'Snitching' video betrays a muddled criminal mentality
Gregory Kane of the Baltimore Sun looks at the recently released DVD that warns street youth to stop snitching to the law about the street/ drug crimes. Oh, and thanks to NBA player and Baltimore native Carmello Anthony for appearing in this DVD. And they wonder why the NBA has an image problem.
As we were stopped at the intersection of Monroe Street, I looked to my right at the boarded-up house with the wood painted in burgundy. Somebody had spray-painted in white letters: "Stop Snitching."
I knew what it meant, of course. I didn't have to wait for the revelation about the DVD called Stop Snitching -- guest-starring Baltimore's own Carmelo Anthony of the Denver Nuggets -- to know that something wasn't quite right on the streets of Baltimore.
Rodney Bethea feels there's something not quite right with us media types. Bethea is the co-producer -- with Skinny Suge -- and editor of Stop Snitching. He sells the DVDs in his Frederick Road shop for 10 bucks a pop. Bethea isn't a happy camper these days. He feels the news media have misrepresented the video, which Bethea said was made for "entertainment purposes" and is basically a documentary about what's happening on Baltimore's streets.
"It's no different than a documentary about a serial killer," Bethea said Sunday afternoon inside the One Love Underground store. Bethea didn't say much more than that. In fact, he was reluctant to sell me a copy of Stop Snitching. His attorneys had advised him not to talk to the news media. Bethea was worried that there would be more misrepresentation of Stop Snitching. I assured him I wanted not only to get his side of the story, but to watch the video and judge for myself if folks have legitimate reason to worry.
posted by soccerjohn at 1:16 PM
1 Comments:
I was watching the local news last night when I heard a name from my childhood. Akiba Matthews was arrested for cocaine and heroine possesion with intent to distribute. Apparently, he was the cameraman on the "Stop Snitching" DVD.
When I knew Akiba in the mid 1980's, he wasn't a particularly bad kid, just dumb as a rock. He would sit in class with his fingers in his mouth while he plucked his ear. It is not surprising that he turned to crime as a way to make a living.
Since those days, I have gone on to earn my masters degree in business administration after serving in the military, working in a factory, and holding other low paying miserable jobs that are far worse than working at McDonalds, including one job where I had to work in sewer pits that smelled so bad that it was dificult to breathe.
Did I mention that I grew up in Baltimore City? Yeah, we were so poor that we sometimes ate mustard sandwiches. For some reason, I went on to become a productive citizen and Akiba did not. Oh, wait a minute...I forgot...Akiba is black and I am white. That explains it.
His life was more difficult than mine. While I was busting my ass working jobs that paid next to nothing, Akiba was selling crack and making ten times more than me, but what the hell do I know. I could never understand what it must be like to be a black man in this country. I wonder if black men know what its like to be a poor white man in this country. It ain't easy.
After 32 years of struggling, I am just about to get my first job...actually, begin a career. I am married with no children, I don't cheat on my wife, I don't have a criminal record, etc. It is time for black Americans to stop using racism, slavery, oppression, blah, blah, blah as an excuse for failure. In fact, Americas racist past has become an advantage for black Americans. Would they rather be in Africa? Yeah, it is such a wonderful place...so many opportunities. Not to mention, a better judicial system than the U.S.A.
There are so many minority programs in this country, that are paid for by white tax payers like myself, that black Amercians actually have an advantage over white (and other) Americans. Stop condoning "thug life". Pull up your pants and stop wasting your money on spinning rims, gold, and fancy shoes. I have a dream. Some day black Americans will grow up and stop behaving like parasites to society! Yeah right. That is a dream. I guess I'll have to move to Montana before the area becomes over-run.
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