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Thread: The Stop Snitching Phenomenon: Breaking the Code of Silence

  1. #21
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    Quote Originally Posted by Schmedlap View Post
    The silence on the streets in America is due more to a cultural phenomenon whereby part of the black identity - to live the true black experience* - is to identify as a victim who struggles against an unjust society.
    First, I'd say that seems like an awful big projection both suggesting that blacks are a monolithic culture and that all blacks self-identify as victims. I'd say that the situation is considerably more complex than that a cultural challenge. I think both are there, but I think the tension between the police and the community is not solely driven from black victimhood. There is a history of violence which is racially imbalanced, if not motivated, in some departments. But a youngster who sees more benefit to their community from the dealers than the cops is likely to grow up with a certain bias. I'd say culture and politics each play a role, but I would not slap them into a real stringent hierarchy.

    Secondly, here's an interesting story. One of the guys from the Stop Snitchin video who ended up an informant, who was 'misdirected' by US Marshals. Suffice it to say there's no evidence the Marshals did this on purpose, but it is a reminder that even unintentional missteps can create huge perception issues. Imagine you're thinking about testifying for the Feds, but then you're reading how you might get put in the same cell as those your testifying against.

  2. #22
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    Quote Originally Posted by Kerguelen View Post
    First, I'd say that seems like an awful big projection both suggesting that blacks are a monolithic culture and that all blacks self-identify as victims... I think both are there, but I think the tension between the police and the community is not solely driven from black victimhood.
    I was hoping the Obama example would clarify - I was not attempting to suggest that blacks are a monolithic culture. Rather, there is an identity being pushed by segments of the pop culture, academia, and political activists to stress that every racial group is somehow a victim of an unjust nation - probably due to the intentional malice of white men. For the blacks, that narrative is that we just can't get past our old slave-holding and Jim Crow ways. The debate within the Ebony/Jet types of forums was evidence, in my opinion, that a lot of people really bought into that narrative. There was geniune spirited debate over whether a man who had not endured poverty or oppression was truly black.

    Just to be clear, for those who buy into the narrative pushed by politicians and cashed in on by the pop culture, there is a sense of identity in victimhood. I do not mean to suggest that blacks are a monolithic culture or that all blacks self-identify as victims. It just happens to be a narrative that resonates in the inner cities because it makes for a good explanation for their dire circumstances, rather than the Bill Cosby "it's your own damn fault" message of "get a job, get married, and then have kids." In regard to tension with police and the code of silence, I wrote "due more to a cultural phenomenon" not solely due to a cultural phenomenon. I wouldn't want to let self-serving politicians (redundant?) off the hook that easy.

  3. #23
    Council Member davidbfpo's Avatar
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    Default Federal prisoners use snitching for personal gain

    Caught this via elsewhere. It is an USA Today article two weeks ago and the sub-titles say enough:
    How snitches pay for freedom; Court records show that federal inmates in Atlanta tried to buy information about other criminals to win early freedom. (Shortly after)....At least 48,895 federal convicts — one of every eight — had their prison sentences reduced in exchange for helping government investigators, probe shows.
    Link:http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/n...-sale/1762013/

    The best bit - for an outsider - is the final chart 'Who Cooperates Most'.
    davidbfpo

  4. #24
    Council Member davidbfpo's Avatar
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    Default The trouble with using police informants in the US

    A lengthy BBC article on snitching or being an informant in the USA, taken from a BBC World radio broadcast; it opens with:
    Some law enforcement agencies in the US use informants in as many as 90% of their drug cases. But there are surprisingly few rules on how informants are used and a groundswell of calls for the system to be reformed.
    Link:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-21939453

    Interesting set of proposals at state level to regulate this.
    davidbfpo

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