SNITCH--DEFINED or REDEFINED

[slowandeasy]

After a 2007 filled with murders and gang violence, I feel the need to do something. Even something as insignificant as this. All the haters will have some fun with this, but I will not be daunted.

Below is a definition of the word "snitch".

American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This snitch (snĭch) Pronunciation Key
v. snitched, snitch·ing, snitch·es

v. tr.
To steal (something, usually something of little value); pilfer. See Synonyms at steal.

v. intr.
To turn informer: He snitched on his comrades.

n.
A thief.


Somehow, this word has been twisted from its original purpose and useage.
Somehow, in the Urban Community it is now a bad thing to report a crime.
Somehow, the person who witnesses a thug knock down a 60 year old woman
and steal her purse, becomes a bad person when he/she identifies the thug.

When I was a kid (10 or 11 yrs old), I found a wallet next. It had a few hundred bucks in it. There was one other kid with me, when we found the wallet. He grabbed it from me and wanted us to split the money and throw the wallet away. I grabbed it back, and told him we were going to give it back to the owner (who lived in our neighborhood). We gave it back to the owner. After that the other kid would be on my ass like I did something wrong... He used to bitch at me that the ungrateful wallet owner did not even give us a $5 reward.

How many other people are sick of this type of attitude in society?

Back to the Word Snitch--- From the definition above, it is clear to me that we need to GIVE THIS WORD BACK TO THE CRIMINALS...

A SNITCH--- A person who participates in a crime, but when caught,
becomes an informant.

A SNITCH-- Is the guy who was there throwing snowballs at cars, but
when a driver stops and catches him, you are suddenly in the principals
office getting the strap as well.

A SNITCH-- IS NOT a person who reports a crime or points the finger at
a criminal. This person is called a hero!!!!

A SNITCH-- is a criminal who reports other criminals.

Can I get some support on this?

 

[Herodotus]

That's it - you're dead sucka! Rattin' out the true meaning of the word.

 

[slowandeasy]

That's it - you're dead sucka! Rattin' out the true meaning of the word.

At one point I had thought that it was just the black and hispanic communities that held up this type of thinking. I did not realize how widespread it has become. My first eye opener was when the Jets reported that the New England Patriots were cheating. There were many newspaper articles about "The Code" and the Jets were snitches.

Sports Illustrated had an article on Bruce Pearl (Tennessee Basketball Coach) who was labelled a snitch because he reported recruiting violations.

 

[trisket]

Even the government and police sometimes has snitch lines for the public.

I'd prefer if the people were called "whistleblowers", that has a more courageous sound.

There are times when being a snitch isn't the nicest idea, I'd rather talk to the driver or leave him a note instead of getting him towed anonymously.

 

[slowandeasy]

Even the government and police sometimes has snitch lines for the public.

I'd prefer if the people were called "whistleblowers", that has a more courageous sound.

There are times when being a snitch isn't the nicest idea, I'd rather talk to the driver or leave him a note instead of getting him towed anonymously.

You have proven my point about this.. Our silly police and politicians are adding feul to the fire by using this term to describe
people who are trying to help.

A snitch is not a person who reports a crime or an illicit act. If you witness a car hit another one, and then leave the scene, that is not snitching and should never be called that. By calling a witness to a crime a snitch, you automatically validate what the gangbangers are saying out on the streets.

But I agree with you... the term whistleblowers or just witness is more appropriate...

To put it in context of this board: A snitch would be a guy that gets caught in a bust, and then sets the rest of us up to be caught.
Or a snitch would be a guy/girl who "sees the error of her ways" and gets born again, then goes turns us all in!!!

 

[Quest4Less]

Doing the right thing...

Should not be called "snitching" or being a "rat".

In a so called civilised society it is everyones DUTY to report crime and more importantly tell the TRUTH. It always irks me when someone gets shot / stabbed in a large crowded area and the cops get nothing but "I didn't see NOTHING!".

 

[K Douglas]

You have to understand the inner city black culture to understand the reason for labelling snitches. First of all their is a major distrust issue between inner city black youth and the police. This is partly justifiable based on the past but all urban police forces have come a long way in reforming themselves to be more sensitive to black issues. Anyone collaborating with the police (in some cases to get a suspended or reduced sentence) is seen as a snitch. The problem is there are some people in the black community who welcome the police and see them as their only protection against the pushers, the pimps and the gang bangers. If they assist the police then they are a snitch. That's wrong, they just want law and order and to feel safe. Hip hop culture and black militant groups like the New Black Panther Party are fuelling the fire and making it a black and white issue when clearly there is a grey area.
Bottom line is more work needs to be done on improving race relations with the police, politicans and the black community. When that happens this stop snitch nonsense will be a moot point.

 

[slowandeasy]

You have to understand the inner city black culture to understand the reason for labelling snitches. First of all their is a major distrust issue between inner city black youth and the police. This is partly justifiable based on the past but all urban police forces have come a long way in reforming themselves to be more sensitive to black issues. Anyone collaborating with the police (in some cases to get a suspended or reduced sentence) is seen as a snitch. The problem is there are some people in the black community who welcome the police and see them as their only protection against the pushers, the pimps and the gang bangers. If they assist the police then they are a snitch. That's wrong, they just want law and order and to feel safe. Hip hop culture and black militant groups like the New Black Panther Party are fuelling the fire and making it a black and white issue when clearly there is a grey area.

All good points Mr. Douglas... can I call you kirk?

There are many groups to consider here.

First there is the inner city US and the inner city Canada.

Lets' stick to Canada for now. In Canada, distrust of the police it not really just an inner city thing. It's in Scarborough, Brampton, Richmond Hill, Markham etc. In schools, it was and still is not "cool" to snitch.

While Canadian police are not angels, there have not been too many incidents of blatantly discriminatory treatment by police. My opinion is that anyone who was born and grew up in Canada has NO reason to feel persecuted by the police because of their race, color, religion etc.

On the other hand, if you immigrated here from a country where police were worse than the criminals, then I can understand why you might have some distrust of Police...

Bottom line is more work needs to be done on improving race relations with the police, politicans and the black community. When that happens this stop snitch nonsense will be a moot point.

I need to take you to task on the above statement Kirk. Why is it that whenever we have a problem with a particular group of people, the onus always falls on the greater community to improve.

When did it become fashionable for small groups to force the greater community to conform to their standards.

PLEASE NOTE: I am not saying that there does not need to be improvement from the greater community... what I am saying is that you write: "improving race relations with the police, politicians and the black community". Should it not be that the muslim community needs to improve relations with ..... (note I don't believe that this is just a black issue).

 

[fuji]

It's hard to know how to fix this problem. The thing perpetuates itself once it is going and it's hard to break the cycle. On the one hand I tend to think the fault lies with the communities, I do not think the police have discriminated against them to any degree that justifies an attitude about snitches--the statements and beliefs that they have are part of some sick culture of entitlement, for whatever reason blacks (and natives, fwiw) are far too quick to blame their problems on others, and demand that others throw cash and special treatment at their issues.

On the other hand it's patently obvious that these are failed communities that are incapable of resolving their own problems, so perhaps we do have to treat them like little babies and step in like mom and dad and try and fix their issues.

 

[slowandeasy]

On the other hand it's patently obvious that these are failed communities that are incapable of resolving their own problems, so perhaps we do have to treat them like little babies and step in like mom and dad and try and fix their issues.

Unfortunately with the political landscape, no one is capable or willing to do that.

Look at all the crap that the police took over "racial profiling".

In the Toronto Star (first week of January), there was an article about the murders in Toronto 2007. Out of curiousity, I started counting how many of the murdered were non-whites. I think that I counted 64 of the murder victims in Toronto were non-whites.

Of that, I dont' remember how many were Black, but it was a large number.

Additionally, a large number of the accused in these murders were Black. That is a pretty sad statistic.

Funny enough, the other day on the radio, I heard an African guy on a call in show. He blamed it all on the caribbeans.

Later I heard a caribbean woman call in to say that it was all the Jamaicans fault.

A few weeks before, I heard a Jamaican guy call in to say that it was American Blacks who are to blame...When asked why the murder rate in Kingston Jamaica was so bad... he replied that it was the kids who grew up in America and were deported back to Jamaica that caused the problem in Kingston!!!!

 

[BuffNaked]

People hate snitches for the simple fact that it's usually a snitch who can break up an operation.

Guy steals from store and his accomplice holds the door open for the getaway car. Guy who holds open the door gets caught and snitches out his friends. His two friends would have gotten away if his friend didn't snitch them out. Previous to that, the case may have been very weak but under the testimony of a snitch it's now a lot stronger. If the door opener had kept his mouth shut then there is that possibility that he may have gotten off too.

You have the same ideology with the blue wall of silence. When police officers commit wrong doings they rely on each other to keep the story straight. If one of them can't be trusted then that officer soon finds him self excluded from the brother hood of the force.

So basically it's a trust issue. I'm doing something criminal and your helping me do it. If we get caught then there's a possibility of us doing time. If one of us gets caught, keep your mouth shut and maybe we can beat it together. Open your mouth and you doomed us both.

So that is why snitches are hated. They were given someones trust and they betrayed it. This has nothing to do with race or economic class and everything to do with who you trust with your lively hood and freedom weather it be criminal or legitimate.

 

[fuji]

Guy steals from store and his accomplice holds the door open for the getaway car. Guy who holds open the door gets caught and snitches out his friends.

That's really a snitch though, the door holder as involved and then turned against his former accomplices.

I think the point here is that people who are NOT snitches are being labelled as snitches. For example, in your case, the woman across the street who had nothing to do with it and saw it all happen and recognizes one of the thieves, if she goes to the police, she is NOT a "snitch", but in the black community she is called a snitch, and there is pressure on her not to go to the police.

The only way to imagine she is a snitch is to imagine that the entire Black community helped to perpetrate the crime. Then again, maybe that's not so wrong.

 

[slowandeasy]

The only way to imagine she is a snitch is to imagine that the entire Black community helped to perpetrate the crime. Then again, maybe that's not so wrong.

Now there is a loaded statement!!! Unfortunately there is more truth in that statement than many are willing to admit. I am talking about alot of immigrant communities that have an us against them attitude!!

RE: The police in Toronto. I think that we have seen big steps forward being made with ethnic and female representation on the force.

 

[K Douglas]

All good points Mr. Douglas... can I call you kirk?

There are many groups to consider here.

First there is the inner city US and the inner city Canada.

Lets' stick to Canada for now. In Canada, distrust of the police it not really just an inner city thing. It's in Scarborough, Brampton, Richmond Hill, Markham etc. In schools, it was and still is not "cool" to snitch.

While Canadian police are not angels, there have not been too many incidents of blatantly discriminatory treatment by police. My opinion is that anyone who was born and grew up in Canada has NO reason to feel persecuted by the police because of their race, color, religion etc.

On the other hand, if you immigrated here from a country where police were worse than the criminals, then I can understand why you might have some distrust of Police...



I need to take you to task on the above statement Kirk. Why is it that whenever we have a problem with a particular group of people, the onus always falls on the greater community to improve.

When did it become fashionable for small groups to force the greater community to conform to their standards.

PLEASE NOTE: I am not saying that there does not need to be improvement from the greater community... what I am saying is that you write: "improving race relations with the police, politicians and the black community". Should it not be that the muslim community needs to improve relations with ..... (note I don't believe that this is just a black issue).

You make some very good points yourself S&E. Where I do disagree with you is your last statement, this is a police vs. black community issue. By and large all other races have good relationships with law enforcement. The tensions have almost exclusively been between police and the black community. These have been founded upon a cycle of distrust and suspicion. This cycle needs to be broken, doing so is the hard part.

 

[alexmst]

I think the term snitch refers to when one member of a group of criminals, friends, co-workers, or whoever, turns in one of their own group for personal advantage.

A witness to a crime who is not connected to those committing it is NOT a snitch for being a witness and calling the police. He is getting no personal advantage from the authorities for being a witness. He is merely doing his part to make the neighborhood a safer, crime-free place.

If one of my friends got drunk and told me in desperation he robbed a bank last week, I would pretend I didn't hear him say that. I would not turn him in.

If I saw some guy robbing a bank and driving away in a getaway car and I got a look at his plate #, damn right I would tell the police I saw it. That is not snitching.

If I were a criminal (I'm not - this is hypothetical) and I was in a close-knit group of bank robbers who were partners in crime, honour amogst thieves, etc (think the movie: The Italian Job for example) and we pulled a job and in the escape I got picked up but no one else did, I would not give names to get a reduced jail term. If I did, I would be a snitch, and in the old school sense of the word, I have no desire to be one. If you're going to be serving time anyway, do you really want to go in as a snitch? I wouldn't.

However, as a member of the community, if I saw a crime I would report it. If my house is robbed, I report it. If someone mugs someone I'd report it. Criminals can have whatever code of honour amongst themselves they want, and friends can try to protect friends, but reporting crimes I witness is a duty of living in a civilized society.

 

[themexi]

I think the term snitch refers to when one member of a group of criminals, friends, co-workers, or whoever, turns in one of their own group for personal advantage.

A witness to a crime who is not connected to those committing it is NOT a snitch for being a witness and calling the police. He is getting no personal advantage from the authorities for being a witness. He is merely doing his part to make the neighborhood a safer, crime-free place.

If one of my friends got drunk and told me in desperation he robbed a bank last week, I would pretend I didn't hear him say that. I would not turn him in.

If I saw some guy robbing a bank and driving away in a getaway car and I got a look at his plate #, damn right I would tell the police I saw it. That is not snitching.

If I were a criminal (I'm not - this is hypothetical) and I was in a close-knit group of bank robbers who were partners in crime, honour amogst thieves, etc (think the movie: The Italian Job for example) and we pulled a job and in the escape I got picked up but no one else did, I would not give names to get a reduced jail term. If I did, I would be a snitch, and in the old school sense of the word, I have no desire to be one. If you're going to be serving time anyway, do you really want to go in as a snitch? I wouldn't.

However, as a member of the community, if I saw a crime I would report it. If my house is robbed, I report it. If someone mugs someone I'd report it. Criminals can have whatever code of honour amongst themselves they want, and friends can try to protect friends, but reporting crimes I witness is a duty of living in a civilized society.

Very well said sir

 

[slowandeasy]

Jordan Manners' Mom (lorraine small)

Now that the falconer report has been completed... we see Jordan Manners mom splashed across our newspapers and tv screens..

What is she complaining about? Nothing to do with her son's gang affiliations or her daughter who was caught up in a raid on gangs by the police (after her brothers death)... Not the code of silence that police get when they try to solve crimes in the ethnic community, or the drugs and violence that is rampant in certain areas of our city....

SHE IS COMPLAINING ABOUT THE CODE OF SILENCE THAT EXISTS WITHIN THE SCHOOLBOARDS and within the schools themselves. (Anyone wishing to discuss this issue, please start another thread, and I will be happy to add my 2 cents about that problem.)

I have sympathy for Jordan Manners mom... but why do these people always blame those in authority for the problems or because people in charge did not do enough to protect the "innocent".

If Ms. Small was truly interested in doing something about this problem... perhaps she should be focusing her efforts on keeping her daughter out of gang functions!!!!!

 

[slowandeasy]

Politics Forum

BTW... how do i get this post moved to the Politics Forum instead of the lounge???