Not all hate crimes are created equal:
The race is always relevant when the perpetrator is white. But when the perpetrator is not white, we just get “25-year-old man.”
By the way, I’ve been seeing a lot of people try to downplay and dismiss the Cannon Hinnant story by saying, a. It was a local story and shouldn’t be national news, and b. What’s there to be outraged over given that the killer was quickly apprehended?
Let me address the two:
- First, I would love it if we were more locally-focused. Stories in other states generally don’t impact us much if at all, and yet we get all worked up over them nonetheless. But that’s not how the media works. George Floyd was a local Minneapolis story that they made into a national crisis. So unfortunately we have to fight fire with fire.
- Yes, Cannon Hinnant’s killer was quickly apprehended. But so was George Floyd’s. That didn’t stop anyone from making a huge deal out it.