Anderson Cooper/60 Minutes/Cam'ron... did you watch?

CBS unwittingly exposed the connection between hip hop culture and prison culture with its expose on the impact of Stop Snitchin'.

The pervasiveness of hip hop/prison culture is a direct result of Ronald Reagan's "war on drugs/poor people." You lock up a segment of the population, deny them hope and brutalize them and you shouldn't be surprised that a brutal/hopeless culture is produced.

 

Having Anderson Cooper discuss it on 60 minutes is the Kiss of Death for the topic. Get Tavis Smiley to do the report with all the rightous indignation that he can muster and the issue gains traction. But Mr. Upper West Side/Greenwich/Palm Beach preaching to choir will not garner the attention the topic deserves.

BTW as someone who is a veteran of the War on Drugs let me tell you that we long ago, but quietly, declared victory and moved on to more strategic targets. Also as someone who is involved on the war on drugs, it's mainly a civil war between and among crews and gangs. Law Enforcement merely attempts mop up operations and protects against collateral damage.

As a devotee of The Wire, you should recognize that the game was played before the war of drugs began and will exist after the troops withdraw.

 

anderson cooper didn't grasp the issue. his piece was just about "stop snitchin." he didn't connect it to the war on drugs or the pervasiveness of prison culture... i tie everything together in a column later today for aol.

 

I'm sure you do.
Hilarity ensues.

 

Gordian Bastard!

 

Now wait a minute, Jason. One day you're criticizing blacks for glorifying hip-hop/prison culture and another day you're blaming the Reagan White House for it?

Explanation please. I think I know where you're ultimately headed with this, and we probably agree in the final balance, but it seems to me that if you want blacks to disassociate themselves from hip-hop/prison culture, blacks have to disassociate themselves from the perceived causes of it too.

Doesn't it slow the progress you want to see when there's an element of victimization involved? I'm not saying you're wrong in your conclusions, there's no doubt that shithead Reagan's policies were supremely damaging to all minorities, but what good does it do when you're trying to foster the change within the black community to dredge it up 20 years later?

The policies were bullshit, but what's done is done, unfortunately. Isn't it time for blacks to take their own responsibility for moving forward -- as I believe you've written -- or risk staying in a bad place?

 

I thought it was really sad when they interviewed those little kids. One girl said it was a "crime" to talk to the police in her neighborhood.

 

I thought the producer of the piece at least touched on it during clips of the group interview with the teenagers. African Americans (and this white guy, too) not trusting cops is inextricably linked to the discussion Whitlock is trying to start.

Most of the discussion in the post-Imus era has been about superficial bullshit. Whitlock and the "Stop Snitchin'" piece on 60 Minutes Sunday night are starting to get at some of the root causes.

 

I watched it and could only think how angry I would be if I was an African American. Those kids they interviewed were really sad.

 

Yes, and suddenly we're concerned about them, the way we were when we discovered poor people in the afternath of Katrina. (And, I hate to keep being the History Drone here, but anyone who thinks that the no-snitchin' culture is new, or is limited to African American citizens hasn't studied the histories of Little Italy, Hell's Kitchen, or the Bulger brothers. Or, to speak more directly to what I think is Jason's point, Prohibition.) And it's important to remember that popular culture generally is not a driving force but, rather the public expression of attitudes and ideas that already exist, and that its practitioners, in trying to make a buck, are seeking to validate those ideas, good and bad. Woody Guthrie didn't cause labor agitation. He just gave it a voice. 50 Cent isn't causing materialism and sexism and nihilistic greed. He's giving it a voice.

 

If 50 cent is the African American parallel to Woodie Guthrie, the African American community is doomed

 

I didn't make the parallel, and you're dishonest in implying that I did. (Bigotry will do that to higher reasoning functions.) I said popular culture does not drive ideas but gives existing ones a voice, FOR GOOD OR BAD.
Jesus, it's cheap and stupid to imply otherwise.