Fear of being outed - great NYTimes story

We here sneak around with guarded speech, worrying about being outed.
Well, here's a fantastic bit of writing in the NT Times that's also a sad commentary on what conditions have sunken to for folks living in larger cities.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/09/nyregion/09taj.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin

 

We've got the same type of problem here (middle of the country, 150,000 people, greater population of 300,000). Many people around when a shooting occurs, nobody saw what happened though.

We've had 12 or 13 homocides this year which is on pace to be near the single-year record.

 

As usual, nothing new under the sun:

http://www.newsday.com/community/guide/lihistory/ny-history-hs818a,0,7944135.story

Spnited and other vets on this board can probably recall the outrage over Kitty Genovese in 1964.

 

and just a week ago ...
http://www.sportsjournalists.com/forum/threads/43883/

 

From USA Today last year:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2006-03-28-stop-snitching_x.htm

 

Has the issue changed since the Genovese case? As I remember from Psych 101, everyone in the neighbourhood believed someone else would make the call ... except no one did.

Now it's a matter of fear from retaliation. Or is it the blatant selflishness that causes people to be unaware of others' turmoil.

Or both?

 

Both.

Also, there has been another theory proferred in recent times that the neighbors didn't respond because they knew, or suspected, she was a lesbian. (She lived with her partner.) This hasn't gotten much traction, though.

 

it's one thing to not come forward because of some stupid code of the streets.....it's another all together when you don't come forward because you know there is a good chance you and your family will be hurt. I have no sympathy for the former--if you want to live next to criminals to protect a "code" then you deserve exactly that--to live next to criminals...

however, i feel for ones who fear reprisal. My heart goes out to them because I can't imagine what it's like to live in an area so overrun with gangs that even the most blatent crimes go unpunished because of intimidation.

I wish that being in a gang was enough to justify prison time. i know that our prisons are overcrowded, but the simple fact of being a known gang member should be enough to get locked up. in a perfect world, if you are a member of a criminal organization, you should be off the streets.

 

It's been a trend for a few years now. It's all about street cred. Nobody wants to be labeled a snitch, and worse - be retaliated against. Big problem for black folk in inner city these days.

 

I just don't know how I've managed for 46 years without street cred.

 

You sleep in the bed you make.

This is not my fight. It is someone else's, and they are choosing to do nothing.

 

Hmm ... maybe we should stop putting people in jail for pot possession. Maybe then we'd have more space in our jails for the real criminals.

Naw, that'd never work. Let's keep busting the stoners. :