Nobel Laureates Urge Clemency for Stanley 'Tookie' Williams

[Sapphire Blue]

Nobel Laureates Urge Clemency for Stanley 'Tookie' Williams

LOS ANGELES -- In a letter released Wednesday, a group of Nobel laureates joined activists in urging Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to grant clemency to Stanley "Tookie" Williams, who is set to be executed Dec. 13.

In the letter, Nobel laureates Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Mairead Corrigan Maguire, Betty Williams and Jody Williams and nearly 120 other people call on the governor to commute Williams' "sentence of death to life in prison."

<snip>

"Through his work, gang truces have been mediated and long-standing wounds have been healed. Lives have been saved," the letter to the governor says. "... That an inmate on San Quentin's death row has earned five nominations for the Nobel Peace Prize and four for the Nobel Prize for Literature requires consideration."

The group is calling on Schwarzenegger "to affirm the human capacity for personal transformation and reinforce the meaning of hope for young people everywhere."

Continued @ http://www.nbc4.tv/news/5394294/detail.html

Support the effort to save Tookie at http://www.savetookie.org

To learn more about Tookie and his work on behalf of children and families across the world, visit http://www.tookie.com

PLEASE also call, email, and FAX Gov. Schwarzenegger...

Phone: [phone]

Email: [email protected]

FAX: [phone]

(Please note that I am advocating that Tookie's death sentence be commuted, not that he be freed; if his death sentence is commuted, he will serve a life sentence in prison. And yes, I am fully aware of who he was in the past... as well as who he is today. And I am against the death penalty in all cases. And I wish you all mercy.)

[Sapphire Blue]

1. kick

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[Sapphire Blue]

107. Related thread: Laura Flanders (AAR) interviews 'Tookie' Williams advocate

Laura Flanders (AAR) interviews 'Tookie' Williams advocate, Barbara Becnel: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x5461264

[Ladyhawk]

2. Kick! n/t

[Sapphire Blue]

3. Redemption: A Perspective by Stanley "Tookie" Williams

Redemption: A Perspective by Stanley "Tookie" Williams
By Stanley "Tookie" Williams
-Guest Columnist-
Updated Nov 19, 2005, 12:28 pm

(excerpt)

To say the least, I am a controversial figure with an unenviable gang legacy (Crips co-founder) that will forever haunt me.

Thus, it was highly improbable that I, a Black man on San Quentin’s death row, would overcome egregious odds to radically transform my life, author nine children’s books, create a viable program for youth (the Internet Project for Street Peace, an international peer mentoring and violence prevention effort), meet Winnie Mandela, gain worldwide recognition and be nominated for the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize.

<snip>

Nonetheless, I have been called an unrepentant sinner, a moral coward, criminal beast, serial killer and a Fox News network reporter even compared me to Adolph Hitler. My belief is that such ungodliness in the judgment of me is the toxic product of American racism. A Black man is not supposed to be capable of redeeming himself.

People tend to forget the transitions of Saul, who became Paul, Moses, King David and Saint Aurelius Augustine, who was not always saintly, given the boy he sired by a mistress. Another controversial transformation was Alfred Nobel, himself, who invented dynamite and, ultimately, created the Nobel Peace Prize. A newspaper mistakenly printed Alfred Nobel’s obituary instead of his dead brother’s: the headline accused Alfred Nobel of earning his wealth through an invention (dynamite) that countless people had used to kill one another. The misprint served as a premonition for Alfred Nobel, allowing him to see how the world would judge him. It provoked his transition.

http://www.finalcall.com/artman/publish/article_2279.shtml

[Sapphire Blue]

4. BETWEEN THE LINES: Clemency Countdown For Stanley 'Tookie' Williams ...

BETWEEN THE LINES: Clemency Countdown For Stanley 'Tookie' Williams ... The Racial Politics of Capital Punishment

By Anthony Asadullah Samad
(November 23, 2005)

Clemency for Stanley "Tookie" Williams. As we continue to push Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger for clemency, there are plenty of reasons to call the practice of capital punishment into question. Part of the reason that the death penalty is so controversial is not just its inhumaneness (which was discussed in the first part of the series), but also in its selective application. It is a racially biased endeavor that is the core of no less than two dozen studies over the past decade.

<snip>

There are three factors that create this bias against black men; jury bias (where one study identified that nearly a third of qualified jurors in potential death penalty cases indicated that they had a prejudiced view of Blacks), prosecutor bias (99.7% of the nation's prosecutors in death penalty cases are white) and judicial bias (judges issue longer sentences and more death sentences to black defendants, and at a more frequent rate than any other defendant). There's even instances where judges collude with prosecutors to identify jurors most likely to bring about death penalty convictions. One in three black defendants up for murder are tried with "special circumstances," versus one in eight for whites. The system is, literally, stacked against black defendant in death penalty cases. More stacked than in any other trial encounters in the
criminal justice system.

In fact, this study calls "being black" such an "aggravating factor" that cases in which Blacks kill non-blacks (versus non-blacks killing non-blacks, or non-blacks killing blacks) have a much higher death sentencing rate-two and a half times higher. Another issue that is relevant in Williams case. Just a point of note, Blacks who kill other Blacks have the lowest death sentencing rate of the four categories mentioned. Hmmm. The point is that the judge, the prosecutor and the jury see when a black defendant is involved, and the public polls higher, in favor of the death penalty, when an execution date is set-understanding that it will disproportionately black defendants. Of the 59 people put to death in 2004, a third (19) were Black. California executed one person in 2004, a Hispanic. Race and the death penalty is not a figment of our imagination. In fact, it's a figment of nobody's imagination. This issue has been studied for the past 20 years. In the late 1980s, Congress asked the general Accounting Office to review the empirical studies on race and the death penalty which had been conducted up to that time. The GAO reviewed 28 studies that looked both race of defendant and race of victim discrimination, finding that in 82% of the studies, race of the victim was found to influence the likelihood of being charged with capital murder case with death as the penalty. Clearly, all the evidence studied for the past three decades associate race with the application of capital punishment, the sentencing of death and the frequency
of execution.

So disparate is race in death penalty cases evident that last year, a group of 450 attorneys participating in the Conference of Delegates of the California Bar Association called for a two year moratorium on executions until the state reviews whether capital punishment laws are fairly and uniformly enforced. They also called for Governor Schwarzenegger to create an independent committee to examine the issue of race, the reliability of convictions and whether the condemned had adequate legal representation. All are questions raised in the conviction and sentencing of Tookie Williams. Schwarzenegger has yet to respond to the bar association call. In 2003, State Senator Gloria Romero also called for a special committee to study that state's death penalty. It is time California paid the same attention to the flaws of the capital punishment system that Illinois has. Illinois placed a moratorium on the death penalty and its previous Governor, George Ryan's, last official act was to give clemency to all the state's death row prisoners, converting their death sentences to life in prison-the ultimate acknowledgment of a most biased application of the state's most questionable act. California needs to do the same thing. Start with Stanley Tookie Williams.

http://eurweb.com/story.cfm?id=23579

[Sapphire Blue]

5. Save Stanley "Tookie" Williams

Save Stanley "Tookie" Williams
by Stewart A. Alexander Friday, Nov. 18, 2005 at 5:57 PM

(excerpt)

It is very well known that Stanley “Tookie” Williams was the co-founder of the infamous Crips. However our local, state and federal governments made gang involvement profitable for gang members and corporate America. This lucrative market has thrived in the African American community.

Our officials at all levels of government turned and looked the other way and allowed drugs to proliferate on the streets of California and America and turned our families, homes and neighborhoods into kennels of death. The lives of African Americans are no more than a profitable venture for corporate America, not for good but for evil.

The plan is broad in scope: build more prisons, create the environment for crime, then create institutions to houses our victims. We will even show how committed we are to punishing the criminal; we will put them to death. But in reality the system itself has become the criminal.

<snip>

Tookie Williams is an American son. America created Tookie Williams. Now his most outstanding crime is that he’s turning the youth of America away from crime and gangs. For that alone there is a rush to put him to death.


Stewart A. Alexander
2006 Candidate
California Lieutenant Governor
Peace and Freedom Party
stewartalexander4p&[email protected]

http://sf.indymedia.org/news/2005/11/1722226.php

[nofurylike]

30. "For that alone there is a rush to put him to death. " yes! shocking! eom

[nofurylike]

6. thank you so much for posting this, Sapphire Blue! will do, and do... eom

[goclark]

60. I have sent the email to all my friends,thanks SapphireBlue!

I am delighted to see the compassion and understanding in this thread.

Your thread helped to crystalize my thought on the horror of the Death Penalty.

I have never heard of a could be murderer that said," Oops, let me back off, if I do this I could get the Dealth Penalty and that would not be a good thing to happen to me."

[Sapphire Blue]

62. I also appreciate the tone of this thread & the posters who have commented

[nofurylike]

98. the tone really has changed from the first, hasn't it? i think you posted

so much to inform people of the facts, that many found out pre-judgments were not correct.

thank you!


peace!

[Sapphire Blue]

100. Yes, and I really hope the articles in this thread are being read!

[nofurylike]

7. i hope everyone will write and call. please. eom

[ulysses]

8. recommended.

Thanks.

[nofurylike]

9. kick and recommended eom

[terrya]

10. Signed the petition and recommended this thread. Thanks. n/t

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11. kick

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15. this is extremely important, and urgent. please do this, folks? peace! eom

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16. kick

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17. thank you for all the added information, Sapphire Blue! eom

[hiley]

18. recommend

kick

[Brundle_Fly]

19. I don't understand...

lots of people change in prison, this man has caused immeasurable pain and suffering to others, what line in the sand are we drawing?

I am against the death penalty, but not the law, he has clearly broken the law, and he has been served his punishment by a jury.

[nofurylike]

20. then please act on this because you are against the death penalty. eom

[Brundle_Fly]

23. but I am against all death penalties....

like the one that just happened where an innocent man was put to death. Why was no one out there defending him, he was innocent.

I am in Canada, we don't have a death penalty. I just wonder why this one, with a proven guilty party is SO much more important than the ones where the accused are innocent.

[nofurylike]

25. every one of them has been found guilty. i don't know which man

you are referring to, there are so many, and the fight against the death penalty is endless, with three more cases next week.

in this case, i focus on it much because he was convicted on circumstantial evidence. no execution must ever be allowed on circumstantial evidence. especially not in a proven-racist judicial system.

point is, when not absolutely certain, how can an execution proceed?

without a fair trial, how can they be certain?

i work in abolition. this case is the one most full of doubts. at this moment, that is.

now, please tell me what man you were referring to? thank you.


peace!

[Brundle_Fly]

28. sorry not trying to start a fight, just wondering

why this one is so much more important

here is the article about the innocent guy...

Did Texas Execute An Innocent Man?

By Tracy Stokes, BET.com Staff Writer & Wire Reports

Posted Nov. 23, 2005 – Did Texas execute the wrong man for a 1993 robbery-murder? A prosecutor, the jury forewoman and even a victim in the case say "yes," The Houston Chronicle reported.

Ruben Cantu was 17 at the time he was accused by one witness for the murder of Pedro Gomez. That eyewitness, Juan Moreno, who was wounded during the robbery, told The Chronicle that Cantu was not the murderer.

Moreno even failed to pick Cantu out of two police line-ups, But in a third line-up, Moreno identified him.

Moreno told The Chronicle that police convinced him that Cantu was definitely the killer and that he testified based on that information. "That was bad to blame someone that was not there," he told the newspaper.

Cantu was put to death by legal injection in 1993. He was 26 and had no previous convictions.

http://www.bet.com/News/execution_cantu.htm?wbc_purpose=Basic&WBCMODE=PresentationUnpublished&Referrer=%7B03CE5360-2620-42CB-AD7E-77E4249C5FB7%7D

[nofurylike]

29. that was in 1993, and we have fought ceaselessly for that to be proven.

it will be, it is being. it is one of many cases of innocents being executed, or on death row, that are the basis for giving every chance to any where there is ANY doubt. there is doubt in this case.

there are more executions than we can hope to keep up with. it is non-stop now.


i simply asked you to look into the information provided by Sapphire Blue. if you do, you will understand better.

a discussion, even a disagreement, is not "a fight."

thank you!


peace!

[Brundle_Fly]

32. peace.

[nofurylike]

33. does that mean you've read the info all over this place? thank you! eom

[nofurylike]

31. btw, the crime happened in 1985, not 1993. article got it wrong. eom

[nofurylike]

26. other issues in Williams' case, that make it urgently important, are

made clear in all the literature supplied you in these threads.

Sapphire Blue has given so much that shows why! info, and links to plenty more info!


peace!

[nofurylike]

21. kick

[Dunvegan]

24. Kicked, Nominated...

...and signed the petition.

America is the only (supposedly) first-world Western country that engages in the death penalty to this day.

Had South Africa executed Nelson Mandela while he was imprisoned (and Mandela remained a threat for some 20 years to their power...until his release realized that threat to colonialism via the abolition of apartheid) South Africa would be a "Jim Crow" country even today.

Save clusters of cells...execute Nobel Peace Prize nominees.

Some first-world country.

[nofurylike]

27. yes, and it's getting worse here. shameful!

first-world fascism, that is.


peace!

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[Sapphire Blue]

39. Dead man talking

Dead man talking
INTERVIEW BY STEVE BOGGAN
November 24, 2005
Tookie Williams faces the death penalty on December 13 for murder, a case that has divided America

Williams is due to be executed by lethal injection on December 13. As co-founder of the Crips, America’s most notorious gang, and murderer of four innocent people, you might expect his passing to go unopposed, save for the usual objections of the anti-death penalty lobby. But you would be wrong.

His execution is causing more than the usual amount of debate in the US, more dissent, more soul-searching. Because the violent, narcissistic thug who was placed behind bars amid much rejoicing 24 years ago is not the same man who will have chemicals pumped into his veins in three weeks’ time. The Stanley Williams who faces death has undergone a dramatic change in personality, a rehabilitation that has seen him develop into an influential writer on the receiving end of five Nobel Peace Prize nominations and four for the Nobel Prize for Literature.

<snip>

“I look back now and what I see is a pattern of self-hate — not just in me, but among all the people I associated with,” he says. “When you grow up fed with a constant diet of stereotypes about criminal black people, on TV, in movies and the media, you slowly begin to believe it. You hate those stereotypes and you hate what you become. And what it leads to is most destructive — violence against other black people who are also filled with self-loathing. It becomes self-perpetuating.”

<snip>

“They propagate rehabilitation and reform but when it comes down to it they destroy it by any means necessary. By being alive I can save the lives of people involved in gangs — but who are those people? They are mostly poor black people and if I am killed what message does it send? “It tells people in prison that it isn’t worth trying to change and it tells the young black people in gangs that their lives are not worth saving.”

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,7-1885637_1,00.html

[nofurylike]

41. excellent article, Sapphire Blue, thank you! eom

[Sapphire Blue]

40. Williams' Attorneys Launch New Effort to Stay Execution

Williams' Attorneys Launch New Effort to Stay Execution
Lawyers for the Crips co-founder ask the state Supreme Court to allow access to evidence they say was withheld during the 1979 trial.
By Henry Weinstein, Times Staff Writer

(excerpt)

Attorneys for Stanley Tookie Williams, co-founder of the Crips gang, implored the California Supreme Court on Wednesday to grant them access to a broad array of trial evidence as part of an effort to show that his 1979 conviction for four Southern California murders was unconstitutional.

"Discovery must be granted to avoid an egregious miscarriage of justice," Pasadena attorney Verna Wefald wrote in a last-ditch legal effort to prevent 51-year-old Williams' execution, scheduled for Dec. 13 at San Quentin State Prison.

Williams' attorneys also have formally asked Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to grant him clemency for his work as an anti-gang activist on death row.

Wefald is seeking the information under a 2003 California law enacted in the aftermath of the Los Angeles Police Department's Rampart corruption scandal. She asserts that the defense is entitled to material improperly withheld by the prosecution.

Continued @ http://www.latimes.com/news/local/state/la-me-williams24nov24,1,947679.story?coll=la-news-state&ctrack=1&cset=true

[nofurylike]

42. kick for morning folk. hope they'll write and call! back tonight... eom

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43. kick

[Sapphire Blue]

44. A Question of Redemption

A Question of Redemption

Amy Fisher 11/22/2005 1:41 pm

(excerpt)

He is a children's author and Nobel Peace Prize nominee acclaimed for his efforts to reduce gang violence, a man admired by many and even glorified by hip hop artists such as Snoop Dogg. Williams wrote his memoir in 2004, called Blue Rage, Black Redemption. Jamie Foxx portrayed him in the movie Redemption: The Stan "Tookie" Williams Story, based on his biography. He is Stanley "Tookie" Williams, the latest dead man walking in California; his only hope for salvation is Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

<snip>

Barbara Becnel, spokeswoman for Williams as well as his co-author, told AP, "Some lives mean more than others."

She said, "What troubles me about the devaluing of Stan's work and its impact on many low-income youngsters...is, they're saying, 'We don't care if Stanley Tookie Williams could help another 5,000, 10,0000 or 100,000 kids.'"

Becnel also told AP that the committee of prison officials has even commended Williams for his positive steps.

http://www.longislandpress.com/?cp=156&show=article&a_id=6586

[nofurylike]

46. "For that alone there is a rush to put him to death. " FOR helping!

aaaaarrrrgh!!

off for now.

thank you, Sapphire Blue!


solidarity!

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45. kick

[Sapphire Blue]

47. Activists Hold Rally at San Quentin to Save Tookie Williams

Activists Hold Rally at San Quentin to Save Tookie Williams
By J. DOUGLAS ALLEN-TAYLOR

(excerpt)

Demonstrators crowded the narrow street leading to the east entrance to San Quentin Prison on Saturday morning to demand clemency for convicted murderer and Nobel Peace Prize nominee Stanley “Tookie” Williams.

<snip>

During the rally, Barbara Becnel, the Richmond community activist who has spent the past several years working on Williams’ legal appeals, told the crowd, “Saving Stan’s life saves lives. He has already saved tens of thousands of young people’s lives by inspiring them through his teachings. If we don’t want to save his life, it means we don’t want to save the lives of those tens of thousands of youths. That’s an immoral position.”

Appealing directly to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, Becnel said, “I have to believe that the governor is a moral man and will do the moral thing.”

Minister Tony Muhammad of Los Angeles, a representative of Farrakhan’s Nation of Islam organization, said, “The Stanley ‘Tookie’ Williams I know is a redeemed man. It’s not how you start in life, but how you finish. Stanley ‘Tookie’ Williams can be more of a help alive to people in the streets of LA, Chicago, New York, England.”

http://www.berkeleydaily.org/text/article.cfm?issue=11-22-05&storyID=22811

[nofurylike]

55. "I have to believe that the Governor is a moral man..." thank you for

these new articles, Sapphire Blue.
excellent.


peace!

[Sapphire Blue]

48. Interview w/Barbara Becnel, Stefanie Faucher, & others

From Pacifica Radio...

Stanley "Tookie" Williams, and the state of the Death Penalty in California

First Hour - Stanley "Tookie" Williams, and the state of the Death Penalty in California

Stanley "Tookie" Williams is petitioning Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger for clemency. He'd scheduled to be put to death by the state December 13th. We'll discuss, Tookie Teach in Week, and the state of the Death Penalty in California. Joining us... Barbara Becnel, Williams' advocate, and author with him of several childrens books Stefanie Faucher, Program Director, Death Penalty Focus, coordinating Tookie Teach-in Week and others...

Download: http://157.22.130.4/data/20051113-Sun0900.mp3

Stream: http://www.kpfa.org/cgi-bin/gen-mpegurl.m3u?server=157.22.130.4&port=80&mount=/data/20051113-Sun0900.mp3

http://www.pacifica.org/programs/sundaysalon/051113.html

[nofurylike]

56. that's great, a "Tookie Teach-in Week" and more! thanks! eom

[Sapphire Blue]

49. kick

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52. kick

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53. kick

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54. kick

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57. kick. please, people, act on this! eom

[AnnieBW]

58. Turn Your Life Around, and Still Get Executed

I don't get this. Tookie really turned his life around, is a model prisoner, and does a lot of work to keep kids out of gangs. But yet, he's being executed because the victims' families want "justice" (read: revenge). I'm not surprised that Ah-nuld wants to "terminate" Tookie. It's the type of street justice that he's pushed in his movies all of these years. But, you would think that Tookie would serve as an example of how the "corrections" system can actually WORK.

[Sapphire Blue]

59. Did you read the articles posted in replies #5 & #39?

[Sapphire Blue]

61. And the articles in posts #3 & #4?

[nofurylike]

63. another step forward, i hope! Schwarzenegger Mulls Clemency,,,

Schwarzenegger Mulls Clemency for Williams

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=post&forum=104&topic_id=5445949&mesg_id=5445949


Schwarzenegger Mulls Clemency for Williams
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger Says He Will Consider Clemency for Condemned Crips Founder Stanley Tookie Williams
Nov 25, 2005

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=1346734

SAN FRANCISCO Nov 25, 2005 — Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said Friday he would consider granting clemency to convicted killer Stanley Tookie Williams, the Crips gang founder who became an anti-gang activist while in prison and was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.

The governor said he would meet Dec. 8 in a private hearing with Williams' lawyers, Los Angeles County prosecutors and others involved.

-snip-

***

thank you for all you do, Sapphire Blue!


peace!

[Sapphire Blue]

64. Thank you so much for posting this!

I have signed the petition, called, emailed, and faxed Schwarzenegger's office, pleading for Tookie's life. I have posted here on DU, called & emailed friends (some of whom are in the religious life & supporting Tookie's clemency)... and now I will pray... and continue praying.

May God / Allah / Jehovah / YHWH / the Creator / Waheguru / the One have mercy on us, awaken our souls and restore humanity.

[nofurylike]

67. the least i could do, Sapphire Blue. you have done so much!

"...Goddess, have mercy on us, awaken our souls and restore humanity"

yes
yes yes yes

i chant and pray with you!

peace and
solidarity!

[nofurylike]

76. sorry! link correction

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x1948028


thank you for the heads up, Sapphire Blue!


peace!

[H2O Man]

65. I hope that DUers will sign

the petition.

[Sapphire Blue]

66. PLEASE also call, email, and FAX Gov. Schwarzenegger...

Phone: [phone]

Email: [email protected]

FAX: [phone]

[Sapphire Blue]

105. kick

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68. kick. please, folks, write the governor! pass this on! eom

[nofurylike]

69. write the governor, please! eom

[Sapphire Blue]

70. Stanley "Tookie" Williams: Redemption or Revenge?

Stanley "Tookie" Williams: Redemption or Revenge?

Who knew that so many Huffington Post readers would be so thirsty for the blood of death row-inmate Stanley “Tookie” Williams? In my first post on the subject last week I had wanted to avoid the larger issue of the barbaric inanity of the death penalty to try to reach across the aisle to even the usually pro-death penalty people.

If Mr. Williams is granted clemency by Governor Schwarzenegger he will merely keep doing what he has been doing for the past two decades behind bars: trying to convince others not to follow in his footsteps. I tried to argue that as a symbol of redemption he better serves the public good alive than dead.

For example, in the first four months of January of last year thirty-two Bloods and Crips in Newark, New Jersey, had been murdered in their senseless, ongoing feud. On April 11th, Easter Sunday, Redemption, the made-for-TV movie on Mr. Williams’ life starring Jamie Foxx, aired on the F/X channel. Some Crips and Bloods saw the show, immediately went online to Mr. Williams’ website and downloaded his “peace protocol.” By May the details were ironed out, a truce was signed and former Crip Kevin Tate and Blood Lawrence McKinnis now head an extremely non-criminal organization called, “S(aving). O(ur). S(elves).”

<snip>

And if you’re a Christian, you obviously must be against capital punishment, because Jesus Christ couldn’t be more explicit in his condemnation of killing. WWJD? He sure as hell wouldn’t flip the switch.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/trey-ellis/stanley-tookie-williams_b_1913.html

[Sapphire Blue]

71. Please call Gov. Schwarzenegger: 916-445-2841

Email: [email protected]

FAX: [phone]

[nofurylike]

72. please act on tiis! eom

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73. kick

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75. kick

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78. kick! eom

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79. please sign the petition. it got the gov's ear. eom

[nofurylike]

80. the governor is going to be considering this all week, then meeting

with the defense, etc., on the 8th.

please write him, call him, fax him! and please sign the petition!

thank you!


peace!

[Sapphire Blue]

81. Mercy for Tookie Williams

Mercy for Tookie Williams

By Earl Ofari Hutchinson, AlterNet. Posted November 21, 2005.

(excerpt)

But Tookie is not just another model prisoner. The co-founder of the Crips street gang's story reads like a gory tale of gang violence, mayhem and destruction. Yet it also reads like a saintly tale of spiritual renewal, public service and human achievement. His prize-winning children's books, Nobel Peace Prize nominations and anti-violence messages have been the stuff of public acclaim. His radical, life-affirming turnabout has made him a near-universal symbol of hope that even the most hardened, bitter, and incorrigible street thug can find salvation.

A very much alive Williams can continue to send the message of hope and redemption to thousands of other violence-prone young men who wreak havoc on poor black communities.

<snip>

With the handful of convicted killers who have shown by their humane actions that they have redeemed themselves, it makes no sense for a governor to hold them hostage to past political fears. Williams is certainly not Willie Horton, the convicted killer who, after being released on a weekend furlough from a Massachusetts prison, escaped and slashed a Maryland man and raped his fiancee. Schwarzenegger almost surely knows that. Further, clemency is not the same as freedom. Williams will likely spend the rest of his days in prison. That effectively eliminates the remote possibility that he could ever pose a threat to anyone on the streets.

The Williams case is unique. If Schwarzenegger grants him clemency, it won't set a frightening precedent that other condemned killers will cavalierly be let off the hook. It will simply be recognition that a prisoner who has shown that he can be a model and productive citizen will not be denied a second chance to do even more good for society.

Schwarzenegger should give Williams that second chance.

http://www.alternet.org/story/28559/

[Sapphire Blue]

82. kick

[nofurylike]

83. this is a crucially important next week. please, everyone, write, call! nt

[nofurylike]

84. kick! eom

[nofurylike]

85. kick! eom

[Sapphire Blue]

86. PLEASE call, email, and FAX Gov. Schwarzenegger...

Phone: [phone]

Email: [email protected]

FAX: [phone]

[Sapphire Blue]

87. Please read posts #3, #4, #5, #39, #40, #44, #47, #48, #63, #76, #70, #81

[Sapphire Blue]

89. kick

:kick:

[Sapphire Blue]

88. kick

:kick:

[Sapphire Blue]

90. A letter from Tom Hayden to Gov. Schwarzenegger...

An excerpt from a letter from Tom Hayden to Gov. Schwarzenegger...

Clemency for Stanley “Tookie” Williams, by former 60's activist & State Senator Tom Hayden
by Tom Hayden Monday, Nov. 21, 2005 at 12:01 PM

As for his motivation, I can only report what he told me. Many individuals, including icons like Malcolm X, only begin to change when they “hit bottom.” For inmates like “Tookie”, that sometimes means the Security Housing Unit, or “the hole”, where they suffer extreme and prolonged deprivation and isolation. Many never recover from the experience. “Tookie” Williams spent six years in “the hole” before he began an awakening. In a darkness analogous to Plato’s cave or Dante’s cold lowest depths, “Tookie” told me he discovered “how to reason.” An illiterate, he learned to spell and form words. He asked if I knew the word “anachronism” and when I nodded, he said “I think we were an anachronism. We were meant to be born in a warrior era.”

With reason and a dictionary, he studied the history of Africans in America and, as he told me, learned “we’re not worthless individuals driven by self-hate.” This is very much the recovery experience described by Dr. James Gilligan, who interviewed convicted murderers for thirty years, and described his findings in Violence, Our Deadly Epidemic; see also The Autobiography of Malcolm X, or Luis Rodriguez, La Vida Loca, for other transformation stories. They are the living dead, engulfed in shame, lacking nonviolent tools of expression, finding respect and reputation only through violence. They project their self-hate onto external victims but also onto themselves. Nevertheless, some of them find their way back.

“Tookie” Williams transitioned through all that madness, largely on his own. His path from the hole led to the discovery that he was endowed with conscience, he told me. From there he experienced remorse for years of “megalomania” in which “violence was the answer to everything” in his life. It was among the living dead in San Quentin that he found he could keep little homeboys on the outside from falling into the same tomb. “I’m not doing this to improve my case”, he told me. “I am doing this for my own redemption”, so that he could better face the possibility of death.

“Tookie” Williams is a different man than half a lifetime ago. But whether one agrees or not with my assessment of his inner life, there are many in the mainstream who argue for clemency. On Sept. 10, 2002, the same U.S Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals that upheld his conviction added that “Williams’ good works and accomplishments since incarceration make him a worthy candidate for the exercise of gubernatorial discretion”, or clemency. This gesture was, as far as I know, unprecedented; the prosecutor said, “I have never seen anything like this, certainly nothing so blatant or specific.”

Continued @ http://www.indybay.org/news/2005/11/1785006.php

[Sapphire Blue]

91. kick

:kick:

[nofurylike]

96. this is an excellent letter, Sapphire Blue! thank you! eom

[Sapphire Blue]

92. 17 days left to stop the execution!

http://www.savetookie.org

[nofurylike]

93. yes! thank you for the count! so much happening EACH day! eom

[nofurylike]

94. write, call, fax, everyone, please! eom

[Sapphire Blue]

95. kick

:kick:

[nofurylike]

97. please write, call, act on this! thank you! eom

[nofurylike]

99. please write and call! urgent! eom

[Sapphire Blue]

101. JAMIE FOXX ENDORSES CLEMENCY FOR 'TOOKIE'...

JAMIE FOXX ENDORSES CLEMENCY FOR 'TOOKIE': Crips Co-Founder Scheduled to Die Dec. 13

Most people familiar with hip-hop culture know who Stanley ‘Tookie’ Williams is. He is a Nobel Peace Prize nominee. His memoir, ‘Blue Rage, Black Redemption’ is a great informative read. The DVD ‘Redemption’ staring Jamie Foxx, and Lynn Whitfield has earned worldwide critical acclaim. He is a co- founder of the Crips.

Many hip-hop and rap artists are members or are affiliated with different gangs and this is no secret, as many sport sect tattoos or talk freely about their affiliations with different groups.

Oscar-winning actor Jamie Foxx has officially endorsed a Stan 'Tookie' Williams clemency campaign spearheaded by over 150,000 youth who claim the Nobel Peace Prize Nominee (set to be executed on Foxx's 38th birthday next month: Dec 13) has saved their lives with his nine anti-drug books and personal anti-gang mentoring over the past decade.

"We can't let happen," Foxx told Fox News at the October 30th New York premiere of his latest 'Jarhead' film. "We've got to do everything we can to get the word out."

Continued @ http://www.eurweb.com/story.cfm?id=23360

[Sapphire Blue]

102. Nov. 27, 2005... 16 days left to stop the execution.

Please call, fax & email Gov. Schwarzenegger...

Phone: [phone]

FAX: [phone]

Email: [email protected]

[Sapphire Blue]

103. Please fax a letter to Schwarzenegger supporting clemency @ 916-445-4633

[Sapphire Blue]

104. kick

:kick:

[fortyfeetunder]

106. kick

:kick:

[Fescue4u]

108. What are the Nobel Laurents doing for the family of his victims?

Considering how much misery "tookie" has his evil gang have spread, its proably just to much work to help them.

Have Mercy on his victims

[Sapphire Blue]

109. Please take your hatred elsewhere. I am putting you on 'ignore'.

And I wish you mercy.

[Fescue4u]

110. Yes. Fling an insult and then hide behind ignore

thats ok.

I don't hate Tookie. I just have more sympathy for his thousands of victims.

[hiaasenrocks]

112. Absolutely. I stand with the victims.

Always will.

[Sapphire Blue]

113. You are now also on ignore.

I wish you mercy.

[hiaasenrocks]

114. That's fine.

As some are ignoring the fact that he's a cold-blooded murderer. I wish the victims and their families mercy.

San Quentin: Williams Not "Model" Prisoner
Posted November 23, 2005 at 10:10 a.m.

... "He still associates with gang members, that he has been associating with for well over 20 years here on Death Row, exercise yards. He talks to them or he sees them or they communicate. These gang members are still close friends, people he will communicate with, and have respect, and in his confidence."

http://www.kron4.com/Global/story.asp?S=4159260

[hiaasenrocks]

111. Remember the victims.

[mtpWriter]

115. Here is an article

More to consider.... and more to think about when casting your vote with a brutal vicious murderer. YOU need mercy. But I bet you will "ignore" me too since you have a weak case. Have at it. You should be ashamed.
-----------------------------------
San Quentin spokesman Vernell Crittendon offers faint praise of Williams' recent record behind bars.

"I think, the last 10 years, he has not attacked any persons on Death Row, and has not been in violation of, any serious rule violation," Crittendon said. During the previous 15 years behind bars, Williams record was more checkered. "Well, he's been involved in incidents that involved sexual abuse, battery, assault on staff, threatening staff, fighting, just to list a few of the incidents that he's been involved in."

Williams is the co-founder of the Crips street gang. Crittendon says the condemned man refuses to give up his gang associations.

"He still associates with gang members, that he has been associating with for well over 20 years here on Death Row, exercise yards. He talks to them or he sees them or they communicate. These gang members are still close friends, people he will communicate with, and have respect, and in his confidence."

http://www.kron4.com/Global/story.asp?S=4159260

[Sapphire Blue]

116. Crittendon, huh? Go back to wherever you came from. You are ignored. Bye.

I wish you mercy.

[mtpWriter]

117. Wow. This person really can't face facts.

[hiaasenrocks]

118. Translation: Murderer, good.... prison spokesman, BAD.

Sigh.

[nofurylike]

119. do you even have the courage to look into the facts? if you find

them out, maybe then you might start your own thread discussing this as you, and some others, want to examine it.

maybe the real facts will surprise you, and you'll come back to these threads - NOT up for your debate, but seeking action by those who understand - and help us work for justice.

thank you


peace

[Fescue4u]

120. That Ignore button is going to get worn out at this rate

[noiretextatique]

132. facts: the article you posted quoted one prison official

who admitted williams' was clean for the past ten years, except for "associating" with gang members and not "denouncing" them. makes me wonder exactly who this prison official thinks is on death row. i would think other intelligent people would ask that same question...just who in the hell else would be associating with on death row?
what other facts are people not facing? perhaps you should provide another article with more facts to face.

[Fescue4u]

134. Wow, 10 years eh?

So you say he hasnt committed a heinous crime in 10 years.

Thats quite an achievement.

Its a good thing we arent talking about 20 years, because well then, well nevermind.

[Fescue4u]

121. Those kind of facts don't count

Here's a primer. Remember!.. Bad facts will earn you the dreaded ignore button.

Good facts:
------------
He loves Children
He has learned to read in prison
He thinks that killing people is bad now, and take a dim view of murder
He is sorry that he is in prison
He deserves to live a long life and die an old man.

Bad Facts:
-----------
He still associates with gang members
He killed 4 people that we know about
His gang that he founded has killed hundreds
This gang has terrorized tens of thousands
He has lived 20 some odd years LONGER than his victims, who were cut down in their youth.

[noiretextatique]

124. he "associates" with gang members in prison

:eyes: well...there's an indictment if there ever was one. WHO do you people think populates that prison? probably not members of the country club.
i am from the same area williams is from. i remember when the gangs violence first started, and i knew people who died...most of them teenagers. i remember why the violence started too...most of it was drug-related. i signed williams' petition for several reasons:

1) i am against the death penalty
2) his death would serve no purpose other than revenge
3) he has done something positive with his life, more than most people who are not in prison, and certainly more than most prisoners.
4) he will (likely) still spend the rest of his life in prison.
5) he is trying to save others from his fate...and his life. less violence = less victims.
and most importantly:
6) there are questions about the fairness of his trial, ergo the fairness of his conviction.

having said that...i am not so sure the terminator will grant him clemency.

[Fescue4u]

128. I was being kind

Would you prefer that I say "he conspires with them"?

[noiretextatique]

129. did ms. cleo tell you that?

or do you have a reliable source?

[Fescue4u]

130. A reliable source for being kind?

Thats just my opinion. Feel free to disagree.

[noiretextatique]

131. for the allegation you made...a source for that

if you care to provide one.

[Fescue4u]

133. Tell tell ya what. I apologize for saying a bad thing about the killer

I didnt mean to insult you by saying that A convicted killer associates with former gang members


But if you prefer, I will direct you to someone who does say that:
http://www.kron4.com/Global/story.asp?S=4159260

Perhaps you can get an apology from the prison to!

[nofurylike]

122. hello all. these threads are to ask for support from those who want to

give it. not to debate about the case. if you really want so much to debate it, why not start your own threads debating that? it's important.

these are for discussion of how to support justice for a man who never received a fair trial. he has been sentenced to execution for being someone who started what was a small local gang at the time. he sees it as a terrible mistake, and works ceaselessly to repair that damage.

execution for starting a gang? think about that.

execution for being black and starting a gang that (he acknowledges, himself) badly compensated for UNDERSTANDABLE (no?) feelings of powerlessness and inequality as a black man in LA in the sixties and seventies. think about that.

kill him for that?

*it has never been proven that he killed. he has never gotten a fair trial to determine that. recent evidence puts his guilt in serious doubt.* can we possibly allow this execution to take place, knowing that?!

the point is, *until you will look into the full facts*, please do not fill these well-meaning threads with empty debate, and especially not with uninformed hatred.

thank you


peace!

[Sapphire Blue]

123. Thank YOU... once again!

[nofurylike]

127. you're very welcome, Sapphire Blue. you do so very much! eom

[noiretextatique]

125. who needs evidence: he "associates" with gang members in prison

who cares about another black man being railroaded by this system? surely you know OJ evened the score forever :eyes:
:thumbsup: totally agree with you.

[Fescue4u]

126. If your case is strong enough. Then you should welcome dissent

It gives you a chance to show that you are correct and that the dissenters are wrong, hencing strengthing your efforts.

I understand what you are trying to acheive. Its respectable and honorable, even though i disagree with your position.

But remember, when you post your position on a discussion board, it is likely to draw...discussion.

[Moderator]

135. Locking

At starting member's request.