| Author |
Message |
    
Tonya
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Tonya
Post Number: 5332
Registered: 07-2006
Rating: 
Votes: 1 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, April 24, 2007 - 07:57 pm: | 
|
JASMYNE CANNICK: Why I Won’t Be Moving Next Door to Rapper Cam’ron
By Jasmyne A. Cannick
April 24, 2007
Now I can understand wanting to keep your distance from the police. Not a problem, I know there continues to be questionable issues with the police and Blacks. But I draw the line at using a “code of ethics” as a reason to not alert the police about a possible serial killer next door.
Rap star Cam'ron says there's no situation - including a serial killer living next door - that would cause him to help police in any way, because to do so would hurt his music sales and violate his "code of ethics."
Cam'ron, who was born as Cameron Giles, made this statement while talking to Anderson Cooper for a CBS 60 Minutes report Sunday on how the hip-hop culture's message to shun the police has undermined efforts to solve murders across the country.
In his own words…
"If I knew the serial killer was living next door to me? I wouldn't call and tell anybody on him -- but I'd probably move. But I'm not going to call and be like, 'The serial killer's in 4E.' "
We just say some stupid things sometimes.
Now look, don’t get me wrong. I am Black and I completely understand the issues some of us have with the police. I say some of us, because there are those of us who don’ have issues with the police and we can’t take for granted that all Black people hate the police.
But it’s one thing to clam up for fear of being targeted for snitching, but it’s a completely different thing when your excuse is for a so-called “code of ethics.” Brotha please.
What code of the ethics?
Is this the same code of ethics that women are hos and bitches and brothas are niggas? Is this the same code that makes brotha and sistas fight over the colors blue and red? Is this the same code that keeps crack in our neighborhoods?
In my opinion, Cam’ron just made all brothas in the hood look absolutely, stupid. And I said brothas in the hood because that’s who he is representing, not me. You all.
For all of the police brutality and racial profiling of Blacks that occurs at the hands of the police, please now that I am perfectly aware that if something goes down on my block, it’s not the local gangstas that I’d be calling for help, because the truth of the matter is they are probably the reason why something’s going down in the first place. No, it’s going to the L.A.P.D. Yes. I am calling the L.A.P.D.
Yes, I’m going to call them. In fact, I have the lead officer for my neighborhood on speed dial. I sure do. My disdain for the police brutality and racial profiling done by the L.A.P.D. is not going to keep me from calling on them when my life or someone else’s life is in danger. Now I may call anonymously, but I’m still going to call. And quite frankly, I think that’s the attitude a lot of us have that live in the hood, and not Cam’ron’s sorry excuse of a street code of ethics.
Given some of Cam’ron’s lyrics, that code is questionable anyway.
It just drives me up the wall when we allow ourselves to go on national television for white folks, because I have to tell you CBS’s 60 Minutes isn’t getting its high ratings from young Black men 18-34 in the inner city watching. He didn’t earn any street credibility with whites 54 and over who for the most part don’t even listen to his music.
Cam’ron needs to get a clue and his publicist should be fired for allowing him to make an ass of himself on national television at the expense of Black people.
As if we don’t have enough problems.
About Ms. Cannick
At 29, Jasmyne A. Cannick is a social and political commentator/critic who addresses social, cultural, and race issues and is based in Los Angeles. She can be reached via her website at www.jasmynecannick.com or www.myspace.com/jasmynecannick.
http://www.eurweb.com/story/eur33025.cfm |
Doberman23
Veteran Poster
Username: Doberman23
Post Number: 965
Registered: 01-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, April 24, 2007 - 11:01 pm: |
|
i don't think that alot of brothers in the hood needed cam'rons help to look stupid they do that everyday when they physically do dumb shyt. it's amazing that krs-one, chuck-d, and talib kweli never get interviewed when they are looking for spokesman for rap. when you find a dumbass you have to expect dumbass statements. |
Mzuri
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Mzuri
Post Number: 4626
Registered: 01-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, April 24, 2007 - 11:23 pm: |
|
This article is plagiarized from the Drudge Report:
http://www.drudgereportarchives.com/data/2007/04/20/20070420_124933_flash1.htm
Specifically the first line of Drudge and the second paragraph of the above read (and are punctuated) identical:
Rap star Cam'ron says there's no situation -- including a serial killer living next door -- that would cause him to help police in any way, because to do so would hurt his music sales and violate his "code of ethics."
I don't have a problem with "journalists" copying other people's material, but this should have been credited to the original writer, which was NOT Jasmyne A. Cannick.
|
Renata
AALBC .com Platinum Poster
Username: Renata
Post Number: 2089
Registered: 08-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, April 25, 2007 - 12:06 am: |
|
LOL.....I just heard some guy on a late night show talk about this very thing. He said he can just imagine a bunch of 18 year old black girls waiting for a show that has Andy Rooney on it and saying, "ooh, let me save this to my ipod." |
Tonya
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Tonya
Post Number: 5333
Registered: 07-2006
Rating: 
Votes: 4 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, April 25, 2007 - 12:41 am: |
|
It's time to throw Russell Simmons overboard. This coon nig-ger refuses to take responsibility for his bullshit. Instead he's try'n to portray himself as the victim. Get the f*ck out of here, nigga need a foot planted firmly in his big wide ass. He's the quintessential nig-ger too...an Uncle Tom in a baseball cap. That’s a nig-ger that don't give a f*ck how far he sells our Black asses down the river. It's time for his stank ass to go. I'm tired of looking at that ugly mug anyway.
|
Tonya
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Tonya
Post Number: 5334
Registered: 07-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, April 25, 2007 - 03:22 am: |
|
Trying to understand, I really am...
"M-1" tries to defend "don't snitch":
http://videos.onsmash.com/v/bVMuiEMdBV9CbVW4
|
Ntfs_encryption
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Ntfs_encryption
Post Number: 2166
Registered: 10-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, April 25, 2007 - 04:02 am: |
|
"Rap star Cam'ron says there's no situation - including a serial killer living next door - that would cause him to help police in any way, because to do so would hurt his music sales and violate his "code of ethics.""
Well, that says it all. It's just a manifestation of the ever growing coon culture pathology that is destroying and handicapping a generation of unsupervised gullible young blacks. Too bad, too sad......
|
Tonya
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Tonya
Post Number: 5338
Registered: 07-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, April 25, 2007 - 06:09 am: |
|
Earl Ofari Hutchinson
04.24.2007
A Rapper Who Might Not Snitch on Cho
At first glance it defied belief. There was platinum selling rap artist Cam'ron brazenly telling 60 Minutes this past Sunday that if he knew the identity and the whereabouts of a mass killer, he wouldn't lift a finger to help police catch him. Presumably that meant that if Seung Hui Cho rapped and partied with Cam'ron, and then Cho blurted out to him that he intended to commit murder and mayhem at Virginia Tech, Cam'ron wouldn't squeal to the police.
This is too serious to wave off as mindless blather of an airhead rapper out to sound hip, cool, and controversial, and of course sell more records.
Cam'ron sells a lot of records to a lot of impressionable young and not so young men. They hang on his image and words. Worse, his silly anti-snitch plea touches a nerve with many blacks. The long history of police-black community conflict, the rage that many African-Americans feel over the countless number of blacks that have been jailed and even dumped on death row merely on the word of a street or a jailhouse informant is a sore-point. A study by Northwestern University Law School Center on Wrongful Convictions found that in the 100 wrongful death penalty convictions of black men in the past quarter century the majority were convicted on the perjured testimony of alleged eyewitnesses. Numerous studies have shown that blacks are far more likely than any other group to distrust the police, and less likely to talk to them about criminal acts.
Then there's the fear factor. Many are scared stiff of retaliation if they blow the whistle on a violent perpetrator, and that the police won't protect them. This is not a totally false fear. City police departments spend far fewer dollars on witness protection programs than the federal government does. Many blacks feel the risk is to great if they unzip their lips.
Their fear and the rocky relations with the police are understandable. But it doesn't justify a rapper or anyone else telling blacks to keep silent when they witness a crime and can provide information about it.
Blacks have more to lose than any other group when they turn a blind eye to crime. They are more likely to be the victims of homicide, assaults and other violent crimes. It is less likely the murderer or assailant will be caught when the victims is black. While the homicide clearance rate in nationally is about 60 percent, the clearance rate for solving murders, in some big cities is in single digit figures. Police, and prosecutors in some big cities scream that they can't get people to come forth and tell what they know. At a recent forum in Los Angeles, I listened as Los Angeles Police Department homicide detectives implored the mostly black audience to provide information on crimes. Their silence they said insures that more violent criminals will roam the streets freely. In short the cold case files will continue to balloon, and the victims in almost all cases will be black, especially young black males.
The anti-snitch message he pumps puts them squarely in harms way. That includes some of his fellow rap icons. Tupac Shakur, Notorious B.I.G and Run DMC's Jam Master Jay were gunned down. Years later their murders still nestle in the cold case files. One of those files belongs to the bodyguard of Gangster rapper Busta Rhymes. His boydyguard was shot dead, and there's strong suspicion that Rhymes and his entourage could provide information to help solve the murder. But Rhymes has squawked loudly about not talking to the police.
Cam'ron and Rhymes aren't lone voices telling blacks not to snitch. There's a brisk growth industry in peddling T-shirts with the words printed in bold letter STOP SNITCHING that urge blacks to keep quiet when they witness crimes. This has enraged victims of violence and gang violence prevention groups. In Los Angeles and a handful of other cities, anti-violence prevention activists have tramped into shops and demanded that the storeowners yank the shirts from the shelves. This begs the issue. The merchants have the right to sell anything they choose, including a T-shirt that carries this deadly message. But those concerned about the mounting carnage in some black neighborhoods should protest against the damaging message on the shirts and the messengers that deliver it.
Cam'ron, Rhymes, and other rappers that demand that blacks keep their mouths closed want to sell records, and in the process tout a phony street ethic that brands it a horror to talk to the police. By doing this, they endanger others, those that buy their records, and themselves. The unsolved murders of their rap pals prove that. The rap lyric they should sing is "Open your mouth if you see a crime, the life you save could be your own."
Earl Ofari Hutchinson is an author and political analyst. His new book The Latino Challenge to Black America: Towards a Conversation between African-Americans and Hispanics (Middle Passage Press and Hispanic Economics New York) in English and Spanish will be out in October.
Copyright 2007 © HuffingtonPost.com, Inc.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/earl-ofari-hutchinson/a-rapper-who-might-not-sn_b_ 46749.html |
Abm
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Abm
Post Number: 9332
Registered: 04-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, April 25, 2007 - 07:08 am: |
|
I don't think police are as a whole so bad that such warrants taking Cam'ron's position against them. But I DO think the issue of possible retaliation against those who snitch is a real and present danger for those who live in many crime-ridden areas of the nation.
I could understand why the poor single mother of young children would NOT want to snitch on and testify against the local gang leader. |
Mzuri
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Mzuri
Post Number: 4627
Registered: 01-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, April 25, 2007 - 12:09 pm: |
|
I wonder if anyone who wrote the above articles and comments even bothered to watch the 60 Minutes episode that's being referenced, because Cam'ron's comments are taken completely out of context. When I first read the article about his 60 Minutes interview on Drudge, I thought that Cam'ron was brainless and that he was setting a bad example, but when I actually saw what was said it's completely different.
Because he was responding to a question that was posed to him. It's not like he sat there and made an independent statement about how he wouldn't snitch out a serial killer. This question was raised by Anderson Cooper. If he had interviewed anyone else and asked that silly ass question, they would have said the same exact thing.
Meanwhile, the issue of not snitching is nothing new and it's not exclusive to the Black community. There are many other cultures who won't divulge information to the police. Like the Italians for instance.
If you call the police, it's highly unlikely that anything will be done since they don't know their ass from a hole in the ground anyway. And further, they're not likely to protect your identity. They will go straight to whomever you called them about and tell them so-and-so (your neighbor) called to tell us that you are running a meth lab, or whatever. And then you've got to go into a self-imposed witness protection program because the police are not going to protect you. People who would be witnesses are murdered everyday in America. Why doesn't Anderson Cooper cover that???
This is just another mountain over a molehill moment. All the Black Chicken Littles running around talking about the sky is falling. Take something that's been going on in the Black community for fifty years and blame it on the rappers. Watch the fukcing interview and stop blaming Cam'ron for the deap-seated societal problems that he has nothing to do with!!!
|
Mzuri
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Mzuri
Post Number: 4628
Registered: 01-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, April 25, 2007 - 12:12 pm: |
|
Stop Snitchin'
April 19, 2007
(CBS) In most communities, a person who sees a murder and helps the police put the killer behind bars is called a witness. But in many inner-city neighborhoods in this country that person is called a "snitch."
"Stop snitchin'" is a catchy hip-hop slogan that embodies and encourages this attitude. You can find it on everything from rap music videos to clothing. "Stop snitchin'" once meant "don’t tell on others if you’re caught committing a crime."
But as CNN's Anderson Cooper reports for 60 Minutes, it has come to mean something much more dangerous: "don’t cooperate with the police – no matter who you are."
As a result, police say, witnesses are not coming forward. Murders are going unsolved.
Reluctance to talk to police has always been a problem in poor, predominantly African-American communities, but cops and criminologists say in recent years something has changed: fueled by hip-hop music, promoted by major corporations, what was once a backroom code of silence among criminals, is now being marketed like never before.
The message appears in hip-hop videos, on T-shirts, Web sites, album covers and street murals. Well-known rappers talk about it endlessly on DVDs. It is a simple message heard in African-American communities across the country: don't talk to the police.
"When I was growing up, kids used to talk about snitching…. It never extended as a cultural norm outside of the gangsters," says Geoffrey Canada, a nationally recognized educator and anti-violence advocate. "It was not for regular citizens. It is now a cultural norm that is being preached in poor communities."
Canada has been working with children in Harlem for more than 20 years. He grew up poor in a tough New York neighborhood, but says the message kids are getting today is very different and dangerous.
"People are walking around with shirts. People are going out making, making music. People are saying things that if you're a snitch it's like being an Uncle Tom was when I was growing up," Canada says. "It's like you can't be a black person if you have a set of values that say, 'I will not watch crime happen in my community without getting involved to stop it.'"
"So this slogan, this 'stop snitchin'.' It now extends to rape, robbery, murder, really any crime?" Cooper asks.
"Any crime," Canada says. "It's like we're saying to the criminals, 'You can have our community. Just have our community. Do anything you want, and we will either deal with it ourselves, or we'll simply ignore it.'"
Canada could no longer ignore it on Feb. 5, 2006, when Israel Ramirez, a student he had mentored and loved like a son, was shot to death outside a soundstage in Brooklyn.
Ramirez was working as a bodyguard for the rap star Busta Rhymes, who was making a music video.
A person who was there told 60 Minutes Ramirez was shot in front of Busta Rhymes. He died at the scene two days before his 29th birthday, leaving a wife and three children behind.
"You know, I just think of him, being shot, falling down, probably thinking, 'This might be it.' And I just wonder, who held his hand? Who caressed his head? Who told him, 'I'm gonna be here?' Who stayed with him? Who made sure this man just didn't die alone for nothing?" Canada wonders.
New York City Police Commissioner Ray Kelly says there were at least 25 people who may have witnessed the shooting. But he says nobody has come forward to testify.
"The people that we've located, either were inside and didn't see anything. Or you'll get a version of, 'I have to work in this business. Ask Busta Rhymes what happened,'" Commissioner Kelly says.
The police would like to ask Busta Rhymes what happened but, even though he talked vaguely about the killing on a cable TV show, he refused to talk to investigators, or to 60 Minutes.
Geoffrey Canada believes it's because Busta Rhymes doesn’t want to jeopardize sales of his music and videos; Canada says being labeled a "snitch" might have damaged Rhymes' "street cred."
"One of the things that sells music is when the artist is looked at as someone who's come up from the streets. Not just any streets, but the toughest, meanest streets of the urban ghetto. And that's called 'street credibility,'" Canada says.
Busta Rhymes did put a tribute to Israel Ramirez on the video he was making when Ramirez was killed. "Just wanted to make sure people seen this so they know you ain't die in vain. Love you and I miss you, Homie. Hope we make you proud," Rhymes said in the video.
"I think that's horrid," says Canada. "I ask you Busta, as a man, if that was your son and you watched someone kill your son, would you remain quiet or would you get justice for your son? This is murder. This is murder. This is watching someone getting murdered. How do we walk away from this?"
The truth is, people having been walking away for years. In 1996, rapper Tupac Shakur was gunned down in Las Vegas; the crime remains unsolved. So does the 1997 shooting of the rapper Notorious B.I.G.
Rap star Cameron Giles, known as Cam'ron or "Killa Cam," got shot in both arms in 2005. The shooting occurred in front of members of Cam'ron's entourage, but to this day, neither they, nor he, have cooperated with police.
Asked why, Cam'ron tells Cooper, "Because with the type of business I'm in, it would definitely hurt my business. And the way that I was raised, I just don't do that. I was raised differently, not to tell."
"If I was shot, I would want to know who did it. I would want the guy to get caught," Cooper remarks.
"But then again, you're not going to be on the stage tonight in the middle of, let's say, Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina, with people with gold and platinum teeth and dreadlocks jumping up and down singing your songs either," Cam'ron says. "You know what I'm saying? We're in two different lines of business."
"So for you it's really about business?" Cooper asks.
"It's about business but it's still also a code of ethics," Cam'ron replies.
Asked if he thinks there is any situation when it's okay to talk to the police, Cam'ron tells Cooper, "Yeah, definitely. Say 'Hello, how you feel, everything alright?' Period."
"That's it?" Cooper asks.
"There's nothing really to talk about with the police, I mean, for what?" Cam'ron says.
"If there's a serial killer living next door to you, though, and you know that person is, you know, killing people, would you be a snitch if you called police and told them?" Cooper asks Cam'ron.
"If I knew the serial killer was living next door to me?" Cam'ron asks. "No, I wouldn't call and tell anybody on him. But I'd probably move… But I'm not gonna call and be like, you know, 'The serial killer's in 4E.'"
If you think Cam'ron is kidding, he’s not. Maintaining street cred sells record – just watch his movie "Killa Season," or his rap videos, and you’ll quickly learn about his drug-dealing past. He wears it as proudly as his jeweled chains.
In a recent video, which was viewed more than a million times on YouTube, Cam'ron engages in what has become a standard attack on a competitor rapper’s brand. He accuses rapper 50 Cent, whose real name is Curtis Jackson, of being a "snitch" for allegedly cooperating with a police investigation.
"You don't need someone destroying you when your own people are the worst messengers possibly," Canada says. "And this is what black people in America have not come to grips with. If we had a bunch a people in robes saying this stuff, there would be a movement all over America to shut this thing down. That it's young black millionaires, we are doing nothing."
Cam'ron acknowledges that he is a millionaire and drives "a couple" of Lamborghinis. On the streets of Harlem, he is idolized. A few years ago when he started wearing pink clothing, kids in inner city schools across the country started wearing it too.
"Whatever they dish out, we eat it up," a teenager named Victoria tells Cooper. "They could dish out the nastiest thing in the world, but we still will eat it up."
Cooper met Victoria, Alex, Derrick, Darnell, and Tess through a church-based organization called Uth Turn. They’re 14 through 19 years old, and they told 60 Minutes the "stop snitchin'" code doesn’t just apply to rappers.
"A snitch is a tattletale, a rat, somebody who goes around telling other people business instead of minding they own," Alex tells Cooper.
Asked if he believes that, Alex says, "Yes.
"Anybody who comes forward and talks to the police about something they witnessed, a murder or a crime, are they a snitch?" Cooper asks.
"Yes… It's a crime, remember, in our community, to snitch," says Tess.
Most of these kids had witnessed at least one violent crime but had not helped the police identify the culprits. Victoria saw someone get shot a few years ago; she says she was scared to talk to the police then, and she wouldn’t identify the shooter if the same thing happened today.
Asked why, Victoria says, "Because that's the rules."
Those rules are making it much harder for the police to catch killers, according to Professor David Kennedy of The John Jay College of Criminal Justice.
Kennedy works with communities and police departments all over the country. Nationwide, he says, police are able to arrest a suspect in about 60 percent of the homicide cases they investigate. That’s known as the "clearance rate."
But Kennedy says in some neighborhoods the rate is much, much lower. "I work in communities where the clearance rate for homicides has gone into single digits."
The unwillingness to come forward, Kennedy says, lies at the core of the problem.
"What does it say about what's happening in a community that if you come forward, you lose status in that community?" Cooper asks.
"In these neighborhoods, we are on the verge of, or maybe we already have lost, the rule of law," Kennedy says.
The snitchin' credo is not just a product of hip hop music, he says. Nor are people simply afraid to come forward. As Professor Kennedy sees it, and as Cam'ron portrays it in a movie, the root cause is a long-standing belief that law enforcement is the enemy.
Kennedy says that’s partly because of police tactics used to fight the war on drugs.
Asked if he trusts the police, Alex tells Cooper, "No."
Why not? "'Cause there's been numerous times I've been walking, just being a regular American citizen and getting stopped for no reason," Alex says.
"Is it possible that people aren't coming forward to talk to the police not because of what rappers are saying, but just because they don't trust the police?" Cooper asks New York Police Commissioner Ray Kelly.
"Sure. There's always going to be an element that is not happy with what the police do," Kelly says. "But I think the difference here is the commercialization, if you will, of 'don't snitch.' The glorification of it."
"It's that sort of edgy, you know, kind of ghetto, everybody's kind of into it. It does package well, and it does sell well. And beneath, you know, beneath all of this stuff, there's huge corporate profits in the industries that feed off this," Canada says.
Many of the big-name rappers who rail against snitches are distributed on major record labels. Cam'ron is distributed through Asylum Records, a division of Warner Music.
When the rapper L'il Kim committed perjury rather than implicate members of her entourage in a shooting, Black Entertainment Television launched one of its most popular shows ever, chronicling her days before going to prison.
"Black Entertainment TV ran a reality series about her that was advertised with the tag line, 'She's going to prison with her mouth shut and her head held high,'" Professor Kennedy says. "This is a Joe Camel issue. This is big business selling death."
Black Entertainment Television has said its series on L’il Kim did not condone her crime, but rather took "a very serious look at her life and her choices…." As for Cam'ron's relationship with Warner Music, an executive there declined to comment.
"I dare any of those executives in the major companies to put one of those songs on in board meeting. I dare 'em. They'd never do it," Canada says. "You put on some song that has the n-word 50 times that talks about killing and murder, oh no. Board members don't want to hear that kind of stuff."
"I just think that rap takes way more slack than the video games and the movies. We don't make guns. Smith and Wesson makes guns," Cam'ron argues. "Like, white people make guns and bullets and all we're doing is rhyming and putting words together."
"If your record label said to you, 'Look, we're not going to promote you, we're not going to distribute you if you keep calling Curtis Jackson a snitch.' Or you keep, writing about guns and selling drugs, would you stop?" Cooper asks.
"No record company in the world would say 'We're not promoting if you keep calling somebody a snitch. They know what makes money," Cam'ron says. "A record company would never be that stupid. Ever."
Produced By Andy Court and Keith Sharman
© MMVII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Feedback Terms of Service Privacy Statement
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/04/19/60minutes/printable2704565.shtml
|
Tonya
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Tonya
Post Number: 5341
Registered: 07-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, April 25, 2007 - 12:48 pm: |
|
Abm: "I DO think the issue of possible retaliation against those who snitch is a real and present danger for those who live in many crime-ridden areas of the nation. I could understand why the poor single mother of young children would NOT want to snitch on and testify against the local gang leader."
But why not call in your tips anonymously? I don't live in a crime-ridden region but last year when my next door neighbor was playing his music much too loud, I called the police anonymously (just so nobody would think I’m a bytch, lolol).
I really don't see an excuse for not calling the police, since it can easily be done anonymously. I can imagine the consequences of not doing so though. |
Serenasailor
Veteran Poster
Username: Serenasailor
Post Number: 1524
Registered: 01-2006
Rating: 
Votes: 1 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, April 25, 2007 - 12:48 pm: |
|
You know what is so funny and upsetting is that no one seems to realize that this is all a BIG "smokescreen" by the white dominated media to take the heat off of Don Imus. If not why is this coming to the "forefront" now?
It seems to me like Don Imus's little "collaborators" are at it again. Trying to divert attention from his ugly, racist comments and trying to put it back on the Hip-Hop community.
Black ppl have been have been calling for an end to gangsta [c]rap for years with little media attention. Now all of a sudden the White media wants to stand up and take notice when one of there little co-horts gets "buried" for some ignorant racist rant that he made.
Don Imus's little "lacky's" need to stop trying to save their "chief" for the fire and allow him to own up to what he said. Don Imus made those comments and he should take responsibility for them. |
Tonya
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Tonya
Post Number: 5342
Registered: 07-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, April 25, 2007 - 01:02 pm: |
|
I don't see the rappers as victims, Serenasailor, sorry. Regardless of how this conversation came about, they and their music co. should not be glamorizing this type of behavior. Sure they didn't start any of it, but they ARE the ones promoting and glamorizing it, as if it's what Black culture is all about. And as far as I'm concerned it's not.
|
Serenasailor
Veteran Poster
Username: Serenasailor
Post Number: 1525
Registered: 01-2006
Rating:
Votes: 1 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, April 25, 2007 - 01:26 pm: |
|
I don't see them as VICTIMS either Tonya. If fact I see them as the "total opposite". More like villians who are "preying" on our kids to make themselves rich.
What I was saying was that there has been a movement in the Black community for YEARS to get rid of gangsta [c]rap. But no one especially in the White media took notice.
But now when one of there co-horts goes "down" they want to take notice. And blame it on everybody but themselves.
Don Imus is a 66 year old man who listens to Country & Classical music. Now tell me how is a 66 year old man going to be influenced by music that he doesn't even listen too??
Then what really angers me is Black ppl's willingness instead of holding Don Imus to "account" turn around and look for someone Black "to kick". |
Abm
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Abm
Post Number: 9336
Registered: 04-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, April 25, 2007 - 01:54 pm: |
|
Tonya,
When my wife and I started out, we lived in a somewhat dicey neighborhood. Let's just say that sh*t of a dubious nature would be going down.
Well, one night my wife called the cops on what looked to be some shady dealings. She didn't give her name, our address or anything and explicitly told them she wanted to remain anonymous. Do you know those fools cops came RIGHT to where we live, again, eventhough she didn't give them our address, name, etc.? So, of course, we're - with infant child - are hoping the crooks aren't somewhere checking out who's snitching on them.
We learned one valuable lesson from that: Do not tell a cop a dayamthing when you're not willing to be publicly revealed.
I'm not arguing that you shouldn't rat out criminals. I just think that for MANY Black foks doing that comes with potential risks and consequences that many of us would rather avoid. |
Yvettep
Veteran Poster
Username: Yvettep
Post Number: 1994
Registered: 01-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, April 25, 2007 - 02:19 pm: |
|
Do police officers apply that same standard when one of their own is involved in wrong-doing? |
Abm
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Abm
Post Number: 9340
Registered: 04-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, April 25, 2007 - 05:45 pm: |
|
Yvettep,
You're JOKING...right?
I mean, the Mayor of Chicago recently FIRED the Police Commissioner because some cops tried to cover up, extort and threaten a female bartender who was savagely beaten by an off-duty cop who was nearly 3 times her size.
That Blue Line is STILL very much in effect, babe. |
Jmho
Regular Poster
Username: Jmho
Post Number: 206
Registered: 03-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, April 25, 2007 - 08:30 pm: |
|
Yvette wrote:
Do police officers apply that same standard when one of their own is involved in wrong-doing?
Sure they do, but most, if not all, of the same folks who don't/won't snitch, would want others to tell everything they know, if something happened to their loved one. |
Renata
AALBC .com Platinum Poster
Username: Renata
Post Number: 2094
Registered: 08-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, April 25, 2007 - 09:57 pm: |
|
I hear that Chicago police are like that. My mother left Chicago in 1977 after being beaten by TWO male police officers. They weren't white, but they said she must be a prostitute to be out at the time she was out. It was about midnight and she was waiting outside for a cab. She hasn't been back since then. They arrested her, but didn't charge her with anything.
(Another notable thing: she contacted whatever organization JESSE JACKSON headed at the time. They had her fill out paperwork about her income and include a copy of her bank statement....they decided not to assist her.) |
Yvettep
Veteran Poster
Username: Yvettep
Post Number: 1995
Registered: 01-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, April 26, 2007 - 08:46 am: |
|
ABM & Jmho: I was attempting sarcasm, yes. LOL But in the police's defense most closed groups of people who have a strong sense of "Us vs. Them" have similar rules--from physicians to teen agers at your neighborhood high school. Once again, though, the "hip hop culture" comes up with a catchy phrase that helps people erroneously jump to the conclusion that it is an "inner city Black thing."
Renata: Wow. Just: wow. |
Abm
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Abm
Post Number: 9341
Registered: 04-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, April 26, 2007 - 10:22 am: |
|
Renata,
Things are not quite as bad with CPD now as it was when your mom was here. But there are still too many knuckleheads on the CPD. Any job that allows one to carry a gun, intimidate others and inspires hero complex is inclined to inspire such.
Perhaps Jesse & Co would have gotten involved if the cops who attacked your mother were WHITE.
Yvettep,
Yeah but physicians and teenagers aren't charged with and paid to PROTECT the rest of us and enforce the LAW. Those are what make their covering up their wrongs, especially those perpetrated against innocent civilians, noteworthy. |
Renata
AALBC .com Platinum Poster
Username: Renata
Post Number: 2095
Registered: 08-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, April 26, 2007 - 12:25 pm: |
|
I think her low income had more to do with it. They knew the police were black before they asked for her bank statements. |
Toubobie
Regular Poster
Username: Toubobie
Post Number: 286
Registered: 08-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, April 26, 2007 - 12:52 pm: |
|
law-abiding black folks are caught between a rock and a hard place with respect to police relations.
has any of these public servants (black or white) ever looked you in the face and said hello, or acknowledged your black presence?
these police know full well of our collective animosity, and i think the feeling is mutual.
the other day, i ran into an LAPD red neck officer at a neighborhood gas station. when he saw me, he immediately turned his eyes away. i reacted by giving him a smile and saying "hello" he immediately lit up and returned the gesture.
it dawned on me that this officer initially hadn't perceived me as being a human, a citizen whom he pledged to protect and serve, but instead a mortal enemy whom he should instinctually resist. |
Yvettep
Veteran Poster
Username: Yvettep
Post Number: 1996
Registered: 01-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, April 26, 2007 - 01:07 pm: |
|
Toubobie, I think what you said is key. I think part of the problem w/police-inner city relations is that too many police officers see residents as perpetrators or potential perpetrators--not as regular citizens who have to deal with bad apples in their midst. (And whatever the truth of this, many inner city residents think it is true.)
I know for a while in some neighborhoods "community policing" has been tried. Efforts like offering officers rebates for living in challenging neighborhoods. Anyone know about any of these efforts and how successful (or not) they have been?
ABM: true. |
Cynique
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Cynique
Post Number: 8439
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, April 26, 2007 - 01:49 pm: |
|
Some guy just put out a book telling young black men how to "arrest-proof" themselves. Some of the simple things he suggested were to make eye-contact with an officer, speak in a conversational tone, stand up straight, and keep your hands at your side. He claims that policemen, themselves, feel threatened, and they want respect, and that they are put ease when a confrontational stance is not assumed.
There are a lot of "neighborhood crime stopper" programs in and around Chicago. Maybe they don't get a lot of publicity because there is an element of secrecy involved in their effectiveness. |
Ntfs_encryption
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Ntfs_encryption
Post Number: 2172
Registered: 10-2005
Rating: 
Votes: 3 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, April 26, 2007 - 03:02 pm: |
|
"I wonder if anyone who wrote the above articles and comments even bothered to watch the 60 Minutes episode that's being referenced, because Cam'ron's comments are taken completely out of context."
I watched the entire show and I heard every single thing he said. It was appalling and scary. Nothing was taken out of context. He was very empathic and very clear about the "no snitchin' street code" of not getting involved nor cooperating with the police when dealing with matters of crime.
"When I first read the article about his 60 Minutes interview on Drudge, I thought that Cam'ron was brainless....."
Good. Your original assessment was accurate and factual.
"....and that he was setting a bad example, but when I actually saw what was said it's completely different. "
Uhhhhhh.....I don't think so. He said what he said and he was very clear about people not cooperating with the police. In his world: No matter how horrific or violent the crime is, if you see anything, shut the fuchk up and don't say anything to anyone -especially the police". End of subject.
"This question was raised by Anderson Cooper. If he had interviewed anyone else and asked that silly ass question, they would have said the same exact thing."
No they wouldn't. I don't believe that. I'd tell the police if I suspected a serial killer lived next door to me. Why would I ignore the presence of a serial murder? Would you? The man said, "If I knew the serial killer was living next door to me?" Cam'ron asks. "No, I wouldn't call and tell anybody on him. But I'd probably move… But I'm not gonna call and be like, you know, 'The serial killer's in 4E.'"
Duhhhhhh,,,??? What do you not understand? Let me repeat what he said: "No, I wouldn't call and tell anybody on him. But I'd probably move…" What part about that response does not mean I wouldn't tell or get involved????
"Meanwhile, the issue of not snitching is nothing new and it's not exclusive to the Black community. There are many other cultures who won't divulge information to the police. Like the Italians for instance."
True....true. But the issue here is much more far reaching. We are talking about a movement that openly and loudly advocates not helping the police solve violent crimes. It goes as far as making videos, T-shirts, openly appealing to young people to not cooperate with the police if they witness a violent crime and in some extreme cases, retaliation against those who do. This is unprecedented. The impact of such pervasive nonsense is having nothing short of a devastating impact in black communities.
"If you call the police, it's highly unlikely that anything will be done since they don't know their ass from a hole in the ground anyway. "
That's not true. I see the police doing things all the time. I was a correction officer before so the police must being doing something. The murderers, rapists, drug dealers, car jackers and violent thugs didn't volunteer to be where they were at. Don't forget, the police enjoy arresting people and hauling them away. It makes their careers look good. Unsolved crimes look bad for a particular law enforcement agency.
"And further, they're not likely to protect your identity."
Ummmmm.....Unfortunately, this is true They can't because in order to get a prosecution, they need your testimony (which is public record) and the defense has a right to cross examine you. Only in extreme cases involving federal crimes can they protect you for extended periods of time.
.
"They will go straight to whomever you called them about and tell them so-and-so (your neighbor) called to tell us that you are running a meth lab, or whatever. And then................. People who would be witnesses are murdered everyday in America. Why doesn't Anderson Cooper cover that??? "
Understood. Although your point is well made, people do come forth everyday and testify against criminals. Coopers story was not about the failure to protect witnesses for testifying against criminals or the success of witness protection programs. It was about a tragically growing cultural mindset of not cooperating with the police when violent crime is involved. Let me ask you a question. I believe you said you had granddaughters (correct me if I am wrong). What if one of your grand daughters (God forbid!) was kidnapped, sexually assaulted and dumped nude in a wooded area. The police believed they had a possible person of interest. But they needed enough evidence to arrest him or at least successfully argue for a search warrant. Two of his neighbors saw him with your granddaughter on two separate occasions the day she disappeared. Would you want them to come forth with this information to assist the police in their investigation? Or would you shrug your shoulders and accept their "I don't snitch mentality"? Yes or no??
"All the Black Chicken Littles running around talking about the sky is falling."
I don't think so! This is a very serious problem. I have seen the affects of such thinking in my home city. There are an untold number of homicides involving young blacks but no one will come forth. I went to high school and grew up with the Chief of Police and one the editors of the city's newspaper. I asked both of them why there were so many unsolved murders involving these young black people (some were teenage black females) and both told me the number one problem is the failure for witnesses to come forward with information. When they arrive at the murder and crime scenes, people are milling around, buzzing, shaking their heads or crying. But when asked what happened or did anyone see anything, they are met with shoulder shrugs and scripted responses lie; "I didn't see nutin"." They're all lying and the police know they are lying. But of course this is all fallout from the Chicken Little syndrome.
"Take something that's been going on in the Black community for fifty years and blame it on the rappers."
Wrong! This type of brazen advocacy (via so-called entertainers) and open door policy for unpunishable crime did not exist twenty five years ago.
"Watch the fukcing interview and stop blaming Cam'ron for the deap-seated societal problems that he has nothing to do with!!!"
No, you need to watch the fukcing video again! The destructive sloganeering by these trash culture coons has a direct link to the ever increasing number of unsolved murders in black underclass communities. I never saw nor heard of such mindlessness and moral cowardice in the community I was raised in. Where did it come from? Does this tragic social phenomena exist in other ethnic and racial communities? I'm sure it does to some degree. But no other group of people except American Negroes will gleefully and openly display their ignorance and willingness to openly support a mindset that allows murderers and violent criminals to go un-punished because not snitchin' and not cooperating with law enforcement takes precedence over civil and moral responsibility. You seem to support a deviant subculture mindset that is very comfortable with a society where violent criminality is unpunished. So, what can I say....??
|
Renata
AALBC .com Platinum Poster
Username: Renata
Post Number: 2096
Registered: 08-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, April 26, 2007 - 04:48 pm: |
|
And it's QUITE serious if you consider the example he gave: serial killer living next door. Chances are if he's living next door to a black man, they're living in a BLACK NEIGHBORHOOD. What does that say about his concern for the safety of the other people in that same neighborhood?
But, I do understand the hesitancy of blacks to want to have ANY contact with the police. If two police men can beat a woman for committing no crime, you have to wonder how many would show up to beat a man down.
So, I actually see both sides of this (damn this libra curse). |
Tonya
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Tonya
Post Number: 5355
Registered: 07-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, April 26, 2007 - 04:57 pm: |
|
I see both sides too, clearly. But there's absolutely no excuse for outlawing law and order. Shit.
You think the ghettoes are bad now?
Let this "don't snitch code of ETHICS" be the norm for a few more years.
Y'all tripping.
|
Tonya
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Tonya
Post Number: 5356
Registered: 07-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, April 26, 2007 - 05:11 pm: |
|
Get a backbone Bitches
(Not you Reneta, you're cool.) |
Cynique
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Cynique
Post Number: 8446
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, April 26, 2007 - 05:35 pm: |
|
Bitches, huh? Did any poster on this board suggest outlawing law and order????? And what was it that Renata said that was different from anybody else, in asmuch as she talked out of both sides of her mouth???? Puleeze. |
Mzuri
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Mzuri
Post Number: 4643
Registered: 01-2006
Rating:
Votes: 2 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, April 26, 2007 - 09:47 pm: |
|
NT - You need to stop riding my clit. If Anderson Cooper had asked any other rapper the question "If there's a serial killer living next door to you, though, and you know that person is, you know, killing people, would you be a snitch if you called police and told them?" he would have received the same response.
I'm sure if he interviewed your sissy behind you would have stood at attention talking about "Damn skippy, I'm a rat fink snitch"
It has NEVER been cool to be a snitch. Not in my lifetime.
Get a fukcin grip on reality.
|
Chrishayden
AALBC .com Platinum Poster
Username: Chrishayden
Post Number: 4255
Registered: 03-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, April 27, 2007 - 12:29 pm: |
|
We may as well drop all pretense.
There is no Omerta among black people.
What is it that a black criminal says when he gets caught? I ain't going down by my self.
Everybody saying don't be a snitch
And everybody snitching. |
Cynique
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Cynique
Post Number: 8452
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, April 27, 2007 - 03:25 pm: |
|
During the twilight of its notorious dominance, members of the Mafia families were snitching on each other left and right, trying to save their own hides. Anybody who keeps quiet about a serial killer is not observing a code of honor, he is abetting the slaughter of innocents, especially since anonymous information could be provided to the police. |
Doberman23
Veteran Poster
Username: Doberman23
Post Number: 976
Registered: 01-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, April 27, 2007 - 11:05 pm: |
|
killa cam'ron changed his tune today after everyone started diggin into his ass about those comments he made. now all of a sudden he's hired new p.r. management to do some damage control. cam'ron is the man when it comes to flowin' but he has a way of looking like a dumb ass when he is on prime time t.v. ... he said some pretty dumb stuff on bill o'reilly's show too. |
Ntfs_encryption
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Ntfs_encryption
Post Number: 2175
Registered: 10-2005
Rating:
Votes: 3 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, April 28, 2007 - 01:07 am: |
|
"I'm sure if he interviewed your sissy behind you would have stood at attention talking about "Damn skippy, I'm a rat fink snitch""
This is true. But ya know, you may recall, John Evander Couey was convicted in rape and slaying of 9 year old Jessica Lunsford. Couey kidnapped the 9 year old and kept her in his bedroom for at least three days but possibly as long as six days. Now, here is the crux of he matter. The police went to the mobile home and talked to one of Couey's housemates (he had two) within the first three days that Jessica was missing. Couey saw the police and hid out back when they came! Couey later admitted if the police had searched closely, they would have found Jessica inside. Which means for those three or possibly more days, Coueys two roommates knew he had the kidnapped child in his room and lied when police initially came to their trailer. But they choose to remain silent.
However, the good thing is this, even though they could have “saved” the child’s life, they opted not to and stood firm behind the vaunted Mzuri approved street code: DO NOT SNITCH!!! That's right! They could have saved Jessica Lunsfords life for the first few days of her kidnapping but as Mzuri has so eloquently and convincingly pointed out, the street code of “No Snitchin”, takes precedence, no matter what the situation may be. Even the life of a kidnapped and sexually assaulted 9 year old child, whose hands were bound with speaker wire and stuffed inside plastic trash bags while still alive is still subordinate to the “No Snitchin’” code.
The murder and rape of Jessica was a horrible tragedy, no doubt. And while more than 800 pages of legal documents revealed Couey`s family “admitted” they had known for years he had molested children, they never tipped the police. Instead, they honorably remained true to the code –just as the mercurial Mzuri would have done: "We ain't' cooperating with da police and we ain’t snitchin either! Ya got that??!!" And there ya have it.
Even though children’s lives and victims who cannot defend themselves are on the line, according to Mzuri and the gangsta rappers, it is more honorable and preferable, to turn your head, look the other way, refuse to cooperate with the police and never -under any circumstances (e.g. a serial murderer living next door), snitch on the criminal perpetrators. Remember, it's people who think like Mzuri and Cueys relatives who contribute to a situation where violent criminals, rapists, murderers and street thugs can operate with total obscurity, impunity, no concern of being exposed and commit heinous acts without fear of being fingered by a snitch. But it's a good thing. We need more citizens like Mzuri, Cueys relatives and gangsta rappers. The streets would be much safer and the courts would not be have to bogged down with time consuming cases (wasting taxes payers money on prosecuting criminals –Oooohhhboy! Get a life!) and deal with unscrupulous rat fink individuals who willingly testify against criminals. How disgusting!
"It has NEVER been cool to be a snitch. Not in my lifetime."
Absoultuley! You're totally correct. Look what happened to Jessica Lunsford. Coueys relatives remained true to the game! Just like you would have Muzri. And of course, a sissy rat fink snitch like me would have told the police that he was holding the little girl hostage and having sex with her. I guess it's a good thing I wasn't one of his relaitves, huh?
"Get a fukcin grip on reality."
Uhhhhhh...good point. Just like I noticed you swept aside that question I asked about would you prefer someone be a sissy rat fink like me or remain steadfast to the code of "no snitchin'" if they saw a suspect with your kidnapped grandaughters. Would it be a case of it's ok for me but not for thee??? Which is it..???
|
Mzuri
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Mzuri
Post Number: 4653
Registered: 01-2006
Rating:
Votes: 1 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, April 28, 2007 - 01:34 am: |
|
NT - This is not about what Mzuri would do. The entire question of whether someone would call the po-po if their neighbor was a serial killer is HYPO-THE-TI-CAL!!! Of course I'd call the police, but then again, I do NOT live in the city. I will call officials about a barking dog.
As I've already stated above, Cam'ron's comments were taken out of context. He's a rapper. What the fukc is he going to do? Ruin his own career by telling people to call the police - when many police are just as big of a crook as the criminals they're trying to report about. So they (the citizens) can get their asses beat? Do you have an inkling of all the police corruption that exists in our country? Do you watch the news?
Get over your deluded ego. This whole mindset about how you were in law enforcement and:
"Don't forget, the police enjoy arresting people and hauling them away. It makes their careers look good. Unsolved crimes look bad for a particular law enforcement agency."
That's exactly why the police can't gain the cooperation of the citizens. You believe that the police arrest citizens to make THEMSELVES look good? What sort of a fukcing motivator is that for a law enforcement official/agency? Shouldn't it be that they do their jobs in order to protect the public? To make the community safe for everyone? And not to harrass innocent people, and make possible false arrests because it makes them "look good?"
Again, you REALLY need to get a grip on reality because your arguments aren't making sense.
And BTW, many of my questions are rhetorical. They don't require an answer.
|
|
Email This Page