Aurora – T-shirts urging people not to “snitch” to police have sparked outrage, and black ministers on Wednesday called for a boycott.
“We don’t want anyone black, brown or red buying a T-shirt that talks about ‘Don’t snitch,”‘ said the Rev. Acen Phillips of Mount Gilead Baptist Church. “That is the most devastating thing I’ve heard in a long time, that people actually come out and campaign to keep criminals safe.”
Shirts selling in Aurora Mall and elsewhere demand “Stop Snitch’n” and “Don’t Talk 2 The Police.”
Authorities and victims’ families say the shirts promote violence and condone lawlessness.
Particularly upset are the families of Javad Marshall-Fields and Vivian Wolfe, 22-year-old Colorado State University graduates killed June 20 in an apparent gang hit on an Aurora street.
Marshall-Fields was the key witness for the prosecution in a murder trial that was to start June 27. He allegedly was threatened the night before he was killed. No one has been charged in his death, and police are still seeking information.
Marshall-Fields had told police he saw Robert Keith Ray, 19, drive the getaway car from Lowry Park in July 2004 after Marshall-Fields’ friend Gregory Vann had been shot and killed.
Ray’s trial has been postponed to November. He is being held in the Arapahoe County Jail on upgraded charges that he killed Vann.
“Javad was not a snitch,” said Marshall-Fields’ sister, Maisha Pollard. “Vivian wasn’t a snitch. They were honorable young people. … We want people to continue to stand for what is right. Javad and Vivian left a legacy to choose to do the right thing.”
Christine Wolfe, Vivian Wolfe’s mother, learned about three stores selling the shirts. She contacted the Korean owner of two of them, EZ Market on Colfax Avenue and Revolution in Aurora Mall.
Wolfe, who is also Korean, explained to the owner, Sang No, what the phrase meant and told him about the double homicide.
He pledged not to sell the shirts any more.
The saying came from a DVD featuring Baltimore drug dealers threatening to harm people who have been witnesses in cases against them. Denver Nuggets forward Carmelo Anthony is seen briefly on the recording, which vaulted it to national infamy and made the “Stop Snitch’n” phrase marketable street lingo.
Staff writer Jeremy Meyer can be reached at 303-820-1175 or jpmeyer@denverpost.com.
SCLC center weighed: The Southern Christian Leadership Conference is considering establishing a conflict- resolution center in the Denver area. 1A
