Is it an appropriate response in urban communities, especially when so many of them are disproportionately beset by violence?

Do you think you'd "snitch" or be someone who'd cooperate with police to help solve or reduce crime in your neighborhood? Why or why not?

What options are there for young men who struggle with the threats and peer pressure that enforces this code of silence?

What can the police and law enforcement do to help citizens restore order to their communities?

Please email us at invisiblemen@post-gazette.com and tell us your thoughts on what some consider to be "snitching."

All responses will be treated as confidential.

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What readers have said

These "invisible" cowards are terrorists! God Bless the lionhearted few with the courage to put killers behind bars -- they are not rats, they are angels who may have saved lives! The manifesto of these "invisible" cowards is as warped and senseless as the killing. I'll bet the white supremacists are jumping up and down with glee at this nonsense. You "invisibles" have harmed black people at least as much as the KKK!

Give me liberty or give me death for God's sake.

-- Carol D.

I read this on a t-shirt many years ago and it rings more true now than then.

"A Community that makes enemies with the police had better learn to make friends with its criminals"

Stop snitchin? Dont live long.

-- Eric T.

When you don't "snitch out" murderers, drug dealers, child molesters, etc., you continue advance the negative issues that permeate your community. I understand the cultural mistrust of law enforcement but I also know that we grow and advance together in a system that is based upon rule of law. Rule of law is rendered useless when we don't tell the truth. The impact here is that the very person that you refuse to " snitch out" may sell drugs to you kids, molest your child, or kill your spouse. Given the propensity or Black on Black crime it will happen!!!! (What was I thinking?) Your misguided "principles" regarding snitching only rewards, aids, and abets criminal activity that affects you directly and the rest of us law abiding citizens indirectly. I does provide a lot of fodder for the rappers that are in otherwise desparate need for material to sell videos and cds for immature minds.

-- James H.

I find it very disturbing that your editors only choose to print con " Stop Snitching" comments. To get a true flavor of what the people are saying you should print both the pro and con comments.

-- Steven B.

Well let me ask a question. What if one of your love ones was murder and you know who did it. Wouldn't you want justice? So you're telling me that the love one that lost their live means nothing. Me, myself would want justice. I'm tired of watching the news and see black on black crimes. Black men barely make it out of their twenties. You see their mothers crying to find out who kill their son or daughter. What if this happens to you? Stop snitching Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm

-- Cindy S.

Police act like this is surprisingbut in reality EVERY single day police officers "stop snitching " on themselves. Police will never "rat" a fellow cop out period. In fact they help each other cover things up like brutality, racism, or just plain bad police work. I for one would NEVER cooperate with cops just because of the deep resent that sits with me in regards to them being corupt, racist , and abusive.

-- SB

I'm always amazed by the backlash against snitchin'. My question for those at the Post-Gazette: have you paid any attention to what is happening in the justice system? The "Stop Snitchin' " campaign has been created by highly unethical tactics of the criminal justice system, they have no one to blame but themselves. At this point, a prisoner is walking out of one of the hell-holes in this country after having been exonerated every 17 days -- every 17 days. Most exonerations are a result of DNA testing but those who are paying attention are finding many other reasons for false prosecution/convictions -- faulty witness identification; abusive police interrogation that leads to coerced confessions; prosecutorial threats that lead to plea bargains as the lesser of two evils; and the testimony of snitches and paid informants. I repeat, snitches and paid informants who will give up their innocent grandmother if that gets them off the hook. I refer you to articles by Bill Moushey, your own journalist, specifically Win At All Costs. Don't you read what you publish?

-- Nancy W.

I had knowledge about the "Snitch" list before it hit the streets. I was initially fearful that this list would cause further devastation in our (African American) communities. Leaving the "rats, traders, snitches" in deep trouble. When I talked about this not-yet released list to various people in the "hood," they said, "Oh well, the rats need to be exposed." When you talk about the concept of informing or simply working with the authorities in other communities (a.k.a. white), it's so hard for them to grasp a clear picture of how assisting the "pigs, 5-0, police" eliminate crime, can be so very, very wrong. So wrong that it may cause you to live in constant fear and/or ultimately cause you to lose your life. This is very understandable. At times it's difficult for me to understand how people could keep a secret that could allow a murderer to roam the streets with a loaded gun, a mother praying and begging for a sense of closure, or another fatherless child longing for s/he's daddy. But.this is socialized and installed in us as children. Parents in the black communities, including myself, don't realize how detrimental it is by emphasizing the importance of not "tella-telling." Yes, I'm guilty of this as well and I'd like to consider myself an almost intelligent young lady. ? I grew up in the Lincoln Lemington area and I'm now a senior at Carlow University. No matter how far life may take me from the "hood" I still carry the "rules" with me. So what's the solution? The solution is not a simple one. We must change the mindset of the residents in the African American communities. That's not an easy task! No offense but writing in the Post-Gazette won't help! In my opinion it only causes further embarrassment, shame, and racism. If you really care, do what I'm trying to do.get into these communities and show these youths that there's more to life than killing, stealing, and "snitching." Ohhh, and please realize that "snitching" in most cases is apart of a game. The following two scenarios are examples of this. Group A shoot at group B and when group B retaliate, group A call the cops and name all guilty preps, conveniently leaving out that they were the group who started all the shooting. Or the Feds bust on Mike. Mike is looking at 7-10 years in jail, so he decides to tell on his best friend, Larry to get that 2 years behind bars instead. It's more to "snitching" than what meets the eye. Even invisible men sometimes are seen!

-- Anonymous

What do you mean by "disproportionately beset by violence"??

Do you mean whites should go around wacking each other as some young blacks seem to do...to make it "proportionate"?

What makes it disproportionate?

Wake up...its a cultural anomaly not a racial thing....

Its a citizens duty to inform the police....if a culture lets fear run rampant and killers have the upper hand, then we as a society have failed.

-- George B.

It's not about snitching, but rather about safety. When you witness violence or drug dealing or whatever in our communities and people call the police, the police seem to come directly to your home even when you say this is a silent complaint or what have you. That now puts you and/or your family in harms way, because those same people you just called about, you have to live around everyday. The same holds true when a person goes on the stand to testify. I see the billboard around the city, "Don't snitch, testify". I understand that the police need the people to assist in alot of these cases, but what are they doing to protect the people. It makes it easier when it's someone you know or a relative, but it's still just as hard to come forward. I've heard about many people being put into protective custody, but that mean uprooting your entire LIFE simply to put one person away and your safety is still not guaranteed. That is not going to stop the violence, it's just one less person to think about. I don't have the answers, but I haven't given up HOPE either. I will continue to work with our children & teach them right from wrong; give them a sense of hope, and guide them in the right direction. As long as the people who care, continue to work with the people who don't care, MLK's dream will come TRUE!

-- Ericka W.

Thank you for your Invisible Men project. Reading the comments from readers was an enlightening experience. I have not lived in this city my whole life, and I am lucky not to have experienced racism first hand. But it is obvious that there is a first-world Pittsburgh and a third-world Pittsburgh. And I feel I speak for most white residents when I say that the best thing for us would be to have that other Pittsburgh brought forward, with its residents intact and keeping their color.

I am troubled by the news that a list of police-cooperators is circulating through the community. I witnessed gun violence and was asked by the police to help enforce the law. As a citizen, I felt I had no choice but to fulfill my duty. We must act with the community's best interest in mind.

Now, I wonder if I am on the list. I wonder if my family is in danger. I understand why people in troubled, violent communities are afraid to cooperate with the police.

On a larger scale, I believe this is one of the causes for the disparity between the experience in this city for whites and blacks. People need to be able to live without constant fear and children need to grow up without experiencing violence. Many white people have an advantage, because the police are able to protect them. But the police are hamstrung in the neighborhoods that need them most, because residents are afraid to cooperate.

If a crime occurs, people in my neighborhood do what they can to help the police. They feel they are working on the same side. I can't imagine a store in my neighborhood selling DVD's put out by gangs to promote a code of silence and lawlessness, and the residents wouldn't stand for it.

What I would like to see is those vocal in the black community decry the anti-criminal justice mentality, in a loud and clear voice. And I would like to see the police step up and provide the protection they need.

-- Michael S.

You people at the newspaper along with big mouths in the police department just confirmed the list as being right. Nice going!

"Named on the list are confidential police informants, crime victims who have testified or planned to testify, and prison inmates who have testified or planned to testify against co-conspirators or former cellmates."

"Local law enforcement officials said they recognized the names of a number of people who have testified or given information to authorities and the names of inmates serving state or federal sentences who might share information in return for a lighter sentence."

-- Bob H.

This so called "honor" of not snitching is a farce. It may appear that many fear to inform, but in reality and behind closed doors away from the crowds many do come forward be it thru anonymous phone calls, letters or confidential informants. The problem lies when these heros have to appear in court and testify in front of their antagonists. Perhaps they can testify in a closed session or thru video to remedy the stigma of the "snitch" But believe me, I work in Corrections and the "no snitching" rule is a myth. Many do come forward, but just not in an open manner. If police and prosecuters want better cooperation they must find a remedy to the practice of putting the witness on display and feet away from the defendant, his family and friends!

-- B.K.

In working with youth, I know that the current mantra is "snitches get stitches;" a sad commentary on a message that their heroes (hip-hop artists, mainly) are putting on t-shirts and preaching at concerts. Doing the right thing knows no race or social class; protecting our neighborhoods from crime is our responsibility. Making it seem wrong to do so is simply empowering the criminals more and is patently insane.

-- Corey

The anti-snitching campaign that is encouraged in hip-hop and gansta rap songs and videos and promoted by various artists should be a warning to the black community. When you begin to the share common values and beliefs of the criminal element that is tearing apart the very fabric of your community, your community is in jeopardy of self destructing. I watched an episode of 60 minutes last week in which "anti-snitching" was one of the segments. Those young people interviewed unanimously agreed they wouldn't snitch. Some went so far as placing the blame on the police. I have heard this line of thinking before from blacks with whom I have contact. The police, in many of their minds, are the source of civil discontent and violence in their communities.

I see great similarities between the anti-snitching movement in the US and the use of sanctuary cities by illegal immigrants. Even though the intended purpose of sanctuary cities is to encourage illegals to approach law enforcement to report crimes, I think,just as in the black community, where the "po-po"is not trusted,so also in the illegal immigrant communities, the police are equally not trusted. So if you're an illegal and the guy next door is selling drugs,you don't get involved. Crime becomes the norm.we end up with the two poorest groups in our communities with no self interest in being law abiding. Pretty scary.

-- Rich T.