(no subject)
So, in a little under half an hour the state of California will put Stanley Tookie Williams to death by lethal injection. In the early 1970's he and a friend founded the Crips, who along with the Bloods fought some of the bloodiest gang wars in the nations history. He was convicted on quadruple murder charges, the killing of four people during two seperate holdups.
The trial featured some irregularities: "What the jury saw was a muscle-bound hulk in a 4X jacket. What they heard about was barbaric: two cold-blooded robbery murders within 12 days, four dead and a suspect who was said to laugh hysterically as he mimicked the gurgling last breaths of one victim.
Who they heard it from: an alleged accomplice granted immunity, a jailhouse informant, an acquaintance with a checkered criminal past, a friend who later claimed police beat him into testifying. A police expert tied a shell casing from one crime scene to a slide-action 12-gauge shotgun owned by Stanley "Tookie" Williams, but there were no fingerprints, no pictures, no bystanders to finger him. And no DNA that could bolster or silence his claim of innocence." From the Indiana Star, December 12.
Stanley Tookie Williams has always maintained that he was innocent of these charges. He has however, admitted deep regret for founding the Crips, and the criminality of the lifestyle he helped to create. Since his incarceration he has worked to stop gang violence, and get young people out of gangs. He has authored children's books used in school curriculums to encourage children away from gangs. His "Protocols for peace" a method based upon his own knowledge of street life, and international legal precedents he studied as he educated himself in prison, have successfully led to declarations of truces between gangs in several cities. In fact, he has been nominated more than once for a Nobel peace prize. Recently he has been working the current president of the NAACP on developing new methods for stopping gang violence. In recent interviews he appears to be awaiting his fate with a calm and reasonable acceptance.
Thousands of previous gang members have credited him, and the movie "Redemption" based on his life, with convincing them to get out gangs. And yet, Governor Schwarzenegger claims that he has not owned up to his crimes or shown any "real remorse" for the killings perpetrated by the Crips.
The Criminal Justice systems purported function is rehabilitation, not punishment. Whether Tookie Williams is guilty or innocent of the crimes for which he was convicted, there is no question now of whether his death or his continued life will be of greater benifit to both the African American community, and to American society at large. If there was ever a clear and obvious case for the use of the executive power of clemency, this is it.
Any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind.
--John Donne
The trial featured some irregularities: "What the jury saw was a muscle-bound hulk in a 4X jacket. What they heard about was barbaric: two cold-blooded robbery murders within 12 days, four dead and a suspect who was said to laugh hysterically as he mimicked the gurgling last breaths of one victim.
Who they heard it from: an alleged accomplice granted immunity, a jailhouse informant, an acquaintance with a checkered criminal past, a friend who later claimed police beat him into testifying. A police expert tied a shell casing from one crime scene to a slide-action 12-gauge shotgun owned by Stanley "Tookie" Williams, but there were no fingerprints, no pictures, no bystanders to finger him. And no DNA that could bolster or silence his claim of innocence." From the Indiana Star, December 12.
Stanley Tookie Williams has always maintained that he was innocent of these charges. He has however, admitted deep regret for founding the Crips, and the criminality of the lifestyle he helped to create. Since his incarceration he has worked to stop gang violence, and get young people out of gangs. He has authored children's books used in school curriculums to encourage children away from gangs. His "Protocols for peace" a method based upon his own knowledge of street life, and international legal precedents he studied as he educated himself in prison, have successfully led to declarations of truces between gangs in several cities. In fact, he has been nominated more than once for a Nobel peace prize. Recently he has been working the current president of the NAACP on developing new methods for stopping gang violence. In recent interviews he appears to be awaiting his fate with a calm and reasonable acceptance.
Thousands of previous gang members have credited him, and the movie "Redemption" based on his life, with convincing them to get out gangs. And yet, Governor Schwarzenegger claims that he has not owned up to his crimes or shown any "real remorse" for the killings perpetrated by the Crips.
The Criminal Justice systems purported function is rehabilitation, not punishment. Whether Tookie Williams is guilty or innocent of the crimes for which he was convicted, there is no question now of whether his death or his continued life will be of greater benifit to both the African American community, and to American society at large. If there was ever a clear and obvious case for the use of the executive power of clemency, this is it.
Any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind.
--John Donne