Stop Snitchin' & Hip Hop

[AKA_Monet]

I have always had my stuff stolen from Elementary School to current. Life's like that sometimes.

As far as those who take oaths to the government to "protect and serve" and having lived in SoCal for many years, there is a distrust with those in authority. However, there is also police procedures.

Everytime I have been pulled over in my car, it was usually due to my own infraction, namely speeding. But, my brother and some male friends have been pulled over for DWB's. Hayle, my parents were pulled over because the female cop was psychotic and at the time, my folks were nearing their 60's!!!

But I personally know several law enforcement officials from CHiP officers, ATL PD to FBI, DEA and INS or now ICE. I know that they work very hard in their jobs and yeah, some of the "thangs" they do and see are EFF'ed up. We are lucky that most in law enforcement does not take "psycho pension".

So, it seems that communication between the affected communities vs. law enforcement must ALWAYS be opened, where door swings both ways... And many cities are ill-equipped or unwilling to make sure that happens due to some antiquated ideas.

Why was Hip Hop implicated vs. folks in "organized crime"? Simple, some are petty crimes to justify and rationalize how an elected candidate is "tough on crime"; whereas, other is "White Collar" crime where books are lucky to be kept in any readible language and found out... It's easy to prosecute and punish those who are poor and unable to defend for themselves...

And this criminal element in our neighborhood associated with Black Culture, often is a hydra, cut off one head, 7 more will come up... So, certain mythologies are ready passed down to force a cycle of poverty...

Hey, somebody's making money, I wanna know who that MoFo is?

[LegalChef]

I liked this guy's take on the issue:
http://www.eurweb.com/story/eur33042.cfm

I, personally, don't mind being "called out" on this one. We need to talk about these things and try to find solutions, regardless of how the conversation was started. I don't think the 60 Minutes piece was as balanced as it could've been, either. But I also have a slightly different perspective than some of you all, because I've heard firsthand from my father (police officer) about how frustrating it is trying to serve and protect people who won't open their mouths and say anything or even file a report with the police. Yes, there's a street cred issue, but there is a real fear issue, as well. There a lot of rappers talking about the consequences of snitching, but I think there are a lot more people feeling those consequences. It's not to our advantage to call out the authorities for not doing their part when we won't admit to and critique our part in the problem. Until we as a collective community are willing to air out our dirty laundry, it's not going to get any better for us.