In light of a recent study that revealed the painfully obvious truth of racial profiling in law enforcement, the "Stop Snitchin'" movement is getting some well-deserved heat from CBS' "60 Minutes" correspondent Anderson Cooper.

Cooper, who also hosts CNN's "Anderson Cooper 360," highlighted the Stop Snitchin' movement, which gained mainstream notoriety in the wake of NBA superstar Carmelo Anthony's support of the movement a little more than a year ago.

Stop Snitchin' has its roots in a Boston-based rapper who goes by either T.A.N.G.G. or Tangg the Juice. His alias literally means "Tellin' Ass Niggas Gotta Go." T.A.N.G.G. wants to tell people about where he came from and why it is important for those from the 'hood to stay together — and by that he means not help the police.

The movement is predicated upon the assumption that police, being more likely to search and arrest minorities, are perpetuating institutions of racism in urban locales. The movement implicitly maintains that until the system reflects the kind of justice they would like to see, minorities should willfully avoid helping police with ongoing investigations, regardless of circumstance or crime.

One might expect that T.A.N.G.G. and other rappers in favor of the movement are just thugs who do not want to get caught committing crimes, but in actuality, T.A.N.G.G. has lost many of his friends to gang violence, according to the Stop Snitchin' website.

While the movement has developed into something of an asset for a rapper's record sales and perceived "street cred," the movement has also blossomed into an unfortunate force with which police have to address.

But as Cooper pointed out, how far does this ethic go? Cameron Giles, also known as Cam'ron or Killa Cam, was shot multiple times in his Lamborghini during an attempted carjacking, but refused to give police any information about the suspects. Certainly, avoiding police encourages the very kind of lawlessness that is all too common in cities riddled with gang violence. Although T.A.N.G.G. and his cohorts at the Stop Snitchin' website have universally experienced and complained about rough neighborhoods and this very kind of lawlessness, the irony of their position is something they simply haven't realized.

When complaining about the state of affairs in your local neighborhood — which undoubtedly is affected and influenced by the glaring absence of law — it is difficult to connect how refusing to contribute to investigations helps the dilemma.

Even if the Stop Snitchin' movement isn't aiming to lower crime rates, not cooperating with police certainly does not help the situations that these rappers grew up in, which makes their support of the movement all the more confusing.

If someone actually wants to change the situation in the neighborhood to reduce gang violence and have a shot at breaking boundaries and moving beyond poverty, familiarizing yourself with the institutions that generate successful and peaceful neighborhoods seems like an appropriate path to consider.

However, for most of the rappers and other supporters of this movement, the belief is that these systems are predicated upon racism and other forms of bigotry and that when cooperated with they actual hinder your autonomy and threaten to put you in the position of real criminals: behind bars.

Certainly, racism dominating law enforcement is a legitimate issue that needs to be addressed, but simply not cooperating with the institutions that exist to protect you, your family and everybody else is a ludicrous solution.

Turning your back on the system ensures one thing: The system will continue to not work for you. Expecting change to happen when you look away is precisely the kind of mentality that rarely accomplishes anything and draws more heat than if you were just working positively to affect your community.

Instead of rapping about not snitchin' on real criminals, if the conditions are as deplorable as suggested, why not rap about not committing crimes? Why not rap about improving the systems of inequality through positive action? Why not do anything except for the movement that these rappers are participating in?

The reality is all of these questions are left unanswered with Stop Snitchin', and even though the movement defies the logic of self-preservation, it will continue in the meantime because nobody has the gall to stand up and say what really happened.

Robert Phansalkar ([email protected]) is a senior majoring in languages and cultures of Asia and political science.