have tried to steer clear of the racial tensions over the BLM movement. Do I think that black lives matter? Absolutely! But so, do white lives, brown lives, red lives, and blue lives (police officers). I understand some of the frustration my black brothers and sisters have because people should not lose their lives at the hands of police officers for no apparent reason. But a 5-year-old should not lose his life at the hand of a neighbor either. That is why I have said and will continue to say, that as a child of God, ALL lives matter.
If the BLM “movement” was simply about police reform and protecting people of color from the very few police officers that seemingly have racist beliefs, I could stand and say I support them. But the “movement” has been hijacked by people of all colors who want nothing more than to sow the seeds of descension and hatred. When people like Ariel Atkins, the BLM organizer in Chicago, can hold a press conference like she did on Monday, and defend those arrested this past weekend in Chicago for looting and destroying businesses in downtown Chicago to the tune of $60 million, there is a serious issue with the “movement”. She said on Monday, “Because criminality is punishing people for things that they have needed to do to survive or just the way that society has affected them with white supremacist BS… I will support the looters till the end of the day. If that’s what they need to do in order to eat, then that’s what you’ve got to do to eat.” She said this as some of those rioters had even tried to smash their way into a Ronald McDonald House caring for sick children and their families.
There is a movement on Instagram and Twitter to remember little Cannon with the hashtag #SayHisName. Let’s post the hashtag and also post little Cannon’s name. More than that, let’s pray for Cannon’s family, for Darius’ family, and for Darius to repent and put his faith in Christ. Let’s also understand that most of the major news outlets long ago quit reporting the news. Now they have simply become the torchbearer for the Democratic party, socialists, the LGBTQ community, and anything or anyone else that does not fit into their very narrow liberal understanding of right and wrong.
I understand that I don’t understand all there is to understand regarding what people of color face and I seriously hope that I don’t lose the friendships of anyone over this blog. While I know that I don’t know some things, here is something I learned at Cannon’s age (5) when I went to VBS for the very first time: “Red, and Yellow, Black, and White, they are precious in His (Jesus) sight. Jesus loves the little children (and adults) of the world.” All lives matter to God!
