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'Don't Snitch': What it costs us
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If you can save a life, tell somebody!!!
The fifteen-year-old Richmond, California girl who was gang-raped outside of her Homecoming Dance is likely yet another victim of the “Don’t Snitch” culture that is so pervasive among high schoolers and young adults these days. We grow up being told by our parents and other adults not to be a “tattle-tale”. We are discouraged from being that kid who separates himself from all of the other kids involved in wrong-doing by turning everyone else in to save himself.
Thus, the basic tenets of the Don’t Snitch code are accepted by just about everyone. But the youth culture has taken this notion much, much further. The current belief, as reflected in music and apparel, not only suggests that you are a loser if you snitch, but that you are actually deserving of physical harm and even death. Some years back rapper Cam’ron became a hero and the Don’t-Snitch –spokesperson-of-the-hour when, in a now famous interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper, he stated that if he lived next door to a serial killer, he might move, but he would not inform the police. This embodies the mentality that is so embraced by so many rappers. The topic appears in their music repeatedly. Rappers like to talk about and refer to snitching in the context of drug deals and street crime—about low, down lying informants. More often than not any discussion in music lyrics about snitching includes physical threats to those who snitch. A snitch is depicted as the lowest of the low, a scourge. Another rap poster child for the No Stitch movement is Bust-a-rhymes, whose bodyguard was shot and killed during a video shot, in broad daylight with crews and lots of folks around. Yet, no one stepped up to help ID the shooter. Purportedly, Bust-a-rhymes continued his concerts as scheduled, undeterred by the death and the unanswered questions surrounding it.
“Don’t Snitch” logos are everywhere—especially T-shirts. Don’t’ Snitch---Stop Snitchin’---Snitches Get Stitches. I was amazed to see that a couple is selling “Snitches Get Stitches” apparel on the benign Etsy website. This website features home-made items for sale. Snitches Get Stitches is a punk rock group. But the saying goes back to the street code that warns of physical harm to all who speak up.
Don’t Snitch advocates claim that they only oppose police informants--those known criminals who give information that is often falsified and embellished in exchange for reduce sentences, money or other forms of favor. The problem is we are seeing the danger of the Don’t Snitch mentality being played out in places far from the drug and gang informant scenario. Like the Michael Brewer case, where a group of teens set 15-year-old Brewer on fire because they said he was a snitch. He, evidently, owed someone $40 and when his uncle’s bike was stolen in connection with repayment, he made the near-fatal mistake of answering police questions about the theft.
And now we witness the brutal gang-rape of the Richmond High school girl. Her attack purportedly lasted two and a half hours and was observed by at least fifteen to twenty people on campus. Yet, no one informed any authority in order to stop it. These are the sad and unfortunate outcomes of Don’t Snitch gone awry. This is where the line is crossed into the inhumane and culpable, where silence becomes commission. There has to be a way to counter–act the extreme nature of this policy among our youth. To be sure, there is a very real threat to those who decide to speak up—an understanding that you are risking life and limb when you point the finger. We have heard of entire crime- ridden neighborhoods under silent siege for fear of reprisal.
We can talk with our kids until we are blue in the face about the difference between a snitch, someone who is involved in wronging-doing and turns others in in order to save himself, and a responsible witness, someone who sees wrong-doing and tells someone in order to stop the crime or see that justice is done. But when our kids (and we see) the heinous acts of violent retaliation as with Michael Brewer, our talks have little affect. What can we do in our households to educate our kids about reporting crime and wrong-doing. Here are a few places to start:
1. Be clear about your feelings about snitching. Be careful not to blurt out—“Don’t snitch"-- without explaining exactly what that means. You might want your child to refrain from being the singing canary in small matters like who ate all of the ice cream and put the carton back in the freezer. But you surely want them to call someone if they witness someone being harmed.
2. Give them someone to call—You. If your kids are hesitant to tell the authorities—the police or even a school official, encourage them to come to you. Then you can decide the right course of action together. Or you can take full responsibility going forward.
3. Let them know about ways to report crime anonymously, through agencies like the local Crimestoppers or police hotlines. This is especially important for crimes still happening!
4. Discuss the difference between being a snitch and a responsible citizen. Give specific examples like the Richmond case, so that they can see the importance of stopping damage as it is happening.
5. Discourage them from wearing Don’t Snitch apparel. Unless they hang out with drug dealers and paid informants, perpetuating the expansive definition of this term (that every act of speaking the truth is snitching) is harmful to them and the entire community.
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