Post by KC on Aug 2, 2006 23:26:20 GMT -5
August 02, 2006 - EAST PALO ALTO -- Christian Ramos recalls clearly when the "Stop Snitching" movement hit the West Coast.
"It's always been an unwritten rule," the 18-year-old East Palo Alto resident said.
But about a year ago, he started noticing the T-shirts, hats and other accessories emblazoned with the message on the city's streets, which is aimed at preventing people from serving as witnesses to law enforcement.
"Now it's more of a logo," Ramos said.
Police Chief Ron Davis has had enough of the movement that he has seen invade the streets of this Peninsula town. Earlier this month, he displayed a few "Stop Snitching" T-shirts on display panels, and described efforts his department is taking to ask shop owners to voluntarily stop offering the gear.
"All legal businesses know what they're selling," he said.
And when they market the "Stop Snitching" clothing -- which Boston Mayor Thomas Menino unsuccessfully attempted to ban in late 2005 -- shop owners will also stop marketing a trend that makes it increasingly difficult to solve crimes, Davis said.
"The intimidation factor is so high," he said. "That's why we're asking for help."
The "Stop Snitching" movement started on Baltimore streets in 2004 with the release of a homemade video that took off,thanks to an appearance on it by NBA star Carmelo Anthony.
The video includes footage of men who say they're drug dealers, and who threaten violence to anyone who reports their activities to authorities.
East Palo Alto police aren't the first to fight back against the witness intimidation campaign. The Baltimore Police Department decided to fight fire with fire.
"We thought we'll meet them on any battlefield," said Matt Jablow, public affairs director for the Baltimore Police Department and a former TV news reporter.
"If they put out a DVD, we'll put out a better one," he said. "If they try to intimidate our witnesses, we'll protect them."
The police DVD was called "Keep Talking," to show how information on the "Stop Snitching" DVD was used to arrest on various charges most of the people appearing on it. The department had in-house production capabilities, and the project cost $1,000 for duplication costs, Jablow said.
"The 'Keep Talking' part comes from the fact that these guys kept running their mouths off," Jablow said. "As a result of their big mouths, we were able to go out and arrest of bunch of them."
A few arrests, he added, were made because people informed on them.
The anti-snitching movement -- which had its main Web site kicked off MySpace.com -- also was aided by a few high-profile trials of hip-hop artists, particularly the 2005 conviction on conspiracy and perjury charges of rapper Lil Kim. Kim was lauded for her refusal to identify her crew members as assailants during a shootout.
"That trial was a spark, and it just ignited a whole bunch of separate situations," said Ramos, the East Palo Alto teen who follows hip-hop culture closely and leads a rap band that performs "Golden Era rap," which focuses on positive messages.
Ramos noted that young teens especially are drawn to the "anti-snitching" message, which he called "a new rebellion."
Fourteen-year-old Nate (not his real name) said he has a white T-shirt that says "No Snitching" in big letters. On the back is one person facing a crowd.
"It's supposed to symbolize that he's this person who snitches, and there's a whole group he has to answer to," Abraham said, who added that he hears and sees the "Stop Snitching" message "all over the place."
But the Menlo Park teen makes a distinction between what are called snitching and informing.
"There's a difference between snitching and telling," Abraham said. "Telling is to protect yourself. Snitching is to get back at someone."
The young teen's assessment is close to an analysis of the issue by Marc Lamont Hill, a professor at Temple University in Philadelphia who's considered a leading intellect on hip-hop culture.
Attacking or supporting the "Stop Snitching" campaign is too simplistic an approach to a complex quandary, he wrote a widely cited February 2006 article titled, "Damned if You Do, Damned if You Don't."
The act of snitching creates a social and ethical quagmire in which an individual must sacrifice one set of loyalties for another," Hill wrote.
Those who deride the movement as "rejection of civic responsibility ... miss the moral complexity of the anti-snitching position."
At the same time, proponents of the campaign are at fault for "marketing the 'Stop Snitching' campaign in ways that undermine any claims to moral authority by not placing any conditions or caveats on its pleas for silence," Hill continued.
He summed up his case by distinguishing "snitching" from "witnessing."
"While a witness is an asset to truth and justice, the snitch is motivated primarily or entirely by self-interest," Hill stated.
People often determine whether a wrongdoing they witness is worth the risk of reporting it based on the deference they accord the law being broken, he added.
If an act doesn't rise to a sufficent level of deference, many people just take a "mind my own business" attitude, Hill stated, as 14-year-old Nate said he does much of the time.
A number of kids, himself included, had information about a robbery at a candy store in San Jose, Nate said.
He didn't say anything, he said.
"I didn't feel it was my problem."
But he did call the cops when his stepfather was threatening his mother, he said firmly.
When people do share information with authorities that help solve crimes, victims feel a restored sense of trust, emphasized Cheryl Tyiska, deputy director of the National Organization for Victim Assistance.
"What victims get out of people coming forward to tell the truth is that there are still good people in the world, that the world is safe," she said.
"If you live in a community where you know witnesses are afraid to talk, you get the perception that nobody's going to help you," Tyiska added.
Alejandro Vilchez, a manager at the Peninsula Conflict Resolution Center, agreed the anti-snitching movement could lead to more fractured communities.
"We become isolated and private when snitching culture crosses over, so we don't talk to anybody," Vilchez said.
People live in fear and "very public issues become private," he added.
In East Palo Alto, a recent visit to two stores that earlier in July police said carried the "Stop Snitching" T-shirts found none on the racks. At a Redwood City store, a clerk said the store did recently carry five styles, but had quickly sold out. When the clerk asked the store manager if more were on order, the manager silently shook his head.
Jablow, spokesman for the Baltimore police department, noted that the "Stop Snitching" movement has faded in its birthplace.
"It was popular last year, but we're not seeing much this year. It was a fad and it went out," Jablow said. "I think it just ran its natural course."
"It's always been an unwritten rule," the 18-year-old East Palo Alto resident said.
But about a year ago, he started noticing the T-shirts, hats and other accessories emblazoned with the message on the city's streets, which is aimed at preventing people from serving as witnesses to law enforcement.
"Now it's more of a logo," Ramos said.
Police Chief Ron Davis has had enough of the movement that he has seen invade the streets of this Peninsula town. Earlier this month, he displayed a few "Stop Snitching" T-shirts on display panels, and described efforts his department is taking to ask shop owners to voluntarily stop offering the gear.
"All legal businesses know what they're selling," he said.
And when they market the "Stop Snitching" clothing -- which Boston Mayor Thomas Menino unsuccessfully attempted to ban in late 2005 -- shop owners will also stop marketing a trend that makes it increasingly difficult to solve crimes, Davis said.
"The intimidation factor is so high," he said. "That's why we're asking for help."
The "Stop Snitching" movement started on Baltimore streets in 2004 with the release of a homemade video that took off,thanks to an appearance on it by NBA star Carmelo Anthony.
The video includes footage of men who say they're drug dealers, and who threaten violence to anyone who reports their activities to authorities.
East Palo Alto police aren't the first to fight back against the witness intimidation campaign. The Baltimore Police Department decided to fight fire with fire.
"We thought we'll meet them on any battlefield," said Matt Jablow, public affairs director for the Baltimore Police Department and a former TV news reporter.
"If they put out a DVD, we'll put out a better one," he said. "If they try to intimidate our witnesses, we'll protect them."
The police DVD was called "Keep Talking," to show how information on the "Stop Snitching" DVD was used to arrest on various charges most of the people appearing on it. The department had in-house production capabilities, and the project cost $1,000 for duplication costs, Jablow said.
"The 'Keep Talking' part comes from the fact that these guys kept running their mouths off," Jablow said. "As a result of their big mouths, we were able to go out and arrest of bunch of them."
A few arrests, he added, were made because people informed on them.
The anti-snitching movement -- which had its main Web site kicked off MySpace.com -- also was aided by a few high-profile trials of hip-hop artists, particularly the 2005 conviction on conspiracy and perjury charges of rapper Lil Kim. Kim was lauded for her refusal to identify her crew members as assailants during a shootout.
"That trial was a spark, and it just ignited a whole bunch of separate situations," said Ramos, the East Palo Alto teen who follows hip-hop culture closely and leads a rap band that performs "Golden Era rap," which focuses on positive messages.
Ramos noted that young teens especially are drawn to the "anti-snitching" message, which he called "a new rebellion."
Fourteen-year-old Nate (not his real name) said he has a white T-shirt that says "No Snitching" in big letters. On the back is one person facing a crowd.
"It's supposed to symbolize that he's this person who snitches, and there's a whole group he has to answer to," Abraham said, who added that he hears and sees the "Stop Snitching" message "all over the place."
But the Menlo Park teen makes a distinction between what are called snitching and informing.
"There's a difference between snitching and telling," Abraham said. "Telling is to protect yourself. Snitching is to get back at someone."
The young teen's assessment is close to an analysis of the issue by Marc Lamont Hill, a professor at Temple University in Philadelphia who's considered a leading intellect on hip-hop culture.
Attacking or supporting the "Stop Snitching" campaign is too simplistic an approach to a complex quandary, he wrote a widely cited February 2006 article titled, "Damned if You Do, Damned if You Don't."
The act of snitching creates a social and ethical quagmire in which an individual must sacrifice one set of loyalties for another," Hill wrote.
Those who deride the movement as "rejection of civic responsibility ... miss the moral complexity of the anti-snitching position."
At the same time, proponents of the campaign are at fault for "marketing the 'Stop Snitching' campaign in ways that undermine any claims to moral authority by not placing any conditions or caveats on its pleas for silence," Hill continued.
He summed up his case by distinguishing "snitching" from "witnessing."
"While a witness is an asset to truth and justice, the snitch is motivated primarily or entirely by self-interest," Hill stated.
People often determine whether a wrongdoing they witness is worth the risk of reporting it based on the deference they accord the law being broken, he added.
If an act doesn't rise to a sufficent level of deference, many people just take a "mind my own business" attitude, Hill stated, as 14-year-old Nate said he does much of the time.
A number of kids, himself included, had information about a robbery at a candy store in San Jose, Nate said.
He didn't say anything, he said.
"I didn't feel it was my problem."
But he did call the cops when his stepfather was threatening his mother, he said firmly.
When people do share information with authorities that help solve crimes, victims feel a restored sense of trust, emphasized Cheryl Tyiska, deputy director of the National Organization for Victim Assistance.
"What victims get out of people coming forward to tell the truth is that there are still good people in the world, that the world is safe," she said.
"If you live in a community where you know witnesses are afraid to talk, you get the perception that nobody's going to help you," Tyiska added.
Alejandro Vilchez, a manager at the Peninsula Conflict Resolution Center, agreed the anti-snitching movement could lead to more fractured communities.
"We become isolated and private when snitching culture crosses over, so we don't talk to anybody," Vilchez said.
People live in fear and "very public issues become private," he added.
In East Palo Alto, a recent visit to two stores that earlier in July police said carried the "Stop Snitching" T-shirts found none on the racks. At a Redwood City store, a clerk said the store did recently carry five styles, but had quickly sold out. When the clerk asked the store manager if more were on order, the manager silently shook his head.
Jablow, spokesman for the Baltimore police department, noted that the "Stop Snitching" movement has faded in its birthplace.
"It was popular last year, but we're not seeing much this year. It was a fad and it went out," Jablow said. "I think it just ran its natural course."