THE REAL MEANING OF 'SNITCHING'

A hundred people gathered at Washington's Scripture Cathedral in May,
many of them teenagers from the surrounding O Street NW neighborhood,
where a murderous street feud had terrorized the community. Our
anti-violence group, Peaceoholics, had convened a forum to ask "What's
Snitching and What's Not?"

Snitching -- and its sibling, witness intimidation -- is much in the
news these days, the result of a series of high-profile killings and
shootings both here in the Washington area and elsewhere. But there
are a lot of myths and misconceptions about it, not just among people
in the community, but also among law enforcement officials and the
media.

Trying to break the ice at our forum, I threw out a few questions: If
someone shot your mother during a drive-by, would you have a problem
with that? Would you want something to happen to that person? Would it
make more sense for you to be locked up, or would you like the shooter
to be incarcerated?

There wasn't much of a response until a young man came forward. "I
ain't no snitch," he said. "But I'll help the community."

Nobody wants to be a snitch -- not even in a forum that's supposed to
define what exactly snitching is.

My job is to try to bring peace to the community. But I'm also
realistic: You are never going to get black people to agree to snitch.
The reasons are rooted in history and culture, and the realities of so
many inner cities, where human life is cheap.

But as someone who has been on the other side of the law, what I will
say is that if you work at it, you can persuade witnesses to violent
crime to come forward.

For those of us who live in high-crime areas, there's nothing new
about witness intimidation -- criminals threatening or even killing
citizens who could testify against them. But several recent incidents
have brought wider attention to this issue.

In Newark, witnesses have fingered the suspects in 14 recent killings,
but prosecutors have not charged them for fear that the witnesses who
identified them would be hurt or killed. Rap artists and gang leaders
in Baltimore and Boston have recently begun campaigns urging city
residents to "Stop Snitching." The rapper Cam'ron was interviewed on
"60 Minutes" about why he refused to cooperate with police after he
was shot in the arm in Washington during a botched car-jacking in 2005.

And last week, Prince George's County prosecutors blamed witness
intimidation for their failure to win convictions in two homicide
cases. In the fall of 2005, Lakita Danielle Tolson, a 19-year-old
mother and nursing student, was killed outside a Temple Hills
nightclub. Nine months later, Eric S. Holland, 18, was killed in a
crowded schoolyard. Law enforcement and family members believe he was
targeted because people (wrongly) thought he was cooperating with
police on the Tolson case. Large crowds were at both shootings, but
only one witness agreed to testify in both cases.

I've told the young people at our snitching forums that if they see
someone killed, it's their obligation to help make sure that the
killer is punished. The government works for us, and together we can
hold it to higher standards.

But words and connotations are powerful. And to many of us, the word
"snitch" brings to mind a distant memory of a house slave telling the
master when another slave tried to escape. We're a long way from the
days of slavery, but the adversity that those of us trapped in
communities with little money, education and police protection share
has forced us to create our own codes and coping strategies.

So often, even law-abiding residents try to close ranks and deal with
our problems on our own instead of working with law enforcement, which
many of us consider the enemy. It's a code, just like the one some
think Scooter Libby upheld at the White House, or the one police
adhere to when they cover up for crooked cops.

As someone who was once part of the problem, I have some insight into
this issue. I grew up in the Petworth neighborhood in the 1970s and
'80s. Before I turned my life around, I was incarcerated several times
for selling drugs. I believe that jail saved me.

Once, during those days, I was accused of being a snitch. In 1990, I
found myself at the apartment of an older associate who'd been set up
by some Colombians. The police raided the place, found drugs and
locked us both up. I posted bail and was released on bond. The old
head wasn't. When I got out on the street, rumors flew that I had told
on him and that's why I'd been freed. It wasn't until the guy was
released and set the record straight that my name was cleared. I did
not and would not snitch -- not then, not now.

This is the true definition of a snitch: someone who commits a crime
but then blames an accomplice so that he can negotiate a lighter
sentence or even go free. Often he tells lies and incriminates the
innocent. People like that are the real snitches and they are
cowardly. Snitching is a way for criminals to game the system.

But not everyone who talks to police is a snitch. If you're a victim
of a crime and you or someone you trust cooperates with them, you are
not a snitch. If you try to get rid of negativity in your community,
you are not "hot" or a snitch.

I blame the hip-hop industry for spreading confusion about the
definition of snitching. I also understand that the artists are just
trying to sell records by glorifying a criminal and prison culture
they often know nothing about.

At the O Street forum, I broke it down for the young people: Say that
a group of dudes are serving time peacefully, with workout and other
privileges. If some knucklehead comes into the unit to mess up their
peace by violating prison rules, what do they do?

"Kill them," the audience replied.

No, I told them. They drop a note -- some might say snitch -- to get
that person out of their unit. I'm not saying it's right or wrong, but
most people who have never been locked up don't understand this. You
do what you have to do to keep your own peace.

Understanding snitching is not just a theoretical exercise. It is
critical to the survival of our communities. As I was writing this, I
received a call from a woman who lives in a District housing project.
She was active with youth and outspoken about crime in her
neighborhood. Thugs broke into her apartment and shot her son, a
college student, in the legs. Where is the discussion about this in
the community? Why is this behavior allowed to continue?

Just as we have a right to be safe from drive-by shootings, murder,
intimidation and disrespect, we have an obligation to uphold the laws
that ensure public safety. When a citizen witnesses crime and decides
to be civically responsible, this doesn't constitute snitching; it's
doing the right thing.

Police also need to be more sensitive to the culture of the streets.
Showing up in uniform and knocking on someone's door could get an
innocent person killed. If police are clumsy in their investigations
and let word out about who is cooperating, that can also lead to more
bloodshed, something Eric Holland learned the hard way.

The Peaceoholics plan to conduct many more forums, not only on
snitching, but also on what it means to be a responsible citizen. In
previous forums we asked participants to answer several questions in
an anonymous survey. "If someone killed my brother or sister I would
[fill in the blank]."

Among the responses: "Kill them." "Cooperate." "Retaliate." "Go tell
the police." And something that I have seen all too often: "Already
happened. I would go look for them and talk to them face to face and
ask them why."

People in the community want peace, and they want justice. They just
don't want to be anybody's snitch.