For the past several days, there has finally been a credible debate about the influence of popular hip hop culture on the victimization of African American communities. For years, a “stop snitchin’” campaign has been circulating through communities of color, cautioning that “snitches will need stitches.” Harlem Children’s Zone Executive Director Geoffrey Canada has recently taken a public and aggressive stance against this destructive nature of popular hip hop music and the degree to which it normalizes the idea that to talk to police—even if you or your family has been harmed—is to be a “snitch.” Canada, the author of Fist, Stick, Knife, Gun—a book that describes the evolution of youth violence in urban communities—and the leader of a significant effort in New York to provide a viable alternative path for youth seeking to grow up free from violence and victimization, has placed a challenge on the floor: Take a Stand.

Of course, ending the “Stop Snitchin’” campaign is not going to be easy. It is true that by not cooperating with the police, many communities of color are vulnerable to increased victimization and abuse. Murders go unsolved and drug dealers are free to intimidate children and elders. But what is also true is that the general culture of animosity toward the “snitch” is rooted in a long history of distrust between communities of color and law enforcement. For many communities of color, law enforcement is the greatest representation of racism and abuse. Centuries of rogue enforcement, racial profiling, and harmful policies have overshadowed the reality that law enforcement and protection are critical to maintaining a civilized society. It is in this fundamental breakdown that the misguided sentiment of many in the hip hop community has been allowed to fester. Poor and highly racialized communities with little resources are breeding grounds for anger and resentment toward those who appear to care little about the communities they are policing.

The issue of “snitchin’” is not unique to the hip hop community, nor is it something that can be resolved through a few scattered conversations. To end the “Stop Snitchin’” campaign, there will need to be much more than just a public discussion about whether or not it is appropriate to cooperate with police when a crime has been committed. The real issue is whether communities will be adequately protected if they do come forward and try to heal their families and communities. At the heart of this discussion is the need to build a viable partnership between law enforcement and communities of color that doesn’t rely on individuals making themselves vulnerable those who terrorize their communities. There needs to be a strong and coordinated effort to revamp the structure of policing such that it can earn the respect and trust of those who have lived through a sorted history with law enforcement. Officers need to be adequately trained to avoid the racial stereotyping and biases that are sometimes reflected in their decision-making. Trained and committed officers who are trusted to protect and serve need to be committed to living in and working with all of the stakeholders in the community—even those who are perceived as undesirable—in order to enforce from “within” the values and norms that transform neighborhoods into communities. Everybody, after all, wants to feel safe in their home communities. Otherwise, the house is not a home.

The U.S. has the highest incarceration rate in the world. Today, there is a prison for just about everyone—adult males, adult females, youth. There are prisons close to home, prisons far away. There are prisons for people who are enslaved by drug addiction, and prisons for those enslaved by street capitalism. There are prisons for people who are undocumented immigrants, and prisons for people who this country has marked as the “enemy.” Despite being recognized as the “leader of the free world,” the United States incarcerates more people than nations that have been openly condemned as racist, such as South Africa under the era of Apartheid.

According to the Department of Justice, over 5.6 million people—mostly people of African and Latino descent—are in prison or have served time in prison. Many of those who are imprisoned are held for actions that were fueled by poverty, poor education, mental health illness, and/or substance abuse. Many are held just because this society has become so dependent on incarceration to serve a function it is fundamentally unequipped to do: rehabilitate. Many are held because the lingering impact of racism influences how justice is administered. For example, in Texas, Shaquanda Cotton, a 14-year old African American girl, was sentenced to seven years of incarceration for pushing a 58-year old teacher’s assistant to the ground. She was recently released, though only after she already served a year in youth prison…why? Even with a notorious reputation, Shaquanda had no prior arrests and no criminal record. So, why was she imprisoned for behavior that could have been corrected with gender-specific life skills courses, anger management counseling, tutoring, and sports?

It’s time we ask ourselves, is prison the best way to respond to angry or neglected children? Will it actually correct their behavior and restore severed connections to family, community, school, and faith? Will prison really rehabilitate a woman who has been the victim of domestic violence or who, through poverty, violence, and abuse, felt forced to carry or distribute illicit drugs? Will prison ever truly rehabilitate the soul of an illiterate man who learned violence through his own victimization? Yes, incarceration has some effect on crime, but let’s be serious: incarceration has never been the most effective way to deal with the root causes of crime and delinquency. Incarceration is an enslavement of the body, not a viable approach to heal the spirit. Criminal justice scholars and legal advocates have long called for this nation to strongly consider another direction. Research has supported the use of other models and strategies, such as community-based interventions and restorative justice, to more effectively curb violence and victimization.

Are there some people in prison who should not be there? Absolutely! Am I calling for an immediate release of all incarcerated people? No, because for those who are truly a danger to themselves and the community, we still haven’t accepted and developed an infrastructure to treat the root causes of their actions.

This is about liberation; but not just from prisons. You see, I recognize the human rights of all people to live free from discrimination and slavery in all its forms. In order to free the slave, we have to address the thought-processes that keep us enslaved to a rhythm that has too many people of color dancing straight into captivity. Too many law enforcement agencies are riddled with racial bias, leading officers to conduct racial profiling and other acts of misconduct within communities of color. Too many schools are ill prepared to meet the demands of educating youth from a variety of backgrounds. In some school districts, there aren’t even enough chairs to seat every student if, one day, no one decided to play hookie. Too many communities of color are bombarded with liquor stores that keep people sedated with agents of malnutrition, illness, and death. Too many people of color continue to face discrimination when seeking a job and are forced to accept wages below those offered to their white counterparts.

We need to dig deep down, find the place in us that still remains captive to the politics of these problematic norms, and kill the social and political realities that have driven us to the point of insanity. We need to re-evaluate our voting and sentencing priorities. We need to reallocate resources to support and sustain the healthy development of all of our communities. I’m not talking about instituting a system to allow people not to be accountable for their actions. I’m talking about creating viable alternatives to heal this nation where it’s clearly wounded.

Sources/Suggested Reading:

Vera institute of Justice: Reconsidering Incarceration

Bureau of Justice Statistics, Prison and Jail Inmates at Midyear 2005

Prison Policy Initiative: http://www.prisonpolicy.org

Golden Gulag: Prisons, Surplus, Crisis, and Opposition in Globalizing California by Ruth Wilson Gilmore (University of California Press, 2007)