Horowitz: Justice for 5-year-old Cannon Hinnant means locking up violent criminals

The fact that George Floyd has become a household name but almost nobody will ever hear of 5-year-old Cannon Hinnant is what's wrong with America in a nutshell.

In the new America that is driven by racial politics rather than justice, what do you think would happen if a white man killed a 5-year-old black boy on his bike execution-style, regardless of racial motivations? Well, based on the reaction to the death of George Floyd, which still remains unclear as to the exact cause of death despite what appears to be police wrongdoing, rioting would probably be the mildest reaction.

This happened in Wilson, North Carolina, except it was a black man and a white boy. Now there are crickets from the political class. No kneeling, foot-washing, renaming of American symbols, endless legislation to lock up career criminals like this alleged perpetrator, or frantic press releases from every organization known to man to mourn the loss of life. And most certainly, there seems to be no expectation of rioting. Why not?

On Tuesday, WRAL broke the story that Darius N. Sessoms, 25, allegedly shot 5-year-old Cannon Hinnant Sunday afternoon while he was on his bike in front of the suspect's house in Wilson, North Carolina. According to witnesses, Sessoms pointed a gun right at the boy's head and killed him execution-style right in front of his two older sisters. The motive is still unclear other than a theory that the boy rode his bike into the suspect's yard.

A quick Google news search reveals that outside the New York Post and local news outlets, Cannon Hinnant never existed.

In a sane America, race should never matter. We would deter all violent criminals with serious punishment the first time they act violently, which would have the effect of preventing most murders in the country. Most murderers are repeat offenders. However, the Left wants to concoct a narrative that somehow there is systemic white-on-black crime, which justifies their pushing to weaken our system even more.

In reality, most of the victims of the war on law and order are black. Black-on-white murder is rare but still more common than the other way around. According to the FBI, in cases where the race of the homicide victim and suspect were known, 15.5% of white homicide victims in 2018 were killed by black perpetrators, while 8% of black homicide victims were killed by white perpetrators.

This split is even more pronounced in the broader category of violent crimes. According to the National Crime Victimization Survey published by the Bureau of Justice Statics, out of the 593,598 interracial violent victimization crimes between black people and white people reported in 2018, 90 percent were black against white, and 9.5 percent were white against black. That is simply astounding given that black people compose just 12 percent of the general population and white people compose 62 percent.

So, if we want to start treating every individual crime as a broad systemic racial problem, it should justify rioting and social transformation every time something like this happens. However, for those of us who truly believe in blind justice, there is a more important point.

Sessoms had multiple felony drug charges, multiple felony probation violations, and charges on his record for possessing stolen firearms, according to local media. He doesn't appear to have served much time in jail.

This is the story of our justice system. Just how much murder is committed by repeat offenders who are given leniencies? Just last week, the Texan reported, according to Andy Kahan of Crime Stoppers Houston, 57 victims have been murdered in Harris County over the past two years by defendants who had been released on multiple felony bonds and personal recognizance bonds. That doesn't account for all those who served light prison sentences or were let out of prison early and went on to murder. And the momentum toward more and more leniency is getting stronger in the system with each passing day.

Why aren't Republican senators in North Carolina pushing endless legislation to toughen sentencing on gun and drug felons and parole violators who are almost always the sort of people who wind up committing these heinous acts? Instead, both parties are obsessing about weakening our system even more under the guise of a racial inequality that is actually the other way around.

If you call your senators or state representatives and ask them for toughening sentences on repeat violent offenders in the name of justice for Cannon Hinnant, they will ask you, "Who is that?"

Clearly, some lives matter more than others.