The Code of Silence 9/15/08
The term “code of silence” is usually connected to the police force as a short way of saying do not tell on each other. However, in this context the code of silence is something that is also used in impoverished neighborhoods. In these particular neighborhoods, most people see the police as the enemy. Therefore, when criminal activity happens, they do not call the police. They are eitherto afraid of the police or the consequences of someone finding out that they talked to the police.
For example, I witnessed someone being robbed in one of the low income neighborhoods in Richmond,CA. I wanted to call the police so bad, but my friend stopped me and said, “You know what will happen if you snitch”. As a result, when police had asked me about the incident, I told them that I did not see anything. In low income neighborhoods, one of the worst things to be known as is a “snitch”. A consequence of snitching is that one's family could be terrorized or murdered.
1 comment:
I find it challenging to people who have to live their lives in high crime neighborhoods who have to stay silent when they saw or know information about a crime that has or is about to take place. Snitching is a hard subject, I know people who feel that the police is the enemy too and that going to the poilce for anything is a set up for themselves to be targeted for something. I have ask people what they would do if they were sitting on trail for a murder they did not commit, and knew who committed it friend or enemy, it is the code and peole stick to it, they wouldnt tell. If they did snitch, they may as well find a new identity because the person they snitched on will get someone to go after that persons family first, and then hunt down the snitch. They kill family first because that hurts more than dying yourself.
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