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What is a "snitch"? It depends on whom you ask John G. Chase, Snitching is in the news lately, widely misunderstood. The traditional meaning, obvious in the 1999 PBS Frontline special "Snitch", is a person under the thumb of prosecutors who testifies against others in drug conspiracy cases, in the hope of leniency. As the drug war escalated, a "stop snitchin" The spin notched upward on April 22nd with Anderson Cooper's CBS 60Minutes segment "Stop Snitchin". On the unspun side is Edrea Davis, author of SnitchCraft. Ms. Davis also wrote "Propaganda, Pimping Or Sloppy Journalism?" about the 60Minutes article, excerpts as follows: ".... For the past few months mainstream media has hyped the "Stop Snitchin" slogan, giving it a life --and definition --of its own. A story on CBS News' 60 Minutes presented a one-dimensional view of snitching that appears to be part of an ongoing propaganda campaign designed to hold hip-hop culture accountable for the dysfunctional criminal justice system, and divert the public's attention from the real problems in America. In the black community it is commonly understood that a snitch is a crafty criminal who negotiates a deal for himself by telling on others. Since the days of slavery, providing information to authorities to gain favor has been viewed negatively. While it is true that blacks and other minorities have a history of strained relationships with the police, concerned citizens routinely complain about crack houses, slow response times and a lack of police patrols in inner-city neighborhoods. Black people also serve as witnesses and jurors. Since I'm from the "P-Funk" era, I went to allhiphop.com, thuglifearmy.com and eurweb.com to see what the hip-hop generation had to say. Amazingly, about 85% of the posts I read supported the classic definition of snitching. One of the pioneers of hip-hop, Ice-T said, "Snitching is not telling on somebody doing something wrong in the 'hood. It's when you and your partner are involved in a crime and get caught and you tell on your partner. That's snitching." A quick look at pertinent information absent from the story is further evidence that it was propaganda. For instance, 60 Minutes neglected to (Continued on page 6) |
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DMAC’s Role in Pinellas County Schools The District Monitoring Advisory Committee (DMAC) created by the court order which desegregated Pinellas County schools in 1971, is made up of citizens affiliated with the NAACP, educational organizations within the county and the two appointed by the School Board. It's role is to review the District's progress on seven factors (known as "green factors") to monitor the removal of vestiges of a segregated system. The green factors cover such things as expenditures for buildings and resources, hiring of teachers and administrators, transportation, participation in extracurricular activities and advanced placement classes, etc. Despite the District having been declared "unitary" by the federal court, and despite the operation of a modified choice plan, DMAC has continued its work in monitoring the progress of the system and making recommendations to the School Board on how to achieve greater improvement in key areas. Now that the School Board is moving into a period of a new student assignment plan, DMAC is evaluating its continued role. Judge Merryday of the federal court has not relinquished his jurisdiction over the case, and DMAC under the terms of the order, is "master of its own fate;" must vote itself out of existence. It is clear that schools will be resegregated under the new student assignment plan. the question will be how much resegregation will be tolerated district wide. Despite the Supreme Court's ruling in July, race is still an acceptable factor among many to be considered in student assignment decisions. The School Board needs citizen input on this issue. I hope all members of ACLU will remember their organization's history in the struggle for school desegregation and make their voices heard. Adrien Helm |
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ACLU helps Veterans for Peace pry open school house doors It took well over a year and a lot of persistent pressure, but finally on Tuesday, August 28, 2007, the Pinellas County School Board approved a new district policy, which will allow peace groups, such as Veterans for Peace, to distribute literature and speak with student on school board property. Such groups will be allowed to present alternatives to military service and will have the same access and privileges as the military recruiters.
The effort to open Pinellas County’s public schools to those presenting an “alternative” message to military recruitments was spearheaded by the local Veterans for Peace group. Dwight Lawton a member of the veterans group and an ACLU member provided the essential leadership and steadfast determination required to bring this almost unprecedented policy change about. The Pinellas ACLU participated in the effort, by drafting public records requests, legal opinion letters, attending school board workshops, and speaking at school board meetings. The ACLU took the position that the prior school board policy, which banned such groups from speaking or distributing literature at public schools, while allowing military recruiters to do some, was an unconstitutional “view point discrimination.” The ACLU opinion letters presented important case precedents, which were instrumental in obligating the school district to open its doors to Veterans for Peace and other groups. Mark Kamleiter |
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