Do Better: Witnessing VS. Snitching

On this episode of Do Better, I'd like to call out the Black Community, especially that of the hood, on the subject of snitching. The "Stop Snitching" campaign took like wildfire when it became very public and I understand that becuz there's a place for it. Criminals who avoid jail time for themselves by dropping dime on other criminals or even people that they do their dirt with are snitches and generally low, untrustworthy, and dishonorable mother fuckers. However, it has gotten to the point where the criminal element has convinced the general population that any interaction with the police to apprehend a criminal - no matter how heinous their crimes - is snitching and is punishable by alienation and even death. This is NOT true. So we're gonna discuss the difference between Snitching and Witnessing.

Snitching
If u're doing dirt and u can't stand to take the punishment for ur willful actions and thus try to get out of it by telling on others, you're snitching. For example, if you're a drug dealer who gets caught and tells on other dealers to get out of it, YOU'RE A SNITCH. If u get caught doing some dirt at school and start telling other people's dirt to stop the principal from calling ur parents, YOU'RE A SNITCH. If u get caught cheating and to save face, you wanna start telling about how other people are cheating or lying or whatever so it looks like everyone else is just as bad as you, YOU'RE A SNITCH. For those of u who r wonderin, yes I think Kobe is a snitch for tellin on Shaq when he got caught cheatin. Mud slinging to make urself look better is dishonorable and cowardly. If u're one of those people who sees little stuff and just runs around telling on people for no other purpose than to be spiteful, YOU'RE A SNITCH. Get a life u pathetic bastard. And most importantly, if u and ur crew are committing a crime together and u are the only one who gets caught, the correct answer is "I planned and executed everything alone." If u start telling on ur homeboys, - the guys who u willingly planned out and went through everything with - THEN UR ASS IS A SNITCH. So yea, Mike Vick's lifelong friends who came to him to get the money to take their dog fighting ring national and then implicated him to get their sentences reduced are snitches. Therefore, I do believe that people should "STOP SNITCHING" becuz as my 13-yr old female cousin told me recently, "Snitches Get Stitches." And to an extent they deserve em, if u got caught dealing and I do a bid becuz u snitched on me dealing, I'm fuckin u up next time I see u, period. And no one around will feel even a lil bit sorry for u. But let's not confuse this with being a witness.

Witnessing
Let's say u (a young, Black male like me) were in an aisle of a convenient store and u get a peek of another young Black male robbing the place at gunpoint and shooting one of the cashiers. Then a few days later u get fingered by the other witness as the criminal becuz u look like the shooter (All Black guys look alike to some people) and ur face is familiar. What r u gonna do when the cops ask u if u know anything? I'm telling em it wasn't me. If I'm deep enough in that "I don't know anything, but it wasn't me" won't work, I'm gonna tell em what I know. I'm not doing a bid for someone I don't know for a crime I had nothing to do with and wouldn't never done on my own. That's not snitching, u were an unrelated witness to a crime. Even moreso, if I am a witness to something heinous, where I actually do a public good by cooperating and helping the culprit get caught, I don't have to feel bad about that at all. If I my window overlooks an alley where I see some sicko rape and kill a little girl, I'm spilling my beans to the cops. Child rapist/murderers are a virus to society and I think he needs to be off the street. Roman Polanski would've gotten snitched on if I knew about it, period. So, I don't condone just randomly running around and telling on people just becuz u see things happen. However, there are certain situations where being a witness is neccessary, not for personal benefit but to serve the utmost public good. It's no dishonorable, it's not snitching and its not something innocent people should be getting murdered for.

So Black people, we have to be more reasonable about what is and is not acceptable and more importantly, how non-acceptable things should be handled. I don't like the Cops either, I'm much closer to hating them with a passion. However, there are certain situations when I would help them get somebody behind bars. Snitching is something entirely different and I have no sympathy for true snitches who get fucked up; not killed neccessarily, but fucked up by those taking offense to their snitching. We need to keep things in conteext and handle them reasonably when they arrise. Too many of us are getting killed for trying to do the right thing. Let's Do Better...