At first glance it defied belief. There was platinum selling
rap artist Cam’ron brazenly telling 60 Minutes this past Sunday
that if he knew the identity and the whereabouts of a mass
killer, he wouldn’t lift a finger to help police catch him.
Presumably that meant that if Seung Hui Cho rapped and partied
with Cam’ron, and then Cho blurted out to him that he intended
to commit murder and mayhem at Virginia Tech, Cam’ron wouldn’t
squeal to the police. This is too serious to wave off as mindless
blather of an airhead rapper out to sound hip, cool, and controversial,
and of course sell more records.
Cam’ron sells a lot of records to a lot of impressionable
young and not so young men. They hang on his image and words.
Worse, his silly anti-snitch plea touches a nerve with many
blacks. The long history of police-black community conflict,
the rage that many African-Americans feel over the countless
number of blacks that have been jailed and even dumped on
death row merely on the word of a street or a jailhouse informant
is a sore-point.
A study by Northwestern University Law School Center on Wrongful
Convictions found that in the 100 wrongful death penalty convictions
of black men in the past quarter century the majority were
convicted on the perjured testimony of alleged eyewitnesses.
Numerous studies have shown that blacks are far more likely
than any other group to distrust the police, and less likely
to talk to them about criminal acts.
Then
there’s the fear factor. Many are scared stiff of retaliation
if they blow the whistle on a violent perpetrator, and
that the police won’t protect them. This is not a totally
false fear. City police departments spend far fewer
dollars on witness protection programs than the federal
government does. Many blacks feel the risk is to great
if they unzip their lips. Their fear and the rocky relations
with the police are understandable. But it doesn’t justify
a rapper or anyone else telling blacks to keep silent
when they witness a crime and can provide information
about it.
Blacks have more to lose than any other group when they
turn a blind eye to crime. They are more likely to be
the victims of homicide, assaults and other violent
crimes. It is less likely the murderer or assailant
will be caught when the victims is black. While the
homicide clearance rate in nationally is about 60 percent,
the clearance rate for solving murders, in some big
cities is in single digit figures. Police, and prosecutors
in some big cities scream that they can’t get people
to come forth and tell what they know. At a recent forum
in Los Angeles, I listened as Los Angeles Police Department
homicide detectives implored the mostly black audience
to provide information on crimes. Their silence they
said insures that more violent criminals will roam the
streets freely. In short the cold case files will continue
to balloon, and the victims in almost all cases will
be black, especially young black males.
The anti-snitch message he pumps puts them squarely
in harms way. That includes some of his fellow rap icons.
Tupac Shakur, Notorious B.I.G and Run DMC’s Jam Master
Jay were gunned down. Years later their murders still
nestle in the cold case files. One of those files belongs
to the bodyguard of Gangster rapper Busta Rhymes. His
boydyguard was shot dead, and there’s strong suspicion
that Rhymes and his entourage could provide information
to help solve the murder. But Rhymes has squawked loudly
about not talking to the police.
Cam’ron and Rhymes aren’t lone voices telling blacks
not to snitch. There’s a brisk growth industry in peddling
T-shirts with the words printed in bold letter STOP
SNITCHING that urge blacks to keep quiet when they witness
crimes. This has enraged victims of violence and gang
violence prevention groups. In Los Angeles and a handful
of other cities, anti-violence prevention activists
have tramped into shops and demanded that the storeowners
yank the shirts from the shelves. This begs the issue.
The merchants have the right to sell anything they choose,
including a T-shirt that carries this deadly message.
But those concerned about the mounting carnage in some
black neighborhoods should protest against the damaging
message on the shirts and the messengers that deliver
it.
Cam’ron, Rhymes, and other rappers that demand that
blacks keep their mouths closed want to sell records,
and in the process tout a phony street ethic that brands
it a horror to talk to the police. By doing this, they
endanger others, those that buy their records, and themselves.
The unsolved murders of their rap pals prove that. The
rap lyric they should sing is “Open your mouth if you
see a crime, the life you save could be your own.”
BlackNews.com
columnist Earl Ofari Hutchinson is an author and political
analyst. His new book "The Latino Challenge to Black
America: Towards a Conversation between African-Americans
and Hispanics" (Middle Passage Press and Hispanic Economics
New York) in English and Spanish will be out in October.
Email
This Article To A Friend
