Contact		- Add to Favorites		Comment - Bottom of article
TWRToday Facebook & TWRToday Myspace accounts.
TWRToday Supports These Sites: Bambooo - Genesis Radio - Ligali

To Snitch or Not to Snitch?

The police and authority as we know it has been one of the worse enemies of the black community. This is due to the brutality and hostility that the police have served them over the years. This did not happen over night, from the days of slavery when slaves used to plan attacks on the plantations or even plans to run away, a 'snitch' that the master favours would alert the slave master and the slave/s who were planning their escape or a riot would be severely punished as examples to the others. Now several decades after slavery, the word ''snitchin'' is used to describe a person who informs the police about criminals who often sell drugs and commit awful crimes such as murder who do not want to be 'snitched' on.

We do know that there are agents employed for the police to watch and bring back news to them regarding a suspect/s. It was this same tactic that was used to bring down revolutionaries such as Marcus Garvey and the Black Panthers. In my opinion I believe it was wrong for a black person to snitch on these revolutionaries who were fighting for the rights of their people, only for a stupid few to snitch on them in return only for money or to be kept out of jail themselves. This is 'snitchin' at its best, where some one would 'sell out' their people in return for money. Scenarios like these are like the Judas-Jesus story so to speak. Many will say that they could never snitch on their family or people but when there is a big reward, you will see how many will go to the police begging to be snitches.

In modern times the meaning of 'snitchin' is turned on its head as blatant killers and other criminals who do not have to do these deeds to live are living happy lives. These people are living free because of several reasons, maybe because no one is 'snitchin' on them or these killers often turn out to be snitches themselves! Their payment in return is immunity from any charge or prosecution as long as they tell the police of other criminal activity in the community. In rap songs you will hear the words 'stop 'snitchin'' or you will see a few black rappers wearing 'stop 'snitchin'' T-shirts. My question is, stop 'snitchin' on what? If they are some real revolutionaries like the Black Panthers or doing something real beneficial for their communities then they would be 100% right, people should not be 'snitchin'. I guess the Marcus Garvey Movement and the Black Panthers should have had some 'stop 'snitchin' T shirts', maybe their fates would have been totally different. On the other hand I see no reason for not 'snitchin' on someone who is murdering people indiscriminately, selling hard drugs to their own community and annihilating it even more just for their own gain.

It is true that the villains do not make the guns but it is them who are using them so some personal responsibility must be taken. A weapon such as gun or a knife is useless without a person with bad character. If they are protecting themselves through self-defence then that is another story. However in the times we are living in sometimes there is a fine line between self-defence and outright murder or GBH. In most cases a coward will use a gat to threaten, harm or even kill someone for their money or for some other hatred while a revolutionary would never do such a thing to a harmless person.

The stop 'snitchin' campaign is so rife that in some scenarios the victims family themselves will raise money for the killers of their loved one/s to be brought to justice. Then all of a sudden some 'witness' would come forward to give the police information and claim the money. Would this person be a snitch?

I believe to answer the question of 'To Snitch or not to Snitch' really depends on the 'crime' and the character of the people involved both the people who did the crime and the people who knows those responsible for certain crimes. By all means if someone is brave enough to recklessly take another persons life and then running scared of the police to not pay for their crime then I believe all should be done to get that person behind bars or give them the ultimate reimbursement of that exact deed. On the other hand I believe one should never snitch on a revolutionary (a person who the government despise because the revolutionary knows better for his community and wants a change for the better). People like Huey P Newton (and the rest of the black Panthers) and Marcus Garvey shouldn't have been the victims of snitches. We now see some revolutionaries without causes going on about stop 'snitchin' when they are the ones who should really be snitched on. Would you snitch on someone? And why don't the police and other people in high places such as those in the government snitch on each other for their wrong doings to innocent people often in prison today?

Send in your views to TWRToday Here