The Taking of Tookie
Stanley “Tookie” Williams, the notorious co-founder of the Crips street gang was executed this week at San Quentin Prison. Williams was sentenced to death in 1981 for gunning down a convenience store clerk at a 7-Eleven and killing a family of three at the Los Angeles motel they owned.
Williams claimed at the time that he was innocent, though witnesses at the trial said the Crips leader bragged about the murders. From his death row prison cell at San Quentin, the former gang leader wrote a series of children’s books with Barbara Becnel, urging young people to stay away from drugs, led an anti-gang crusade and brokered gang truces in Los Angeles and New Jersey.
On death row, Williams became a cause celebre, attracting supporters as diverse as South African Bishop Desmond Tutu and rapper Snoop Dogg as well as Jesse Jackson and NAACP President Bruce Gordon.
Those who took "Tookie's" cause to heart claimed that Williams had found "redemption" and his death would be a senseless act of retribution. San Francisco 5th District Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi commented "Tookie Williams is much more important to us alive than dead."
Comments like these and the cause celebre are little comfort to Williams victims or their families. Williams rejected the tradition last meal before his execution and died still denying that he had murdered four people. Prior to Williams execution, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger issued a strongly-worded 5-page statement rejecting Williams’ request for clemency.
“During the early morning hours of February 28, 1979, Williams and three others went on a robbery spree,” Schwarzenegger stated.
“Around 4 a.m., they entered a 7-Eleven store where Albert Owens was working by himself. Here, Williams, armed with his pump-action shotgun, ordered Owens to a backroom and shot him twice in the back while he lay face down on the floor."
"Williams and his accomplices made off with about $120 from the store’s cash register. After leaving the 7-Eleven store, Williams told the others that he killed Albert Owens because he did not want any witnesses."
"Later that morning, Williams recounted shooting Albert Owens, saying ‘You should have heard the way he sounded when I shot him.’ Williams then made a growling noise and laughed for five to six minutes.”
The governor continued: “On March 11, 1979, less than two weeks later, Williams, again armed with his shotgun, robbed a family-operated motel and shot and killed three members of the family:
(1) the father, Yen-I Yang, who was shot once in the torso and once in the arm while he was laying on a sofa; (2) the mother, Tsai-Shai Lin, who was shot once in the abdomen and once in the back; and (3) the daughter, Yee-Chen Lin, who was shot once in her face."
"For these murders, Williams made away with approximately $100 in cash. Williams also told others about the details of these murders and referred to the victims as ‘Buddha-heads.’”
Williams failure to confess to the crimes and refusal to formally cut ties with the Crips by sharing his knowledge of the gang's inner workings with police did not support his claims of "redemption".
Williams, among the 651 people on death row, became the 12th person executed since California reinstated the death penalty in 1978. Authorities said one of his sons, Stanley Williams Jr., who is serving a 16-year murder sentence in High Desert State Prison in California, was notified of his father’s death.
Regarding the long overdue "Taking of Tookie", we have the following commentary:
First, we need to find an expeditious way to purge our justice and penal systems. At a conservative 50K per year, it cost $1.2 Million to incarcerate and feed "Tookie" for 24 years in our penal system, add to this the cost of conviction and the multitude of appeals.
Second, and this speaks to the moral turpitude to which our society has stooped, why or how anyone would lift a finger, raise their voice or create a cause celebre in regard to the execution of a notorious gang leader and convicted cold blooded murderer is beyond intelligence, comprehension and belief.
Third, it used to be, you took the hand you were dealt, and if it was lemons, you attempted to persevere and rose above it all by trying to make some lemonade. Today we live in a world wrought with "victims" complex.
There's way too many whiners claiming to be "victims" and using the "angry and downtrodden" crutch. In proclaiming oneself a "victim of the system", people neglect to take ownership and accountability for their actions, thus preying on the good nature and compassion of others.
Whether it be gender, sexual preference, race, religion, creed, color, age, addiction, income or education level, plenty of people in this world manage to cope, deal with, and make the right choices, regardless of the hand dealt them.
We have zero tolerance and no compassion for anyone who invokes the "victim of circumstance" cop out in an effort to rationalize or justify their bad choices and morally bankrupt behaviour.
In closing, it is without doubt that the all the money and misplaced efforts of "compassion" on "Tookie's" behalf could have been better spent. Its an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, and retribution and justice have been served with due process.
The term "a waste of skin" and the phrase "good riddance" come to mind. Perhaps a place such as hell exists, and perhaps the "redemption" that awaits "Tookie", and which the cause celebre speaks so fondly of, will be found therein.
Williams claimed at the time that he was innocent, though witnesses at the trial said the Crips leader bragged about the murders. From his death row prison cell at San Quentin, the former gang leader wrote a series of children’s books with Barbara Becnel, urging young people to stay away from drugs, led an anti-gang crusade and brokered gang truces in Los Angeles and New Jersey.
On death row, Williams became a cause celebre, attracting supporters as diverse as South African Bishop Desmond Tutu and rapper Snoop Dogg as well as Jesse Jackson and NAACP President Bruce Gordon.
Those who took "Tookie's" cause to heart claimed that Williams had found "redemption" and his death would be a senseless act of retribution. San Francisco 5th District Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi commented "Tookie Williams is much more important to us alive than dead."
Comments like these and the cause celebre are little comfort to Williams victims or their families. Williams rejected the tradition last meal before his execution and died still denying that he had murdered four people. Prior to Williams execution, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger issued a strongly-worded 5-page statement rejecting Williams’ request for clemency.
“During the early morning hours of February 28, 1979, Williams and three others went on a robbery spree,” Schwarzenegger stated.
“Around 4 a.m., they entered a 7-Eleven store where Albert Owens was working by himself. Here, Williams, armed with his pump-action shotgun, ordered Owens to a backroom and shot him twice in the back while he lay face down on the floor."
"Williams and his accomplices made off with about $120 from the store’s cash register. After leaving the 7-Eleven store, Williams told the others that he killed Albert Owens because he did not want any witnesses."
"Later that morning, Williams recounted shooting Albert Owens, saying ‘You should have heard the way he sounded when I shot him.’ Williams then made a growling noise and laughed for five to six minutes.”
The governor continued: “On March 11, 1979, less than two weeks later, Williams, again armed with his shotgun, robbed a family-operated motel and shot and killed three members of the family:
(1) the father, Yen-I Yang, who was shot once in the torso and once in the arm while he was laying on a sofa; (2) the mother, Tsai-Shai Lin, who was shot once in the abdomen and once in the back; and (3) the daughter, Yee-Chen Lin, who was shot once in her face."
"For these murders, Williams made away with approximately $100 in cash. Williams also told others about the details of these murders and referred to the victims as ‘Buddha-heads.’”
Williams failure to confess to the crimes and refusal to formally cut ties with the Crips by sharing his knowledge of the gang's inner workings with police did not support his claims of "redemption".
Williams, among the 651 people on death row, became the 12th person executed since California reinstated the death penalty in 1978. Authorities said one of his sons, Stanley Williams Jr., who is serving a 16-year murder sentence in High Desert State Prison in California, was notified of his father’s death.
Regarding the long overdue "Taking of Tookie", we have the following commentary:
First, we need to find an expeditious way to purge our justice and penal systems. At a conservative 50K per year, it cost $1.2 Million to incarcerate and feed "Tookie" for 24 years in our penal system, add to this the cost of conviction and the multitude of appeals.
Second, and this speaks to the moral turpitude to which our society has stooped, why or how anyone would lift a finger, raise their voice or create a cause celebre in regard to the execution of a notorious gang leader and convicted cold blooded murderer is beyond intelligence, comprehension and belief.
Third, it used to be, you took the hand you were dealt, and if it was lemons, you attempted to persevere and rose above it all by trying to make some lemonade. Today we live in a world wrought with "victims" complex.
There's way too many whiners claiming to be "victims" and using the "angry and downtrodden" crutch. In proclaiming oneself a "victim of the system", people neglect to take ownership and accountability for their actions, thus preying on the good nature and compassion of others.
Whether it be gender, sexual preference, race, religion, creed, color, age, addiction, income or education level, plenty of people in this world manage to cope, deal with, and make the right choices, regardless of the hand dealt them.
We have zero tolerance and no compassion for anyone who invokes the "victim of circumstance" cop out in an effort to rationalize or justify their bad choices and morally bankrupt behaviour.
In closing, it is without doubt that the all the money and misplaced efforts of "compassion" on "Tookie's" behalf could have been better spent. Its an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, and retribution and justice have been served with due process.
The term "a waste of skin" and the phrase "good riddance" come to mind. Perhaps a place such as hell exists, and perhaps the "redemption" that awaits "Tookie", and which the cause celebre speaks so fondly of, will be found therein.
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