White Mormon

On August 9, 2020, Cannon Blake Hinnant was riding a bike near his house when he was killed. His family had just come home from church when Cannon went to play outside with his sisters. For unknown reasons, a neighbor named Darius Sessoms approached and shot the 5-year-old in the head, according to a witness. "For a second, I thought, 'That couldn't happen. People don't run across the street and kill kids.'" Cannon's father said that upon hearing the gunshot, "I flew out of my front door and the first thing I see is my son laying on the ground. I had to scoop my son up and hold him in my arms as his blood ran down my arm." Cannon died on the way to the hospital while authorities say Darius's girlfriend Aolani Pettit helped him leave town.

The monument will protect places that are central to the story of Till's life and death at age 14, the acquittal of his white killers and his mother's activism.