"Snitching In The Black Community"

Before writing this blog, I looked up the word “snitch” on dictionary.com. The definition that was given was “to turn informer”, (i.e., “He snitched on his comrades.”).
From the beginning of time, snitching has been looked down upon no matter where you’re from or who you are. However, in today’s media, snitching has been identified as an issue that’s unique to the black community. Numerous murders and other crimes remain unsolved as a result of the unwillingness of those who live in crime-ridden areas to cooperate with the police.
But, have the media and society forgotten about the reasons behind the lack of trust that exists between police officers and the black community? This lack of trust has existed for over 400 years. Blacks have been murdered and racially-profiled by police officers since slavery.
For instance, in the early morning hours of Nov. 25, 2006, Sean Bell, a 23-year-old New York City man due to be married later that day, walked out of a Queens strip club, got into a gray Nissan Altima with two friends who had been celebrating with him - and died in a hail of 50 bullets fired by a group of five police officers.
Another example of a police-perpetrated murder was the death of Amadou Diallo, an African immigrant, who was killed after police fired 41 shots at him in 1999. Both men were black and both were unarmed. In both cases, police officers claimed they believed the victim had a gun, but a gun was never found.
These are only two examples of what has been occurring in the black community for several hundreds of years. This volatile relationship between the police and the black community has lead to tragic deaths of young black men at the hands of police officers who use racial profiling to substantiate the belief that young black men are a threat to their lives and carelessly begin to shoot bullets into their innocent bodies.
So, the media and society are asking why black communities don’t believe in “snitching”, or providing information about crimes to the police. Why would a person who has information about a crime feel comfortable providing that information to the police when the police have, historically, racially profiled, murdered and harassed them and their neighbors?
The million dollar question is: Will there be protection for those who come forward and give police information about a murder or a crime? For instance, a little over a year ago, an elderly black woman in Baltimore, Maryland believed in cleaning up the violence and drug dealing that had taken over her community. To that end, she provided information about drug dealers to the Baltimore police. She was never able to see the fruits of her labor because her house was burned down – while she was in it – by thugs who were retaliating against her snitching.
I’m not advocating against snitching, but the relationship between police and the black community needs to improve significantly if society expects residents of crime-ridden communities to risk their lives without protection from the same officers who are killing them, their sons, and daughters.
The rap industry has recently been criticized because some rappers have been seen wearing “STOP Snitching” shirts. Rap songs now feature lyrics that threaten the lives of those who do snitch. Rappers like Cam’ron , 50 cent, and Jim Jones have made appearances on DVDs, threatening snitches, while wearing shirts that say “Stop Snitching” on the front and “I’ll Never Tell” on the back. Is this the message we want projected to our young black children growing up today?
Though I am a huge fan of rap, I am not a fan of those rappers who don’t support efforts to clean-up the violent, drug-riddled communities they have left behind. The conditions in these neighborhoods could be greatly improved by doing simple things like creating efficient neighborhood-watch programs, training police officers on how to communicate with different ethnic groups, and holding monthly town hall meetings where members of the community can meet with police officers and talk about their frustration and concerns about local police and their community.
Why has the media made it seem like the issue of snitching is unique to the black community? Has nostalgia caused us to forget about the times when Blacks were getting hanged, raped, murdered, and assaulted by whites? Even back then, nothing was done about these injustices because, supposedly, no one saw anything! Whites and blacks turned a blind eye because no one wanted to be considered a snitch! What about the numerous times during the civil rights movement when blacks were being killed by the dozens by KKK members and whites and blacks were told to keep their mouths shut -- or else. That is a historical example of an obvious “Stop Snitching” campaign.
Some might say, “That was during the civil rights movement. What about now?” A more contemporary example lies within police departments themselves. There are tons of police officers who abide by an unofficial code of secrecy that includes not “snitching” on each other. Have ABC, CNN, or CBS covered stories on police officers refusing to tell on each other because of the code that “police don’t tell on each other no matter the circumstances”? No.
Let’s also not forget about the undercover CIA officer whose cover was blown by someone from the Bush administration. For almost a year no one came forward to admit guilt. The “no snitching” code reached as far as the Bush administration! And Bush used his power to make sure his former right-hand man, Karl Rove, was exempt from testifying in front of the Judiciary committee about the incident.
As the media and society continue to criticize the Black community about not “snitching” let us take a deeper look at what’s going on around us before we single out one group of people who are guilty of abiding by this dangerous rule. This so-called “not snitching” code goes back for hundred and hundreds of years and has been perpetuated by various groups of people – black, white and other.