Stop Snitching, Bad. Don't Ask Don't Tell, Good

Anderson Cooper reports for 60 Minutes, that the hip-hop culture embeds the message: "don’t cooperate with the police – no matter who you are," into todays Black society. 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.

60 Minutes: Don't Snitch Part 1




It seems that all involved in the broadcast, rightfully, I believe, indicated that it was wrong not to tell.

Street Cred (or is That Street Crud?)

New York City Police Commissioner Ray Kelly says there were at least 25 people who may have witnessed a shooting involving the music star Busta Rhymes. 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, because Rhymes doesn’t want to jeopardize sales of his music and videos; Canada says being labeled a "snitch" might have damaged Rhymes' "street cred."

60 Minutes: Don't Snitch Part 2

Another Culture - Different Rules

So, it is alright to make the hip-hop culture have to snitch, oops, I mean cooperate, but in the military, the powers that be demand the exact opposite with their "gay soldier" policy of "Don't ask, don't tell."

So much for government street cred...