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Baltimore is known as the home of many things – blue crabs and the Star Spangled Banner – and now it has a national reputation for murder and being the birthplace of the "Stop Snitching" DVD. This hip-hop style production that glorifies the gangster lifestyle, vilifies community whistle blowers and portrays silence on the part of witnesses as a tool against the police.

An array of panelists, invited by New Life UMC and Kinetics-Faith in Motion in East Baltimore, met recently to discuss what the community could do to reverse the trend of violence that has become synonymous with the city.

"We need people we can count on; we need people who feel compelled to do something on the negativity that is in our society today," said the Rev. Eric King of New Life UMC, as he started the forum initiated to push for more community participation to reverse the escalating crime rate.

More than 75 participants came in diverse age groups and background, all exploring their role in salvaging the city.

Laura McCrae, 21, a conference young adult leader, said the talks showed the city was headed in the right direction. "Holding this forum shows there is still hope for the city of Baltimore. It is important that the dialogue continues," she said.

On top of the agenda was the "Stop Snitching" DVD that has raised a swirl of controversy. It has been credited with causing witness intimidation that interferes with police investigations and court trials.

Many of the participants viewed snitching as giving information to law enforcement agencies and thereby betraying those in the community. They saw refusing to talk to the police as a reflection of community solidarity against an "unjust system" that is represented by the police.

Von Vargas, a religion-inspired hip-hop artist said that he was in the meeting to use his talents and gifts in music to honor God.

"A lot of hip-hop artists use their music to glorify death, murder and drug and alcohol abuse. Radio stations are saturated with music that takes all these negative things and turns them around to make them look cool," he said.

Vargas, who performed at the beginning of the discussions, said he was taking a stand for God in the hope that more young people would do the same.

"I speak for justice, peace and freedom and I only want God to use me as his mouthpiece. I sing about social issues that affect people’s lives. I use positive words, but keep the Hip Hop rhythm that draws young people to my music."

Vargas’ strategy is to use hip-hop to sell God to the community, just the way the corporate world uses it to sell shoes and cars. "God cares about the community and God uses people like me to stand up for him," he said.

In standing up for God, Vargas echoes the sentiments shared by King, who sees collaborative efforts as the only way to fight against vices in the community.

"We have no real connection with each other. We need to reclaim our communities through positive involvement. We need to look out for elders and children in the community so that if something negative happens in our neighborhood we can approach our neighbors for information," King said.
New Life UMC is making efforts to collaborate with organizations that are already connected to the community.

According to King, the church needs to be more involved in activities that open its doors and portray the church as a proactive and socially friendly place.

"The church has a strong position because it is seen as a positive force in the community," he added.
Dana Sparks, an outreach advocate who works with the Fraternity of Ex-offenders, (FOXO), sees the church as a useful ally in reaching a lot of people. However, she said, much more needed to be done.
"We need to take action and engage the community and community leaders to get to the heart of these problems," she said.

But engaging the community has proved to be an arduous task for the police, said Richard Hite, commander of Community Outreach and Crime Prevention for the Baltimore City Police Department.
According to Hite, the neutrality of the church could help the police in establishing links with the community. "We have never solved a problem without community involvement. We need the comm-unity; we have to have a witness to solve cases," he said.

Tyrone Powers, director of the Institute for Criminal Justice, Legal Studies and Public Service, said the community saw the police as an occupation force that is becoming notorious for its brutality among the city’s poor.

"We used to receive five to 10 calls a week on complaints about police brutality. Now we receive 40 to 50 calls a week. We are saturated," Powers said.

There was a general consensus that those who risk their lives to help the police need to know they will be protected, if need be.

As one participant stated, "I’m not going to talk to someone who is a stranger, knowing that what I have to share could put my life on the line."