I had brunch with a well-educated, female, African-American friend of mine yesterday. She told me about a segment of 60 minutes regarding the “Stop Snitchin’” campaign promoted by various rap artists (http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/04/19/60minutes/main2704565.shtml). This campaign has hit albums, tee-shirts, and CDs. I went to the 60 minutes website and watched the segment. This report included interviews with various rappers justifying their refusal to reveal what they know about notorious crimes such as Tuc Pac and Biggy Small’s murders. Their justification was “I don’t want to hurt my albums sales” or “I wasn’t raised like you, [Anderson Cooper, white TV reporter].” Excuse me? I know we Whites and Blacks live in two different worlds but are we now on two different planets? When did Black folk opt out of civil society? Was I asleep (or more likely, busy at work!) when it was decided that Black folks decided not to be Americans?
My daddy taught me long ago, “Never argue with the crazy, stupid or dumb.” And I am not going to do that online either. If these folks have an “ethic” which says you don’t talk to the police and you mind your own business, fine. However, that ethic does not fit with the ethic of community living and cooperation across all social levels as well as the ethic of responsibility for your fellow human-being, which is the spine of most civil societies. Cops need “snitches”, or what are rightly called “witnesses”, to make cases and get convictions. If I’m paying taxes to live on this land, either directly through owning a home or indirectly through my monthly rent, I have a right to demand a safe environment. And I know, because I cannot spend my day paroling the blocks around my house and must work, that I have to trust some of that task to professionals. But I also know that they need my help because they cannot be all places at all times. Its call partnership folks.
But here’s what really bugs me about the “Stop Snitchin” campaign. Fine, Black folk have deeply rooted, historically-based (and I don’t mean back in the bad old days of the pre-Civil Rights era history, either) reasons to distrust law enforcement. Frankly the “driving while Black” phenomenon is still prominent. Yet, I don’t see these rappers adding to their promotion anything about what Black folk should do about crime. Are we revising the Black Panthers to be the new, modern-day African-American vigilant force? Or do we just continue the “eye-for-an-eye” tactics that lands one person at the funeral home on Monday and his killer there on Wednesday? And what are the vigilante rules? If you “talk wrong to me” does that result in my death on any occasion or just if I do it in front of your girl or your friends? How do I report “vigilante brutality”?
An argument that my daddy and I always got into was my irritation with how often Black folks whined about racism. My contention as a young adult was that “if folks don’t like it here, then go back to Africa or someplace else.” As I got older, I started leaning more toward appreciating just how much we helped build this nation and that if anybody other than the Native Americans deserved to be here, it was us. But now I run into the ethos of the generations just behind mine and one my 12 year old is apart of and I wonder if my first thought was the right one. It’s a global economy and rappers can get their checks from anywhere there is a bank and the White kids living in the suburbs, whose money supports the rap industry, will still be able to download the latest CD through iTunes. Oh, didn’t you know? These rappers act like they are playing for their communities all the while being paid by “the man.” So what else is new? It’s all smoke and mirrors. Black folk are being fooled again. If you think about it, the real “Uncle Tom” in all of this are the rappers who get paid through White folks’ dollars while telling us over and over again how authentic they are. Now that’s keeping it real!
We Americans spend a lot of time worrying about illegal aliens coming over and taking “our jobs” and “our privileges”. With few exceptions, most come to have a better life for themselves and their families. They buy into the American Dream. Folks like the rappers Anderson interviewed are the real “aliens” and I think Lou Dobbs and the Minute Men should spend more time getting them out of the country. Heh! Can we revoke someone’s citizenship?
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