I apologize for posting the rough version of the transcript, but it’s pretty accurate to the broadcast I saw.
He said the message comes through loud and clear in rap lyrics and that kids are taught from a young age that you mind your own business. Period. Some of the young people he interviewed said this was absolutely how they behave.
and
I find it hard to believe that mainstream black America abides by this code. I contend that it is confined to a criminal element and not something every youngster who listens to hip-hop buys into.
So…what’s your experience? Do most kids in the black community really believe that snitching is the worst thing you can do, regardless of the crime? Do they do it out of fear of the gangsters? The police? Are some crimes ok to cover up and others not?
If I believe the government mandated penalty is grossly excessive and cruel in proportion to the offense, I would not snitch. For example, if a house of prostitution and/or marijuana were right next to me, I’d never snitch on them for that.
IME there are groups who would never “snitch”. I have some friends from way back who have grown up in the biker culture. They would not snitch no matter what. They might kidnap and torture the perp of a crime against another biker, but they would never turn the perp over to law enforcement.
There was a big deal about this in Boston a couple of years ago. Stores were selling T-shirts with “Stop Snitchin’” on them, and this provoked an impressive uproar, in which Mayor Thomas Menino got involved. The stores IIRC pulled the shirts. The message doesn’t sit very well here.
I hung out on the fringes of the biker community, too and I agree that they’re a very no-snitchy bunch of guys. But they were engaged in criminal activities, which is my point. Do non-criminals in poor black communities (as referenced by Geoffrey Canada) also abide by the no-snitch rule?
It’s definitely a real issue. It’s one of the main reasons that open air drug markets thrive in low income communities. I take issue with the fact that people are blaming hip rap lyrics for it, like most rap, it’s a reflection of what’s already happening in there than the other way around. No the real problem is that the “no snitching” rule is backed up many times by violence, and the overwhelming feeling that the police are unable to protect witnesses who do come forward. There were well published stories about his coming out of Richmond, Oakland and San Francisco about witnesses getting killed after coming forward. I’m a little busy with work at the moment but I’ll try and dig some of them up later this morning.
I think community policing was having some effect on this where it was applied. If I recall correctly money as always was the main problem. It’s hard to protect witnesses when the police don’t have the resources to move them out of the community. The fact that someone arrested seem to get access to the information about witnesses was also mentioned in these stories.
I’m sure that’s true to a large extent but in the few seconds I saw where some hip hop guy was being interviewed he certainly didn’t portray it in that manner. I believe he used the word “ethics” in stating it was against some idiotic code of conduct.
In lieu of dueling anecdotes, are there any recent polls that have dealt with this issue? Or statistical evidence concerning frequency of reports to tip hotlines, numbers of police informants etc.?
Or ratings of America’s Most Wanted broken down by ethnicity? (AMW’s whole premise is founded on “snitching”) :dubious:
Hey, watch how you talk about my friends! I should have been more specific. These are guys in their 30s and 40s who haven’t committed a crime in a decade or two. Some are weekend bikers who wear suits/ties during the week. The “no snitch” code persists, however.
I don’t know that there’s a code of ethics involved other than old fashioned common sense- by snitching, you are provoking a response by the person you’re informing on- them, or their friends/family/criminal associates. So you’re potentially inviting retribution against yourself and your loved ones.
I can see how that would be frowned upon- would you put your child’s life in danger to inform on someone that hadn’t done anything to you personally?
I was talking about my crowd. It’s been over 20 years since I ran with any of them. For all I know they’ve traded in their chaps for briefcases. But when I knew them, they were dealing in guns and drugs and were rubbing shoulders with Angels and Outlaws.
The Cooper piece alluded to distrust of police, fear of the thugs, and a MYOB attitude. However, when there are 25 people standing around, how will they know who narc’d 'em out? Will they go after EVERYONE?
It has always been my understanding, and I speak as a woman that was born and raised in many high crime areas, that snitching was never about “turning in the serial killer next door”. That was perfectly reasonable, and no one needed fear retaliation for that.
It was a ‘gangsta’ code that basically meant, don’t try to cooperate with the cops against other gangsters, winning favors with the cops, such as shorter sentences or whatever.
It was a ‘gang’ thing that didn’t apply to your average citizen.
I mean, that is what I always thought. I admit, I am a bit confused now.
I am a huge fan of hip-hop, but I’m not a fan of Cam’ron. I think they asked the wrong rapper to represent hip-hop on this matter.