Studio8 - Uniting the Arts

an all white jury, six noble peace prize nominations.....
he will be executed in 45 minutes. (12:01 pst) Govenor Arnold denied every attempt for a stay of execution. This man never had his right to a trial with a jury of his peers. I hate authority. Fuck the system.

Tookie is dead, This country is dead.

Give me my
my lethal dose.

I'll sit, except and die.

Supreme court?
supreme enough to bury me. I died twenty minutes ago.

I didn't commit that wich they say I commited to.

My jury was white, I was wronged.
I am dead.

My name is Tookie.
My name is unfair and not constitution.

Yeah, Ol Tookie done paid his dues
So hand me down my guitar, Son
I got dem San Quentin death row blues...

If a Black Man Dies in America, Does It Make a Sound?

Killing Tookie Williams

By NATE MEZMER

If Stan Tookie Williams is executed tomorrow who will feel the negative effects? Most of those who support his state sponsored murder do not live in war torn regions of the Golden State of California. Thus it is difficult for these privileged people to understand the benefits of Stan's contributions on behalf of non-violence. However, because blacks are sentenced to death twice as frequently as whites who've been convicted of the same crime it appears that this may be more than a misunderstanding.

If a young black man is shot in South Central does it make a sound in Thousand Oaks?

If Stan Tookie Williams is executed tomorrow who will feel the negative effects? Stan was convicted of four murders 25 years ago in connection with armed-robbery however the key witnesses were felons who recieved 'benefits' in exchange for their testimony. ( facts of the case). I have encountered many people who say that since Stan was a gang-banger and a co-founder of the Crips that such facts alone should condemn him despite his transformation. This notion is almost laughable if it were not so dubious, especially in light of the fact that our own country, the United States of America, is currently disguising the hostile takeover of oil-rich Iraq as a righteous crusade for freedom.

If a young black man is shot in Hunter's Point does it make a sound in Hillsborough?

If Stan Tookie Williams is executed tomorrow who will feel the negative effects? The current administration in the White House is the most mafia regime in the history of the country and is thus run by some of the biggest gangsters in the world. The war in Iraq, a war based on falsehoods and conspiracies, collusion and neglegence, has been responsible for the murder of thousands of innocent civilians and has taken the lives of more than 2,100 US soldiers. This being said, no one is calling for the execution of the president?

If a young black man is shot in Watts does it make a sound in Orange County?

If Stan Tookie Williams is executed tomorrow who will feel the negative effects? Indeed, lessons in retribution and justice in the form of war and execution never seem to get the job done. After, 9/11 we haphazardly attacked two countries, enraging large portions of the global community and subsequently created a greater terror threat than had existed before. Maybe if we had stopped to understand why the attacks had occurred in the first place our nation and its soldiers would not be in the same deadly predicament? Furthermore, becasue violence begets violence, as the bumper sticker says, "why do we kill people who kill people, to show that killing people is wrong?"

If a young black man is shot in Richmond does it make a sound in the Oakland hills?

If Stan Tookie Williams is executed tomorrow who will feel the negative effects? Unlike the Christian re-birth of President Bush, the spiritual re-awakening of Stan Tookie Williams has been synonymous with peace. As documented, over 150 youth have pledged that Stan's writings and works have been responsible for their decision to remove themselves from the gang life. Since, 2001 Stan Tookie Williams has been nominated for 5 Nobel Peace Prizes and has won several awards for his work concerning non-violence. In that same time George W Bush has managed to invade two countries in the middle-east.

If a young black man is shot in South Sacramento does it make a sound in Granite Bay?

If Stan Tookie Williams is executed tomorrow who will feel the negative effects? After witnessing the government's reaction to Hurricane Katrina and New Orleans it seems that our nation is comfortable with stranding its black population. Although the tragedy did eventually spawn some national concern, we have since failed to address the real problem that blacks have been drowning in America for years. Thus the very fact that blacks are left to fend for themselves in ghettos and slums across the country does not bode well for an individual of the same color, who speaks out about such injustice and who's ultimate fate rests in the hands of the same people and the same system that creates such inequality.

If a black man is murdered in America does it make a sound?

*****

It saddens and disgusts me to say that America did indeed kill Tookie Williams!!

This wasn't justice, this was vengeance. America is not interested in rehabilitation; America is only interested in punishment. America preaches Christian values but has no interest in practicing Christian values.

Of course, America is an overwhelmingly Christian Country. And, Jesus of Nazareth had straightforward teachings about killing: "Do not murder." "Do not take revenge on someone who does you wrong." "Love your enemies and pray for those who mistreat you." "Blessed are the merciful." Jesus would not approve of the fundamentalist position on capital punishment.

America stand proud among your capital punishment loving brethren China, Iran, and Saudi Arabia?

someone's gotta play devil's advocate, so. . .

not sure exactly where i stand on the death penalty. funny as i'm in my 20's. okay, i'm in my 30's but whose counting?

but, didn't this piece of shit kill four people for no reason whatsoever? wasn't he convicted on four counts of first degree murder? didn't the appellate court affirm the verdict? didn't the supreme court find there was no error to be corrected? wasn't this guy the founder of one of the most vicious street gangs in the u.s.?

if i was related to any of the people this guy killed, i would have been waiting for this day for over two decades. i would have wanted this guy to swing from a rope tied to his neck until his legs stopped kicking. "Fuck him," i'd say. "Let him rot."

oh, and hey BP -- how you been, brother?

tookie originated a gang that still kills to this day.

that said, capital punishment is unjust in itself.

which lesson will be learned? will gang members learn that it's possible and better to lead a productive, artistic and meaningful life or will they learn that there is no justice, no forgiveness for the mistakes of youth? how many of those 150 will react with anger instead of creativity?

america failed tookie long before the courts got involved. once the courts get involved in pretty much anything, the failure is likely to continue. none of this justifies mass murder and no murder justifies capital punishment. it's everyone's fault, including foreign western countries who continue to bend over backward to merely rely on america's support. to a man, one foreign president carries more weight than one american citizen in terms of changing the culture of western society. would france again support another american revolution? would germany send in troops to help a self-armed militia from the back woods of new hampshire?

fuck da police fuck w fuck just dis fuck y'all fuck you and me and tookie too. it's all a big shitbag carnival.

someone's gotta play devil's advocate, so. . .

well pardon but could i see your credentials mr satan

Guilt is not the issue

The point was to save another life of a man who has redeemed himself, if he sat in that prison cell for another fifty years, he could have dealt with that and saved thousands of children from that life.



Arnold met him on the beach in Venice about thirty years ago, they used to work out together at the same gym, they were not buddies just chance aquaintences.

I reserve my anger not for the system, not for cops, not for gangs
but for that son of abitch govenor playing the game. Lets ammend the constituition and put his picture on a five thousand dollar bill, Who the hell was James Madison anyway.


rest in peace Stan, you done it, you turned it around, you are on your way to meet Clean Gene and the rest of the boys in puppy dog heaven
if only

Sometimes I just don't 'get' America. I've been following the Tookie story for some time now, and I'm amazed at how many American’s seem to salivate at the mention of the death penalty. It disgusts me to be honest. Its senseless violence, but oh how America loves senseless violence. Killing Tookie did not bring back those murdered four. Surely there was more good to be gained by keeping him alive than by needlessly killing him. The fact of the matter is he was killed to satisfy the blood lust of the victim’s families which in my opinion makes them guilty of murder too. Never in my life has my opinion of anything, tumble so far in such a short space of time, as my opinion of the United States. God save America, God damn it to hell!!

every word you wrote rings true with me.

Tookie took his injection calmly...
enough! 23 years incarceration...
too long to be caged waiting for death.
rather die than live another year like that

karma works in mysterious ways
maybe he knew... inevitable
that the clock was running out
as was his patience for justice

___

I am against the death penalty,
yet i ask myself:
"how would i deal with the revenge factor
towards one who has offed my loved one?"

Short explanatory note from a Southern Californian ( for those reading the column above who may not live in Southern California):



"South Central" is a predominantly black, poor, and sometimes gang-frequented "black ghetto" area of Los Angeles.

( here I use the characterization of the mass media . . .)

Thousand Oaks is a very white middle and upper-middle-class suburb-- very affluent-- north of LA. . .


--Z

going by memory here, so i may miss out on a few facts from my education in running trials and courts martial...

numerous things are considered in sentencing...you can base a sentence on:

- being punitive (do the crime, do the time)
- attempting to rehabilitate (many wrongly believe the only reason for jails is to rehabilitate...it is just one of the reasons...this also includes 'community service' - type sentencing)
- societal satisfaction (collective revenge, or 'justice')
- debt repayment (normally tied in with some type of payback, usually monetary, to the state or to individuals or groups)


i reality, sentencing is a mixture of all, with the one sentencing deciding what weights to apply to which factor, depending upon what one is trying to achieve with the sentencing


of course, these are applied at the time of sentencing, with the relevant facts of the time and extant mitigational factors being applied...it seems to me that if you wait 25 (or even a year) to execute a certain sentence, then all these mitigations need to be revisited

does tookie's deeds over the last 25 years have anything to do with whether or not he should be killed? of course they do...his deeds (every aspect, or at least they were supposed to have been) were examined 25 years ago before being sentenced to death, so if they take 25 years to do it then they need to add the new body of mitigating evidence to the sentencing process, in my opinion, since it appears the rehabilitaion factor has probably been achieved

so by killing him without reconsidering sentencing, they ignore all the aspects of sentencing that may have been achieved...they ignore the successes and adhere rotely to the societal punitive (justice) aspect

i'm all for justice, and can even understand the need for societal revenge, but based on my admittedly limited knowledge of tookie's case, it sure looks to me like neither ahnuld nor the justice system understands what the purpose of sentencing is


knip, pro-death penalty, but wishing that those in power would understand it at least as well as the layperson

"how would i deal with the revenge factor
towards one who has offed my loved one?"

My first reaction is panic
A life for a life
I would spend a sleepless night
fearful of murderous dreams
I have been there done that
So I would love my enemy
easily said,
but it would take practice

If not I would wake on death row.

Stanley interview on Smiley Travis show, telephone connection from death row. Smiley asks him why this all happened to him
"Karma" he answered.
To him it was a monk's cell
I do not think he would have chose death
Arnold could have saved a life with a word
But it was not politcally expedient

There is no evidence to suggest the death penalty is a deterrent. People scoff at life in prison, but it is no laughing matter. Sticking a needle into a human being and injecting them with poison is not justice, it is revenge.

Stan 'Tookie' Williams committed those crimes 26 years ago. He has spoken out against gangs and violence since, and has been nominated six times for the Nobel Peace Prize. He would have done infinitely more good alive than dead.

It amazes me that in a country in which about 90% of the population claims to be Christian, over 60% support the death penalty.

And about the Governator: He didn't want Californian Republicans to be even angrier with him, so he condoned the legal murder of Tookie Williams.

'It kind of makes me ashamed
To live in a land
Where justice is a game'

Regarding the family of murder victims:


http://www.mvfr.org/

http://www.murdervictimsfamilies.org/

"The death penalty is about revenge and hate, and revenge and hate is why my daughter and those 167 other people are dead today."

Bud Welch, father of Julie Marie Welch,
victim in the Oklahoma City bombing

thanks bohonato

Yabyum one of his last requests, was not to be called tookie. He said his name was Stantley or Stan. If nothing else I am going to honor that last request. He did not want no stinking last meal either.