'SNITCH' SHIRTS ARE A SAD LOOK

What happens here stays here.

That was the message conveyed to 15-year-old Shebony Carrington by some
people who read her heartfelt essay on life in Fairfield Court.

To many Times-Dispatch readers, Shebony's description of life in the
housing project in Richmond's East End was both tear-inducing and inspira
tional for her ability to hold fast to dreams despite her bleak surroundings.

She wrote about the drunks, the drug dealers and the people afraid to sit
on their porches "because of the shooting and the crazy people around the
neighborhood."

The essay moved Times-Dispatch readers. More than a hundred posted
responses, most supportive, on The T-D's Web site.

The reaction in Fairfield Court has been mixed. Shebony, in a
Times-Dispatch article Aug. 27, said neighborhood drug dealers responded
this way:

"Some said tears been comin' from their eyes, too," she said. "Some said
you been talking about Fairfield, you been snitchin'."

Yes, hating on "snitches" is all the rage. And this confused code of ethics
is fueling a national retail trend.

A Philadelphia Inquirer story last month described "one of Philadelphia's
hottest - and most controversial - fashion statements": T-shirts and hats
that say Stop Snitch'n'.

Some of the shirts, according to the article, feature guns, crosshairs and
a "Don't Talk 2 Police" message.

If Stop Snitch'n' T-shirts haven't hit Richmond yet - and I can't imagine
enterprising vendors haven't stocked up - rest assured they're on the way.

Baltimore is the apparent home of the anti-snitch movement. A "Stop
Snitching" DVD included a controversial appearance by Baltimore native and
pro hoops star Carmelo Anthony, who later apologized.

It's not as if the law-abiding folks of Charm City needed video
intimidation to discourage them from informing on criminals. Fresh in
Baltimore's memory is the grisly death of seven members of the Dawson
family in a fire believed set by drug dealers angry at the family's efforts
to clean up the block.

That drug dealers and other predators would seek to "stop the snitching" is
a natural act of self-interest. But what shall we make of the consumers so
eager to identify with the criminal mind-set? For the prey to market the
ethos of the predator makes as much sense as a deer wearing a bull's-eye.

Call it another example of the mindless embrace by our young of the thug
lifestyle - a reflection of the inability of posers to separate hip-hop
fantasies from reality.

Of course, part of Stop Snitch'n' is about profit. But it also reflects a
value system that places street cred above common sense. How else do we
explain such a culture among the very group - young black men - who are
most likely to have their lives snuffed out or to experience the violent
loss of a loved one? A "stop snitching" mind-set dooms a community to no
justice and no peace.

Police in cities such as Richmond and Baltimore have struggled mightily to
gain cooperation and secure witnesses in crime-ridden communities. They
don't need clothing mocking their efforts.

Summoning a precocious courage, Shebony did more than call out her
neighborhood. She exposed not only those who would bring it down but others
who lack this teen's courage to break the code of silence.