Misplaced Priorities
For several weeks, Los Angeles has been gripped by controversy over whether the death sentence of Stanley "Tookie" Williams, murderer of four and founder of the vicious Crips gang, should be commuted.
Inexplicably, Governor Schwarzenegger decided to hold a private clemency hearing for Williams -- and not surprisingly, as this piece points out, that decision is fraught with political peril for him. By agreeing to hold the hearing (which will take place after Williams' case has been rejected, multiple times in some cases, by every relevant court in the state and federal systems), Schwarzenegger has just allowed the issue to fester and exacerbated the anger of those on both sides of the issue.
Commuting the sentence would, in my view, be a horrible move -- teaching other Crips members that a death sentence doesn't necessarily mean death, especially if (like Tookie Williams) one can play the system long enough to launch a PR campaign and/or allow time to dim the memories of his terrible crimes.
Yes, Tookie Williams is a Nobel Peace Prize nominee -- but then again, so is KFI talk show host Bill Handel. Yes, he's written children's books. But if he were sincere about wanting to help the young people within his sphere of influence, he'd admit his crimes and take his punishment -- if as nothing else than to serve as a living example of the precept that crime never pays.
Tookie Williams says he is a changed man since 1979 -- and I hope he is, through the transformative grace of God. But although God may have forgiven him, that fact doesn't mean he is (or should be) absolved of his crimes here on earth.
Celebrities including Snoop Dogg, Jamie Fox and Jesse Jackson have advocated clemency for Williams. One can't help thinking about the influence these celebrities could have if they worked half as hard and spoke out half as vocally to encourage the young people within their spheres of influence to work hard in school, stay out of trouble, and abstain from sex until marriage.
The glorification of a criminal (albeit possibly a reformed one) has been breathtakingly appalling. KFI Radio reports that Williams has even been named LA's "King of Kwanzaa." If I were an African American who celebrated Kwanzaa, I'd be having a fit. Are the people who named Tookie "King of Kwanzaa" actually implying that they could find no more fitting "role model" for the honor? In a country that has black stars like Oprah, Condoleezza Rice, Bob Parsons and, yes, Barack Obama -- just to name a few African Americans of good character and tremendous accomplishment? What horribly, destructively misplaced priorities. What a terrible message to send to America's youth . . . black and white. What a joke.
Update: For a first-person account of what it was like to live under the hob-nailed boot of Tookie Williams and his ilk, read this.
And Ted Hayes has the best -- and most creative -- way to make sure that Tookie Williams' life actually counts for something: Let the gangbangers decide: [F]for every 30 days of peace, Tookie receives a stay of execution. Should there be any gang-related killings in L.A., Tookie's fate will be sealed — not by the governor but by the young men who have been clamoring that Williams be spared and the leaders who say they are determined to save black lives.
Inexplicably, Governor Schwarzenegger decided to hold a private clemency hearing for Williams -- and not surprisingly, as this piece points out, that decision is fraught with political peril for him. By agreeing to hold the hearing (which will take place after Williams' case has been rejected, multiple times in some cases, by every relevant court in the state and federal systems), Schwarzenegger has just allowed the issue to fester and exacerbated the anger of those on both sides of the issue.
Commuting the sentence would, in my view, be a horrible move -- teaching other Crips members that a death sentence doesn't necessarily mean death, especially if (like Tookie Williams) one can play the system long enough to launch a PR campaign and/or allow time to dim the memories of his terrible crimes.
Yes, Tookie Williams is a Nobel Peace Prize nominee -- but then again, so is KFI talk show host Bill Handel. Yes, he's written children's books. But if he were sincere about wanting to help the young people within his sphere of influence, he'd admit his crimes and take his punishment -- if as nothing else than to serve as a living example of the precept that crime never pays.
Tookie Williams says he is a changed man since 1979 -- and I hope he is, through the transformative grace of God. But although God may have forgiven him, that fact doesn't mean he is (or should be) absolved of his crimes here on earth.
Celebrities including Snoop Dogg, Jamie Fox and Jesse Jackson have advocated clemency for Williams. One can't help thinking about the influence these celebrities could have if they worked half as hard and spoke out half as vocally to encourage the young people within their spheres of influence to work hard in school, stay out of trouble, and abstain from sex until marriage.
The glorification of a criminal (albeit possibly a reformed one) has been breathtakingly appalling. KFI Radio reports that Williams has even been named LA's "King of Kwanzaa." If I were an African American who celebrated Kwanzaa, I'd be having a fit. Are the people who named Tookie "King of Kwanzaa" actually implying that they could find no more fitting "role model" for the honor? In a country that has black stars like Oprah, Condoleezza Rice, Bob Parsons and, yes, Barack Obama -- just to name a few African Americans of good character and tremendous accomplishment? What horribly, destructively misplaced priorities. What a terrible message to send to America's youth . . . black and white. What a joke.
Update: For a first-person account of what it was like to live under the hob-nailed boot of Tookie Williams and his ilk, read this.
And Ted Hayes has the best -- and most creative -- way to make sure that Tookie Williams' life actually counts for something: Let the gangbangers decide: [F]for every 30 days of peace, Tookie receives a stay of execution. Should there be any gang-related killings in L.A., Tookie's fate will be sealed — not by the governor but by the young men who have been clamoring that Williams be spared and the leaders who say they are determined to save black lives.
posted by LadybugUSA at 12:19 PM
1 Comments:
African Americans will continue to be crime victims in disproportionate numbers, until we are less concerned with helping people like Tookie and more concerned with stopping them.
Instead of protests demanding that the governor save this murderer, there should be protests demanding that the governor STOP murders; with better law enforcement, better schools, more jobs, etc.
Post a Comment
<< Home