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I'm seeing some terrible takes on the murder of #CannonHinnant. So let me spell out the issue for the brainlets who are understandably a little slow since they've consistently spent 40% of their paycheck on weed and alcohol since high school:
For years, the issue of racism has been acutely highlighted by the media. As the population of this country is culturally disposed to self-reflection and empathy, the concerns were received openly. "Racism? In our country? That cannot stand!"
This dynamic was seen again at work again with the death of George Floyd, which the media told us all was yet another instance of racism at work. "We must not be doing enough to fight racism," many thought. "I will post on my FB seeking advice on what else to do about this."
Then the toxicology report and the bodycam came out, and as http://fakehatecrimes.org has documented for anyone to see 399 times before, it turns out there's more to the story, and racism may not even have been a factor at all.
But the story was pushed, and for another week the narrative continued that racism is rampant in the United States. Especially in police departments!
Then the story about Ryan Whitaker being executed comes out. No headlines. No arrests.
Then the story about Ryan Whitaker being executed comes out. No headlines. No arrests.
We'd accept that perhaps police need reform, and this seemed like a clear example of cops behaving without oversight.
"What gives?" normal people asked. "This is even more egregious. Why no rioting? Nothing?"
"What gives?" normal people asked. "This is even more egregious. Why no rioting? Nothing?"
And now enter #CannonHinnant, a 5 year old white boy murdered by a black man in front of his sisters. What could be more outrageous?
A child could obviously never do anything that would merit violence against them, much less the taking of their life.
A child could obviously never do anything that would merit violence against them, much less the taking of their life.
So now we've got a population of people who have been taught to understand racism as (a) an irrational hatred of another race and (b) the most serious problem the country faces at this moment, perhaps to the level of an existential threat
And for the people who see the story of the murder at all, they rightfully ask "Wait, this is obviously an irrational act of violence against a child. Perhaps this man targeted him out of irrational racial hatred? Shouldn't this be a bigger story since it involves racism?"
The primary issue here, therefore, is that our nation is being manipulated by the media into conversations that have been disingenuous for years now, and some people are only just now realizing it.
We have a lot of issues in our great nation, but until we can have honest conversations about how to solve them, we're going to keep falling for race-baiting hoaxes and genuine injustices like this boy's senseless murder will slip down the memory hole.
So when people push back now on the calls for national attention to this story because "the boy is white so they caught the killer" or it's "being used to push a race war", they're totally missing the point either on purpose or out of ignorance.
As I said earlier in this thread, news stories have been pushed for years *because* they stoke racial tensions between black Americans and white Americans. And we've accepted the narrative, again, because many of us genuinely want to fix this country's problems.
But when people push back on the SUGGESTION that this boy's murder is worth mentioning on the nightly news, it's obvious that there's no real interest in a genuine dialogue about racial issues. THAT is the problem. And the solution to close out this rant:
