ArtsAutosBooksBusinessEducationEntertainmentFamilyFashionFoodGamesGenderHealthHolidaysHomeHubPagesPersonal FinancePetsPoliticsReligionSportsTechnologyTravel

Stop (Not) Snitching! Part 1

Updated on October 25, 2015

Despite having worked with troubled young people in one capacity or another for over the last decade, I still have to remind myself that although I myself was young once, today’s youth are growing up under a completely different social ethos…sometimes seemingly without the benefit of moral guidance. Whereas I and other Generation Xers grew up in an era when neighbors were expected to look out for one another as well as for potentially destructive elements to the comparative harmony of our neighborhoods, today’s young people are seemingly born with a genetic marker for the “It-Doesn’t-Concern-Me” gene…regardless of the broad view consequences. Take for example the relative recent concept of “Don’t Snitch,” an unspoken law of fact in ‘hoods throughout urban America, and most notably practiced among many within their ethnic minority communities.

While it’s no secret that crime is the biggest roadblock to socioeconomic uplift in many urban centers in this country, it’s less known that the biggest reason for crime’s seemingly unchecked growth in ‘the hood (s) is partially due to the mindset that the citizens living in these areas should avoid becoming involved in reporting criminal activity of any sort…despite their obvious stakes in doing so. This mindset is what contributes to the virtual free reign that many hard-core and wannabe criminals have when it comes to engaging in criminal activity, both major and minor. The fact is that this counter-productive way of thinking has become so ingrained among such a large underclass in our society that even when people are directly victimized, they would rather adhere to this questionable mantra rather than be known as a “snitch.” A testament to this insanity is an incident reported in the Chicago Sun Times from last week (http://www.policeone.com/gangs/articles/2050322-Dying-Chicago-teen-wouldnt-snitch-to-police-about-his-own-murderer/).

According to Chicago city police, few weeks ago, 17 year-old Robert Tate was shot in the chest as someone approached him on a sidewalk on the evening of April 12. Seeing that Tate was wounded badly and probably wouldn't make it, an officer asked, “Do you know who shot you?” Tate’s reported response? "I know, but I ain't telling you s---.” As astounding and extreme as this particular incident sounds, it’s hardly unique among young people today. In fact, and depending on one’s particular perspective, this mentality has been perpetuated—or maybe initiated—by high-profile Hip-Hop entertainers whose lyrics and off-stage lifestyles reinforce the importance of keeping what one knows about criminal acts from authorities. Consider the following:

- In a high-profile incident in 2005, rapper Lil Kim' was tried, convicted, and subsequently sentenced to 1 year in prison for obstruction of justice. The charge stemmed from her refusal to identify members of her entourage as assailants during a shootout in front of a radio station.

- Also in 2005, rapper Cam'ron's refusal to help police find the person who shot him during an attempted robbery gained him a great deal of respect among both his peers in the Hip-Hop community as well as the community at-large.

- In 2006, superstar rapper and sometimes actor Busta Rhymes' was threatened with arrest when he and fellow performer and Tony Yayo's refused to speak to police about the February 2006 murder of Rhymes' bodyguard Israel Ramirez at a video shoot.

The issues revolving the “don’t snitch” mentality are obvious. First is the lack of distinction in the title “snitch” itself. In many incidents similar to the aforementioned ones, the concept of “snitching” is often confused with “witnessing.” The concept that an individual should not tell what they know about a crime having been committed, even when the same individual is the victim of said crime, implies a level of complicity in the wrongdoing. For that reason, it suggest that “snitching” is in fact telling what one knows about a crime when one is involved to gain some kind of favor or personal benefit. On the other hand, witnessing is simply reporting wrongdoing for a greater good, which could be keeping crime levels in certain communities low so that the overall quality of life doesn’t suffer. Or, and of a more immediate benefit is the very real probability that reporting the victimization of one’s neighbors can assist in putting away community predators who could conceivably come back to victimize reluctant witnesses (anyway).

To Be Concluded...

working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)