The “Stop Snitchin” phenomenon or code is growing day by day. While I agree that you shouldn’t be a tattle-tale, assisting in the removal of someone or some group who is harmful to your community is nothing you should be ashamed of. Unless you think a group of rappers are going to hunt you down. Which, to be perfectly honest, doesn’t happen all that often.
The Stop Snitching campaign was originated by a man named Shaheed from New York who created stop snitching t-shirts and sold them in Harlem. Years later it gained national attention when Rodney Thomas from Skinny Suge Records released a video titled “Stop Snitching!” Thomas is currently in jail for assault. In some footage, a number of men claiming to be drug dealers address the camera, and threaten violence against anyone who reports what they know about their crimes to the authorities. This threat is especially directed towards those who inform on others to get a lighter sentence for their own crimes.
As the DVD spread across the country, corresponding shirts became popular in urban youth fashion. The shirts typically show a stop sign emblazoned with the words “Stop Snitchin’.” Some shirts bear bullet holes, implying that snitches should (or will) be shot. The Diplomats, a Harlem, New York-based rap group, made their own version of the Stop Snitchin’ shirts, with their logo on the end of the short sleeves. Another shirt says “I’ll never Tell”
The Stop Snitchin campaign has gained more attention recently as media outlets have picked up the issue trying to determine what is appropriate and what it snitching. America’s Most Wanted spent an entire episode on it and 60 Minute’s Anderson Cooper interviewed rapper Cam’ron regarding his Stop Snitchin message, even though he has been shot in both arms. Here is another clip in which Fox News covers the rights or wrongs of snitching.
Today the “Stop Snitching” video’s creator, Rodney Thomas, is in jail serving 15 years for first degree asault but the Stop Snitchin message is alive and well. And so is our shirt.
