Say Cannon Hinnant’s name with love and sympathy for him and his family, but not for the conservatives who don’t like it when they are being held accountable for the racist and bigoted killings they do, and are now using his murder as yet another whataboutism story where they care less about the victim and more about how they can use it to demonize those they are racist and bigoted towards. They do it all the damn time and it usually starts with the boneheads.

On January 13, 2007, Jim Leshkevich of Hurley, NY decided to embark on a campaign on the neo-Nazi website Stormfront. They were going to push around a narrative that the national media while covering stories that involved white supremacists killing Black men, did not want to cover the then-recent murders of Hugh Christopher Newsom, Jr., 23, and Channon Gail Christian, 21 a Knoxville, TN-area couple who were carjacked, raped and murdered by five Black men and women who currently are serving sentences ranging from 18 years to the death penalty. “While these savage murders have absolutely nothing to do with the Hudson Valley (in New York State) I felt the need to remind White people of all we have to be thankful for on MLK Day,” he wrote.

Per the narrative that is a staple of this particular website, the reason they gave as to why there was no national coverage was because the killers were Black, and its an old trope that has worked for White supremacists and other bigots trying to deflect attention from that which is given to their crimes. The 1999 brutal murder of 13-year-old Jesse Dirkhising in Prairie Grove, Arkansas by two men described as lovers by police was amplified by the right wing Washington Times this way in the wake of the murder of Matthew Shepard in Colorado almost a year prior by two men who killed Shepard because he was gay. And the Council of Conservative Citizens covered the killing spree of Johnathan and Reginald Carr in Wichita, KS in 2000 and were later joined by David Horowitz and Michelle Malkin, two mainstream conservatives that despite Horowitz being Jewish, and Malkin being Fillipino, have courted White Nationalists and neo-Fascists to complain about the lack of media coverage.

This was what Stormfront posters were hoping their efforts would lead to in 2007 and they were not disappointed. Malkin picked up the Christian/Newsom murders and reported on it on May 16 of that year based on the “no national media coverage” canard that was being promoted not just by Stormfront, but by that point other neo-Nazi outlets, most notably the Vanguard News Network (VNN) where Leshkevich and the Hal Turner Radio Show. Almost immediately other mainstream conservative outlets, notably Fox News picked up the story, and by Memorial Day, Knoxville had to deal with a neo-Nazi rally organized by Alex Linder, the owner of VNN who ended up getting himself arrested that day and charged with disorderly conduct, resisting arrest, vandalism and assault on a police officer. Meanwhile, the Christian and Newsom families did not seem to want any part of the efforts being waged in their families’ names for White supremacy and to make their deaths a rally cry to fight Black crime. Gary Christian, Chis Newsom’s father saying to them point blank, “It ain’t about you.”

Today this same trope is being trotted out again, and this time it is in an attempt to undercut the Black Lives Matter movement with the shocking and senseless murder of 5-year-old Cannon Hinnant in Wilson, NC. The child was shot and killed while riding his bike last weekend, and a neighbor Darius Sessoms, 25, was arrested Monday after fleeing the scene, and is now in jail without bond facing a first-degree murder charge. Almost immediately White supremacists and other right wingers began posting memes complaining that this case was not given as much attention as the protests of the past two months. Tucker Carlson, yet another conservative commentator who has been accused of neo-fascist associations and influences, weighed in recently on his Fox News program by saying, “To ignore something completely… you really get the feeling that news coverage is guided purely by political imperatives.” Ironically, Carlson has often ignored covering shooting of innocent African-Americans by police until there was a narrative that could paint either the victim or those advocating for the victim in a bad light. That incidentally, is the main part of yet another trope of waiting until all the facts come out that curiously didn’t even come into play this time, which is ironic given that there are new questions regarding the relationship between Sessoms and the Hinnant family, particularly Austin Hinnant, Cannon’s father, as they were neighbors for over seven years and even had dinner with Sessoms the night before.

No matter how often the whataboutism trope is used, it generally does not get much play outside conservative circles. The attempts to deflect from the cases of bigoted and racist murders are often ignored, as the public sees them for the distraction they are. But using the Hinnant murder as a whataboutism against the concerns of police killing innocent Black men, women and children has infuriated many enough to speak out against the attempt, primarily because unlike the police killings, there is a suspect in custody and a trial will likely send him to either jail for the rest of his life or death row. Condemnation of that stunt is overwhelming the memes that are promoting it on social networks. Most importantly, sympathy for Hinnant and his family is being expressed a lot more, which had often been missing in the memes pushing the trope.

First picture is the man who murdered Cannon Hinnant. He will be held accountable.

The second picture is the police officer who murdered Breonna Taylor. He is living his life. This is why we say black lives matter. pic.twitter.com/ofBlnVO3n9

— Hamdia Ahmed (@hamdia_ahmed) August 15, 2020

Darius Sessoms, the Black man who shot and killed 5 yr old Cannon Hinnant was ARRESTED within 24 hours and charged with FIRST DEGREE MURDER. He’ll be convicted and spend his life in prison.

Timothy Loehmann, the white cop who murdered #TamirRice was NEVER CHARGED. https://t.co/tag5Dgmcw2

— Bishop Talbert Swan (@TalbertSwan) August 15, 2020

Cannon Hinnant’s death is horrible and deserves justice, however it has absolutely nothing to do with George Floyd… and his mourning mother agrees and doesn’t appreciate you inconsiderate assholes using his death for your politics. pic.twitter.com/OiWZ82pVzD

— aubs | BLM (@aubrianadicarlo) August 16, 2020

I noticed you posted about Cannon Hinnant. I also noticed you didn’t post about Zamar Jones, a 7 year old who was shot and killed more than two weeks ago. Do you only care about the kids whose senseless murders can be used as anti-BLM propaganda? Explain. pic.twitter.com/2ouUiDb2RO

— kristen🍍 (@kristen_siebs) August 15, 2020

The irony *grabs popcorn* 🍿 #TrayvonMartin #CannonHinnant pic.twitter.com/0f8Uubavvw

— Lamonte Harris (@TheKingHarris__) August 16, 2020

“Yankee” Jim Leshkevich is not participating in the latest effort. Twelve years ago, he murdered his wife and himself after he learned she was having an affair. Stormfront banned him from the website the next day, while VNN paid tribute to him. Over the past few months, Michelle Malkin saw mainstream conservatives distancing themselves away from her as she inched even more closer to neo-Nazis when she defended anti-semite and Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes and spoke at a conference organized by him and Patrick Casey of the “American Identity Movement” (AmIM, formerly Identity Evropa) and would later appear on the White Supremacist podcast Red Ice. Stormfront, VNN and Malkin are all spreading the notion that somehow caring about the rights and freedoms lost to Black people at the hands of racist police means not caring about White people killed by a Black murderer. It has worked so well for them and mainstream conservatives in the past, but not so much today and likely not ever again. To quote Annie Reneau from Upworthy, “Cannon Hinnant’s murder is a tragedy, no question. But using his death as a political talking point is a travesty. Just stop.”