The Life of Stan "Tookie" Williams

At 12:35 am today, December 13, 2005, 16 days before his 52nd birthday, Stanley "Tookie" Williams, the infamous co-founder of the Crips street gang died from lethal injection in the state of California, according to news reports. Him and his supporters' request for him to be granted clemency was denied by California Governor Arnold Schwarzenigger (I mean Schwarzenegger). If granted clemency, Williams would have been able to avoid the death penalty, but would have had to remain in prison the remainder of his life without the chance of parole, unless some kind of evidence surfaced that could prove his innocence. His death row sentence was given to him after he was convicted in 1981 for murdering 4 people in two separate incidents. Williams claimed his innocence to the day he died. This has been a hot topic not only in the news, but also on many Blogs that I came across today. The focus of this post is to share my thoughts on why I think he should have been granted clemency by the state of California.

I have been doing a little bit of research on Stanley "Tookie" Williams, so that I could get a better picture of who this man was. After finding out some of the work he's done since he's been in prison, I don't think he should have been executed. I say this with a little bit of reservation mainly because I don't know if I would be saying the same thing if it were my family members he was accused of murdering.

According to a fact sheet that appears to be endorsed by close associates of Williams, there was some shakiness in his conviction for the crimes. This document states that the physical evidence against Mr. Williams wasn't solid, nor was the credibility of the witnesses. The document goes on to state that several of the witnesses who supposedly heard him confess to the murders had their own serious brushes with the law they were dealing with at the time they testified against Mr. Williams. Remarkably each witness had their charges dropped or lessened as a result of testifying against Mr. Williams. Now I don't think it takes a rocket scientist to figure out that there was some corruption going on here. All this evidence was also based on what these witnesses supposedly heard and not that they actually saw him commit the crime. These witnesses certainly had a reason to make up a story so that they could save themselves from their own legal issues and I'm sure the government would have liked nothing more than to see him off the streets because of his gang affililation. I'm not saying I believe Mr. Williams didn't commit the crimes as I'm sure he was more than capable of doing so, but I trust the fairness of the judiciary process even less than an ex gang member. I suppose we we'll never know the real truth, and even if we did, it's too late for Mr. Williams at this point.

Suppose for a moment that he did commit these violent crimes; people can change and make good out of a bad situation, which is what this man was doing for the past several years of his life. He had been in prison for 24 years and seemed to have turned his life around and done a significant amount of good to combat violence in urban communities as best he could from a prison cell. He had written approximately 8 books for grade school kids, which includes some for highschool aged kids about the danger of gangs and the need to find other solutions for the frustrations many urban youth (particularly Black's and Hispanics) have to deal with as a result of racism, urban decay and poverty. He wrote a book called "Blue Rage, Black Redemption" which is a memoir of his life and how he became the kind of person that ended up being a co-founder of one of the largest gangs in American history and his words of wisdom for young urban kids to not follow in his footsteps. He made several Public Service Announcements to denounce the gang lifestyle. He developed an anti violence curriculum that was implemented with success in over 20 Chicago Public schools where there was a high incidence of violence. In addition to that, he has worked from inside his prison cell to build peace between long time rival street gangs and reportedly had some success with it.

I took the following text from his official website where he made an apology for all the suffering he caused America and beyond for the violence the Crips street gang has caused over the years:

The Apology

Twenty-five years ago when I created the Crips youth gang with Raymond Lee Washington in South Central Los Angeles, I never imagined Crips membership would one day spread throughout California, would spread to much of the rest of the nation and to cities in South Africa, where Crips copycat gangs have formed. I also didn't expect the Crips to end up ruining the lives of so many young people, especially young black men who have hurt other young black men.

Raymond was murdered in 1979. But if he were here, I believe he would be as troubled as I am by the Crips legacy.

So today I apologize to you all -- the children of America and South Africa -- who must cope every day with dangerous street gangs. I no longer participate in the so-called gangster lifestyle, and I deeply regret that I ever did.

As a contribution to the struggle to end child-on-child brutality and black-on-black brutality, I have written the Tookie Speaks Out Against Gang Violence children's book series. My goal is to reach as many young minds as possible to warn you about the perils of a gang lifestyle.
I am no longer "dys-educated" (disease educated). I am no longer part of the problem. Thanks to the Almighty, I am no longer sleepwalking through life.

I pray that one day my apology will be accepted. I also pray that your suffering, caused by gang violence, will soon come to an end as more gang members wake up and stop hurting themselves and others.

I vow to spend the rest of my life working toward solutions.

Amani (Peace),
Stanley "Tookie" Williams, Surviving Crips Co-Founder, April 13, 1997

This man clearly has done a lot of introspection while in prison and had turned his life around. The purpose of prison is to rehabilitate and though the prison systems in America aren't good at doing this, some men do change and Mr. Williams was an example of that. He has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize 4 times and even was acknowledged by the current president Bush whom Mr. Williams received a presidential award from for the anti violence work he was doing.

I think I've made a strong enough case, at least for myself, that Gov. Schwarzenigger (and I mean it this time) made the wrong decision to not grant this man clemency. I say Schwarzenigger because if he weren't so ignorant, he would have seen that this man did all he could to undo the harm he did while he was running the streets of Los Angeles as a gang member in the 70's. A man should be judged by what he's done to make a positive impact on this world and without a doubt Mr. Williams has done that. But I'm sure that Schwarzenigger isn't phased by the fact that he's made one of the biggest mistakes of his career. He probably doesn't care that he's executed an important figure in the gang anti-violence movement, because the kind of lives that Williams touched aren't ones that White society values. Schwarzenigger seemed to be caught up in the fact that Williams, though convicted, never confessed to the crimes and never apologized or showed remorse for them and therefore deserved to die. Well maybe, just maybe, he didn't commit those murders and his conviction for truth was so strong that even in the face of death, he wouldn't acknowledge something he didn't do. To me, that shows a man with character and integrity and one that was worthy of clemency based on the work he did to better urban communities from inside his prison cell.

I hope that Stanley "Tookie" Williams will rest in peace. At least he knows he died with his dignity in tact and made great strides in redeeming himself from the corrupt lifestyle he was living prior to his imprisonment. Schwarzenigger will have to be the one to answer for his sins for wrongly executing this man. Indeed Mr. Williams spent the rest of his life working toward solutions to urban violence and for that, he deserves much respect.