By Clarence McKee – Do you know the name, Cannon Hinnant? Most likely not.
Cannon is the five-year-old boy who was shot in the head at point-blank range in his yard last week in Wilson, North Carolina while playing with his eight and seven-year-old sisters.
He was killed by a neighbor, 25-year-old Darius Sessoms, just days before his first day in kindergarten.
The question is why much of the nation has not heard of this tragedy?
The problem is that Cannon’s murderer was Black and, therefore, did not meet the media’s and most progressives’ narrative of how such race-related events should be reported.
His family’s sorrow is just as deep as the families of the countless numbers of Black children killed by other Blacks in our cities while sleeping or playing in their yards
As Rod Dreher wrote in The American Conservative, if Cannon had been Black and Sessoms white, his murder would have been “front-page news on all the networks.”
Dreher correctly pointed out that a headline “Angry white man kills Black child who trespassed on his lawn” better serves the media’s preferred narrative.
The national media and the Democratic Party have been joined at the hip with the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement and give little credence or empathy for “other” lives — the unborn and Blacks killed by other Blacks.
I am sure that little Cannon’s life mattered to those who loved him!
Both Cannon and his killer were the wrong color to merit significant media — or political — coverage compared to Blacks shot or killed by whites — especially by police.
A recent Gallup poll found that the one-sided nature of media coverage has not gone unnoticed.
An astonishing 86% of Americans distrust the media and believe it has a political bias.
The poll showed that 84% felt that the media is to blame for our country’s political division.
As to race, listening to the conventional media, one would think that all Black Americans want to get rid of the police and support looting and want reparations for slavery.
Not true.
An Aug. 6 Gallup poll found that 61% of Black Americans want the police to remain and spend more time in their areas.
Have you heard that from the national media?
No.
Just because Black Americans want to be respected and treated fairly by police does not mean they want to weaken law enforcement, defund local police departments, and support criminals burning down their communities and businesses.
The tragedy is that much of the mainstream media has become actively partisan.
In too many instances, it is an advocate for and promoter of the politics, agenda, and interests of the progressive left. Its message: the history, culture and major institutions of our country, especially law enforcement, are racist and against the interests of Black Americans justifying violence.
In today’s media worldview, if you are Black and don’t support the progressive agenda and its candidates — to use former Vice President Joe Biden’s words — “you ain’t black.”
Journalism’s once high objective standards have been replaced by pro-left activist journalism in much of the media dividing the country not only on politics but also on race!
Racial identity politics and tolerance of violence has not only taken over the Democratic Party, but it has also taken over much of American journalism.
Just ask the family of Cannon Hinnant.
Clarence V. McKee is president of McKee Communications, Inc., a government, political, and media relations and training consulting firm in Florida. He served on the U.S. Senate staff, held several positions in the Reagan administration and Reagan presidential campaign, and was an advisor to the Angola Freedom Fighters (“UNITA”). He is a former co-owner of WTVT-TV in Tampa and a former chairman of the Florida Association of Broadcasters. His articles have been published in several publications including The Washington Times, Human Events Online, the Florida Courier and the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. His media appearances include Newsmax TV and FOX News Radio. He is the author of “How Obama Failed Black America and How Trump Is Helping It.” Read Clarence V. McKee’s Reports—
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