Williams’ appellate attorneys have raised a number of important issues during his unsuccessful appeals, including one related to the improper conduct of the prosecutor during jury selection. Would anyone suggest that one man should be killed for the crimes of another? Then what should a society do when that man has so transformed himself that he no longer resembles the one we want to punish? Executing Tookie Williams today has virtually nothing to do with punishing the Tookie Williams of 1979, even if it were shown that he committed the murders for which he has been sentenced.
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But even for those who believe that it is justified, redemption must play some role. I oppose the death penalty on moral grounds. Other nominations for the prize have since followed. In 2000, Williams was first nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize by a member of the Swiss Parliament who recognized his many contributions to ending gang violence. Since he began his efforts, Williams has received over 50,000 e-mails from young people and others, including many law enforcement officials, acknowledging that his writings have saved lives and helped to steer young people away from gang activity. No one has made a credible claim that Williams’ “conversion” is not genuine.
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Williams has published impressive written works, including nine children’s books written with Barbara Becnel, which address crime, gang issues, and how to build self-esteem. And although he continues to deny any involvement in the 1979 murders that sent him to prison, Williams has acknowledged the devastating consequences that his founding of the Crips has caused for so many others. In 1996, after nearly 7 straight years in solitary confinement - spent largely in self-reflection - Williams repudiated the gang life by issuing a public apology and began working to find ways to improve himself. Increasingly, he is known for his activities since going to prison in 1981. Owens was shot twice in the back of the head, execution style, and the Yang family was killed by close range shotgun blasts.īut founding a street gang and being on death row are not the only things for which Williams is known. Williams was sentenced to death for the 1979 murder of Albert Owens, which occurred during a robbery of a 7-Eleven, and for the murders two weeks later of Tsai-Shai Yang, Yen-I Yang, and their daughter, Ye Chen Lin, during a motel robbery. The Crips grew to be a criminal enterprise that many credit for the exploding violence in urban America over the last four decades. Tookie Williams is notorious for having founded, along with Raymond Lee Washington, the Crips street gang in Los Angeles in 1971.
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Little did Williams know that the man who took note of the size of his arms would one day be the Governor of California and empowered under Article V Section 8 of the State’s Constitution to make a clemency decision about whether to spare Williams from the death penalty. Williams took pride in the passing remark Schwarzenegger made – enough so to include it in his memoir written thirty years later, Blue Rage, Black Redemption: A Memoir. At the time Williams’ arms measured 19 inches and they looked good enough to impress the future seven-time Mr. IN 1974 STANLEY “TOOKIE” “WILLIAMS encountered a body builder named Arnold Schwarzenegger outside a Gold’s Gym in Venice Beach who complimented him on his physique. Stanley “Tookie” Williams, photographer unknown SPARING THE CRIPS FOUNDER by Matt Gonzalez
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First published in Mesh Magazine #12, November/December 2005