See no evil

Posted at 11:53 AM on May 27, 2008 by Bob Collins (4 Comments)

Making a point by making your life worse never made much sense to me. In 1967, the residents of of the nation's inner cities made their unhappiness known by burning down their neighborhoods. Point made, but when all was said in done, they ended up living in bombed-out neighborhoods.

President Lyndon Johnson created a commission to study the violence and it concluded that "our nation is moving toward two societies, one black, one white--separate and unequal."

Violence cannot build a better society. Disruption and disorder nourish repression, not justice. They strike at the freedom of every citizen. The community cannot--it will not--tolerate coercion and mob rule.

Violence and destruction must be ended--in the streets of the ghetto1 and in the lives of people.

Segregation and poverty have created in the racial ghetto a destructive environment totally unknown to most white Americans.

What white Americans have never fully understood--but what the Negro can never forget--is that white society is deeply implicated in the ghetto. White institutions created it, white institutions maintain, and white society condones it.

Now, fast-forward 41 years. America's cities are still burning themselves, only now it's called a "Stop Snitchin'" campaign.

A cover article in Broadcasting & Cable this week profiles the difficulty for reporters trying to investigate crime stories, focusing specifically on a typical situation in Kansas City.

... says the code of silence surrounding violent crime, the product of a grass-roots campaign called "Stop Snitching," has a chokehold on Kansas City. At various times while he's been interviewing witnesses, someone will walk by, repeatedly muttering "click-clock, click-clock"--simulating the sound of a gun cocking and firing. As one might expect, the witnesses promptly clam up.

So goes investigative reporting in Kansas City and several other markets in America, as the Stop Snitching movement gains momentum and leaves residents scared to death of anyone with a badge--or a microphone or notepad. "To this day, the question remains: How could two people get gunned down in front of so many people, and two years later, no one's been charged?" Nigrelli wonders. "The answer is, no one will talk. 'No Snitch' is loud and powerful here."

Highly regarded crime reporter Carolyn Lowe at WCCO found Stop Snitching to be alive and well in the Twin Cities, when she did a story on it last year.

"It's a message that really leads us down a path of destruction. It's a path that leads us to more bloodshed," said St. Paul Police Chief John Harrington in the story. Harrington said he intended to start an anti-Stop Snitchin' campaign.

One is already underway in Minneapolis, sort of. MPR's Jess Mador September story on the killing of a young girl, found the group Mad Dads at least trying to talk some sense into the community.

"I suggest that you get out and when you see something in your neighborhood that is not right that you say something about it," said Smith. "Stop having that 'stop snitching' attitude and start organizing, mobilizing and reaching out to some of these hard to reach kids and making a difference in their lives."

In many cases, the Stop Snitchin' campaign is stoked by rap artists. Hip Hop News today, for example, has the story of one such link.

Unlike the neighborhood burning of the '60s, the Stop Snitchin' campaign has no chance of at least getting attention to the perceived societal ills. It's more likely to spawn a shrug of the shoulders and a "if you don't care enough, why should I?" attitude.

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Comments (4)

Making a point by making your life worse never made much sense to me. In 1967, the residents of of the nation's inner cities made their unhappiness known by burning down their neighborhoods

Bob. I have NEVER heard of this. Where did this happen?

and the No Snitchin' sign seems to be written on a telephone pole in a fairly well to do neighborhood?

I guess I do not understand this article because I was raised to do the right thing and then later in life learned to act on the highest good.

Posted by singinglikeacanary | May 27, 2008 12:41 PM

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There was a piece on one of those news shows on Friday night-like 2020 or 60 minutes. It was about a young woman who was raped and murdered by co workers who pretended to be her friend. They told her that they were having a party for her took her out to this cabin-kept her hostage while a party was going on in the downstairs of this cabin. Anyway it was never solved until recently some students reopened the case. There were five men involved and some women who watched. The men were convicted but the women weren't. The women said they were afraid that if they told the same thing would happen to them. While this victim was being raped one of the woman was calling her names....which would lead me to believe that they are equally guilty as the men were. The women walked away freely. I think that they should have been thrown in jail as well. What is wrong with our justice system or should I say lack of justice system?

Posted by c | May 27, 2008 12:53 PM

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I am sure that Bob is talking about the Newark and Detroit "Riots" of 1967. See link - http://www.67riots.rutgers.edu/introduction.html

But I could be wrong and he could be talking about the 1965 Watts Riot http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watts_Riots and just had the year wrong.

Or he could be thinking of something completely different.

Posted by Brian Hanf | May 27, 2008 1:55 PM

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Ok, I was visiting with friends and a young man told a heart wrenching story of being yelled at, with tazzers and guns drawn by cops. His story stirred up in me that idea "cops are at it again". As he told the events leading up to his ordeal I had mixed emotions. The basic version of his story is that he was joking with friends and yelled he was going to kill them and he pulled out his pocket knife.

The Cops were called and they over reacted. The young man is a good kid, a nice kid. After he shared his story I asked him "What is the lesson?" He said "don't shout I'm going to kill you while holding a knife." This story has good and bad points and I'll let the reader decide for themselves which is which, however our young people need to know we hear them and we are watching. If we don't snitch, it is like having greens stuck in you teeth. We have to use all of the resources available to us take back our communities and take back our responsibilities for our youth.

They need to know that we see both the negative and positive things they do. We NEED more snitches, but not just on the negatives, but we snitching on the positives.

Posted by Andre Koen | May 27, 2008 3:05 PM

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