11/30 *** URGENT*** 13 Days to STOP the EXECUTION!!

Previous thread:
11/29 *** URGENT*** 14 Days to STOP the EXECUTION!!
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x5474069
(A vast amount of info throughout the thread)

Please consider contributing to the debate in this related
thread:
Tookie Debate:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x5474105


Please support the effort to save Stanley 'Tookie' Williams at
http://www.savetookie.org

Please sign the petition for clemency @
http://www.petitiononline.com/stw4804/petition.html

Another petition @
http://www.petitionthem.com/?sect=detail&pet=2240

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: 916-445-2841

Email: governor@governor.ca.gov

FAX: 916-445-4633

snail mail address:
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger
State Capitol Building
Sacramento, CA 95814

THE STANLEY 'TOOKIE' WILLIAMS CASE

Stanley 'Tookie' Williams is scheduled for execution Dec. 13,
one minute after midnight.

Gov. Schwarzenegger will hold a private clemency hearing on
December 8.

Tookie's conviction was filled w/racist tactics & based on
questionable circumstantial evidence & ‘witness’ testimony.
This casts serious doubt on whether Stan ‘Tookie’ Williams was
given a fair trial. It also questions whether he is guilty
beyond a reasonable doubt.

The prosecutor in the case was allowed to dismiss ALL of
the black jurors.

This prosecutor made numerous racist remarks during the
trial.

Police files were deliberately left in a paid informant's jail
cell to help prepare the informant w/details so that he could
testify that Tookie 'confessed' to him.

Fingerprints found at the scene were not his, bloody
footprints found at the scene were not his, etc.

At the time he started it, the Crips numbered around thirty
members, when he was convicted, still less than a thousand.

Tookie's work over the past decade has saved tens of thousands
of kids from gang life. He can do far more good living than
his death could ever accomplish.

Nobel Laureates, peace & justice activists, the religious
community, the anti-death penalty community, community
activists, anti-gang activists, celebrities, and everyone
else, including & especially our precious children & youths
wanting to avoid/leave gang life, support Tookie and urge the
governor to grant him clemency.


Laura Flanders (AAR) Nov. 26 interview w/Barbara Becnel,
Stan ‘Tookie’ Williams’ advocate:
http://www.airamericaplace.com/archive.php?mode=display&id=2954

DOAR Supports Tookie Williams Clemency Hearing (VIDEO):
http://www.doar.com/


Please contact Gov. Schwarzenegger for clemency!

Thank you!!!

i can't figure out how to have them not show up! i've tried and tried. thought maybe if i pushed post...

thank you!


peace!

I believe the subject line typeset cannot be altered. Also, shouldn't it be 13 days to go instead of 15?

:kick:

Telling His Story to Save His Life
Barbara Becnel has championed clemency for Stanley Williams, who is set to die Dec. 13.

By Maura Dolan, Times Staff Writer

-snip-

So obscure that his conviction for four murders barely made headlines, death row inmate Stanley Tookie Williams owes his notoriety as much to a determined woman who stood by him and to committed death penalty opponents as to his shift from gangster to anti-gang activist.

During a jailhouse visit in 1993 to research a book on gangs, writer Barbara Becnel discovered that Williams, who is scheduled to be executed Dec. 13, had renounced his gang past. Over the next two years, Becnel shed her doubts about the co-founder of the Crips and helped him work to persuade youths to avoid gangs.

She arranged for Williams to speak by telephone to youth and criminal justice groups, and edited his series of children's books. Death penalty opponents also took up his cause, pushing him into the limelight by nominating him for the Nobel Peace Prize and the Nobel Prize for literature, prestigious nominations that are surprisingly easy to make.

-snip-

Now Becnel is spearheading a campaign to persuade Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to commute Williams' death sentence to life in prison without parole. Schwarzenegger has scheduled a closed clemency hearing for Williams on Dec. 8.

***

Continued:
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-tookie29nov29,0...

Laura Flanders (AAR) Nov. 26 interview w/Barbara Becnel,
Stan ‘Tookie’ Williams’ advocate:
http://www.airamericaplace.com/archive.php?mode=display...


peace!

November 30, 2005 is International Save Tookie day. Events are happening around the world.

Find an event near you below.



http://www.savetookie.org/events.html

What you can do to help save Tookie

-- Set up an information table about Stan's case. Hand out fact sheets and collect signatures on petitions asking Schwarzenegger to grant clemency. Make cell phones available for people to call the governor's office on the spot. Set up a laptop so that people can e-mail the governor right there and then. Schwarzenegger's phone is 916-445-4633, and his e-mail address is governor@governor.ca.gov

-- Hold a press conference with community organizers, campus groups and others involved in the fight for social justice.

-- Organize a rally or picket in your city. Call a campus speakout to "save the peacemaker."

-- Hold a screening of Redemption: The Stan Tookie Williams Story.

-- Organize a teach-in on "The Power of Redemption: The Case of Stan Tookie Williams." Host a former death row prisoner to speak in your city or on your campus.

-- Write a letter or story about Stan's case for local or school newspapers, and contact local radio stations to do a segment on Stan.

-- Run a signature ad in your school or community paper.

-- Organize a spoken word event for Stan, a "Rock for Tookie" concert with local bands to raise funds for Stan's defense, or a mock trial focusing on the injustices of the death penalty.

-- Be creative. Come up with your own ideas to get the word out and build support.

For more information about the Save Tookie campaign or to download petitions and fact sheets, visit the Save Tookie and Campaign to End the Death Penalty Web sites. Be sure to send information about the activities you plan to Save Tookie Web site.

in this, FrustratedDemInNC.

media! must write media.

where is mainstream coverage of this? more and more coverage, but little - any? - in big MSM or local?

must blast them.

thinking out loud, inspired by your post.


peace!

Governor must weigh more than justice alone
By L.A. Chung
Nov. 30, 2005

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/13290564.htm?source=rss&channel=mercurynews_local

Odd, this notion of mercy, coming now in the harsh, ``hang-'em-high'' America we've become. On Dec. 13, Stanley ``Tookie'' Williams is scheduled for execution -- unless the governor intervenes.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger will hold a last-chance private hearing to consider Williams' plea for clemency in the murder of four people 26 years ago.

In a California where the previous governor routinely rejected clemency bids, in an America impatient with last chances for bad guys, there is a distinct chance for a change.

I welcome a governor who has agreed to hear the case at all. It means reflection.

-snip-

***

this is a great article, imho.


peace!

-snip-

``Fulfilling the demands of justice does not satisfy the demands of morality,'' Sarat said. ``None of us would like to live in a society where all we had was justice. Nor in one where there was none. All of us would want to live in a society where justice is tempered with mercy.''

The power lies, at this stage, with one man.

``The case is as much about Arnold Schwarzenegger as Tookie Williams: What role does compassion, charity and grace figure in his conception of his role as governor?'' asks Sarat.

How important are they to each of us in society?


Powerful words!

An Interview with Stanley Tookie Williams

By PHIL GASPER

Sanley Tookie Williams, co-founder of the Crips street gang in Los Angeles over 30 years ago, is facing execution on December 13. Over the past 12 years, Williams has publicly apologized for his past, written a series of award-winning children's books to keep kids out of gangs, initiated a Peace Protocol that has led to gang truces in cities such as Newark, New Jersey, and been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. (For more details see "Saving Tookie Williams".)

On November 25, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger announced that he will hold a hearing on December 8 to consider clemency for Williams. Earlier that day I spoke to Williams by telephone.

SOME PROSECUTORS, police and prison officials have been trying to discredit you by saying that you are still an active gang member. What's your response?

IT'S QUITE a spurious allegation that these people are putting out. The fact of the matter is that I have a report from the San Quentin Institutional Classification Committee from 2004, which quotes a lieutenant saying that he hadn't observed anything that was gang-related about me for the past 10 years. It also commended me for 10 years of a positive program.

much more

http://www.counterpunch.org/gasper11292005.html

:kick:

Amy Goodman's live interview today:

We look at the case of death row prisoner Stanley Tookie Williams. In just under two weeks, on December 13, the 51-year-old Williams is scheduled to be executed by the state of California. Williams is a convicted murderer and the co-founder of one of the country's most notorious street gangs, the Crips. But since his incarceration he has also become a Nobel Peace Prize nominated children's author and a vocal advocate against gang violence.

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/11/30/153247

excerpts!

those are some of the best quotes of Stan, live.

i couldn't even get to the site. hoping it's because it was getting so many hits.


peace!

outstanding!!!


peace!

sound a little more firm-spoken than i've heard him before. he's always so soft-spoken.

it's good to hear a tiny bit more insistence in his voice. it's just a bit more moving, i feel.


the next segment, she's more warm of tone. so is he.


all my humble opinion, of course.

you?


peace!

There is much insight to be found... who this man was, who he is now, and why. Even though he is facing imminent death, he remains at peace, presenting information in a factual manner... w/o the resentment one might expect of someone in his situation. He accepts responsibility for what he done in the past, expressing remorse... his biggest regret: forming the Crips. So remorseful that he has spent most of his time in prison leading others away from gang life... and he needs to be able to continue this work!

-snip-

Some believe Williams should not be granted clemency because he has denied responsibility for the killings that landed him on Death Row. (In fact, he has continued to appeal his conviction.) But Williams does take responsibility for the epidemic reach and murderous legacy of the Crips. When he learned that the Crips had inspired copycat gangs in South Africa and among Somali immigrants in Switzerland, he wrote an apology for "ruining the lives of so many young people," which he delivered to the Congressional Black Caucus. His Protocol for Peace between gangs has been used widely to prevent strife among Crips and Bloods. His "Letter to Incarcerated Youth" insists that they can resist the false lures of gangs and can discipline and educate themselves. (These three documents are posted on Williams' website.)

I do not know Tookie Williams personally, but I know some former Crips who have been profoundly transformed by his words and his example. I have known other prisoners on San Quentin's condemned row and nationwide who, like Williams, have come to feel profound remorse for their violence and strive to make some reparation to society. The means of payment they most desire is helping others to avoid their mistakes.

Committing himself to trying to repair the harm he has done to young people, Williams has kept his focus and broadened his reach. He has co-authored a series of children's books, called "Tookie Speaks Out Against Gang Violence." Teachers and prison librarians attest to the fact that Tookie's credibility and influence among youth at risk are unsurpassed. Williams' Internet Project, online chats teaching literacy and peer leadership to young Somali immigrants in Switzerland inspried six members of the Swiss Parliament to nominate Williams for the Nobel Peace Prize.

As a man who has remade himself more than once -- immigrant, body-builder, actor, politician -- Gov. Schwarzenegger can learn from this teacher.

http://www.alternet.org/rights/28775/

The Moral Importance of Clemency
By Earl Ofari Hutchinson, Pacific News Service
Governors are afraid of being seen as soft on crime, running from granting clemency to convicted murderers. But in the case of 'Tookie' Williams, it must be considered.
Posted on Nov 22, 2005

Mercy for Tookie Williams
By Earl Ofari Hutchinson, AlterNet
Granting clemency to the reformed founder of the Crips would serve as a model for others in trouble.
Posted on Nov 21, 2005

How Will Schwarzenegger Respond to Tookie Williams?
By Earl Ofari Hutchinson, Pacific News Service
Instead of executing the reformed Crips founder, the governor should grant him clemency.
Posted on Oct 23, 2005

Celebrating Social Justice
By , AlterNet
Howard Dean, Tom Hayden and Angelica Salas speak about the importance of grassroots organizing and ensuring equity and justice.
Posted on May 11, 2004

Redemption, American Style
By Ronda Racha Penrice, Africana.com
Movie Mix: Crips co-founder Stanley 'Tookie' Williams has spent the past few years railing against the danger of gangs yet he still faces execution -- a TV movie explores the concept of redemption.
Posted on Apr 11, 2004

http://www.alternet.org/search.php?term=stanley+tookie+williams&Submit=Go

«

and rehabilitation, he will grant Tookie Williams clemency."

from that same excellent article in AlterNet.

i just like that equation.

hope the governor can get it!


peace!

It's a powerful statement, let's hope the governor is true to his word.

I guess I am a cynical person, because I fear Schwarzenegger is going to pander to the current administration, etc, to allow the execution to proceed. His granting a clemency hearing appears to be window dressing to the death penalty opponents.

I've e-mailed the governor and signed a petition in hopes perhaps there is belief in redemption and forgiveness.....I hope to my maker that I am wrong about my fears.

signing, fortyfeetunder.

please encourage others to do that too.


peace!

gov would make all the difference...


peace!

Death Penalty Reliability

As of March 2005, 119 innocent people have been released from death rows across the country since 1973 (Northwestern University, DP Information Center). Researchers Radelet and Bedau found 23 cases where innocent people were executed since 1900 (In Spite of Innocence, Northeastern University Press, 1992). Murder Victims' Families for Reconciliation, Inc.

Thurgood Marshall said it was racist, unfair to poor and the mentally retarded, and often ends in the state sanctioned murder of innocents.

* Less than 1% of all murderers are condemned to death
* 2% of death row inmates are actually executed
* Over 113 people on death row have been exonerated since 1973
* 68% of the death penalty convictions between 1973 - 1995 were reversed
* Today more than 75 death row inmates have spent 20 years on the Row.
* Capital punishment is applied to a higher percentage of minorities than whites.

on the death penalty.

"* Over 113 people on death row have been exonerated since 1973
* 68% of the death penalty convictions between 1973 - 1995 were reversed"

Those numbers are worse than I had imagined!

living through an unbelievable insanity.

will you please write those numbers to the governor?

email addy throughout this thread

thank you!


peace!

Those numbers really surprised me!

It is not cost effective:

Capital murder trials threaten to bankrupt townships costing taxpayers:

* $2 million in legal fees to try a death penalty case, nearly 4 times higher than comparable murder trials.
* The automatic appeal process costs up to $700,000 in legal fees.
* $1.2 million in execution costs.
* 1973 -1998, Florida spent $57 million on 18 executions.

It is does not deter crime:

The two states with the most executions in 2003, Texas 24, and Oklahoma 14, saw increases in their murder rates from 2002 to 2003. Both states had murder rates above the national average in 2003: Texas - 6.4, and Oklahoma - 5.9. The top 13 states in terms of murder rates were all death penalty states. The murder rate of the death penalty states increased from 2002, while the rate in non-death penalty states decreased.Death Penalty Information Center.

reasons to write and call the governor!!

and to oppose the death penalty, in every possible way!!!

PLEASE!!!


peace!

Reformed my a**!

courage to do that too.

there is much information on this and on his rehabilitation throughout these threads. if you really want to know the answer to your question, many have provided the answers in the threads. please check the info out.

thank you!


peace!

But Crittendon, who has worked at the prison nearly 30 years and regularly deals with Williams, said Williams has refused to formally renounce his gang membership and submit to "debriefing" — that is, inform on his old friends. Crittendon also cited Williams' willingness to share an exercise yard with Crips and his unusually large prison bank account. And he said Williams' younger son is a trouble-making Crips member in prison for murder.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2005-11-17-gang-redemption_x.htm

do look into all the many facts people have offered on these threads. there are retorts to that very piece. it's important and very interesting.

thank you!


peace!

If you can look at this with an open-mind and read all of the info, it might be more productive. I think execution is wrong for many reasons, we're the only industrialized country that still endorses this barbaric practice.

Statistics prove the DP doesn't reduce crime plus it costs the taxpayers more money.

Japan has the death penalty. I would be leery of groups that putting out info that the US is the only industrialized country that has the death penalty. If they are willing to 'stretch' the truth on that, what else are they being untruthful about?

Go Team Bush :( NOT!

Breaking on my local news in Virginia, Gov Warner just granted clemancy to who/what would have been the MSM LBN 1000th Dead Man Walking ?

I'm not sure if it's the DU Forums, or my Adult ADD that makes me not make much sense...Oh Look, there's a chicken ! *snork*

you make good sense to me!
but then, is that a compliment... ? :)

thank you for posting!


peace!

...as fast as I can :hug:

:hug:

:kick:

There's no defending the criminals. They have done horrific things and society does need to be protected from them, including Tookie. Getting caught up in arguments about how one muderer should die and another shouldn't is not going to get anywhere (although I understand that that is how it has to be presented in a legal sense to obtain clemency/a commuted sentence) in the long run.

Ultimately, the argument should be whether the government should execute murderers or not. My opinion is no.

write and call the governor, expressing your opposition to it?

it's true that this must be addressed on that level as much as on the individual level.

thank you!


peace!

Get involved!

http://www.savetookie.org/events.html

...but why should I be in a tizzy about this one man? This man *IS* guilty, is he not? How many other people are on death row who may have been innocent, had incompetent representation, etc?

I'm sorry, but this man started one of the most murderous gangs in our nation's history. He has a hell of a lot to atone for.

You can have Mumia and Tookie. I'm all for an end to the death penalty, and certainly want clemency for men whose verdicts were based on flimsy evidence, but I am NOT going to rally behind murderers, no matter how they claim to have changed, and that includes mass murderers Bush & Cheney, should they ever become repentant...

death penalty opponents too.

please, please do write and call him to express your strong stand against the death penalty!

today's actions, all over the world, are about putting an end to execution.

i came to this case as a DP abolitionist. it was in learning the facts that i knew that i had to double my efforts. work both on the major cause, and on any case where even established DP law was being broken - that is, where anyone had not been given a fair trial to begin with.

i hope you will take a look at some of the enormous amount of information people on these threads have gathered and offered on this, Stanley Williams' particular case. it is very interesting, and disturbing. please consider it?

but even if you choose not to do that, please do act on your opposition to the death penalty!

thank you!


peace!

There is a ton of info on this thread re: his case - I'm personally against the death penalty in all cases.

It would be hard to ignore the impact he's had on the inner city children. I encourage to take a few minutes to read a bit of the history.

Thanks!

Yes, "He has a hell of a lot to atone for." And that is exactly what he has done & continues to do.



Our children are too precious to discard.

:kick:

... and ask him to spare this man's life."

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=5464497&mesg_id=5474206

Thank you, H2O Man!

has a great gift for expression! as so many of you do!!


peace!

Phone: 916-445-2841

Email: governor@governor.ca.gov

FAX: 916-445-4633

snail mail address:
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger
State Capitol Building
Sacramento, CA 95814

and gave them an earfull.


And to think that Arnold is able to make this kind of decision -the irony is amazing.

Who is Arnold, or for that matter,who is goclark, to judge the life or death of another?

morning!

"the irony is amazing."

yes, yes it is.


peace and solidarity!

we'll hear of all of them at some point today.

CHANTING WITH THE WORLD!!!

NO MORE DEATH PENALTY!!!!


peace!

"Stan, the many death row prisoners, experienced racism in the
criminal justice system. His prosecutor kicked off all
African-Americans from serving as jurors in Stan's trial,
resulting in Stan being convicted by an all-white jury.

This prosecutor also made numerous racist remarks during the trial,
comparing Stan to a "Bengal Tiger" in the San Diego Zoo whose
natural jungle "habitat" was the equivalent of South Central
Los Angeles."

FrustratedDemInNC!

those acts, in themselves, are grounds for clemency!

that jury "ethnic cleansing" has also established a precedent for *stacking* future juries. it can not be left to stand!

there are appeals of the original conviction still in progress. this is so important to judicial standards, too!


peace!

-snip-

Morally, I simply do not believe that we as human beings have the right to "play God" and take a human life -- especially since our human judgments are fallible and often wrong. Indeed, since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976, 700 men and women on Death Row have been executed, three-fourths of those executions taking place since 1992. Since 1976, more than 100 people have been released from prison after being sentenced to death despite their innocence. That translates into one death row inmate being found innocent for every seven executed. Given this track record, I simply cannot support the death penalty, since we know that it will, inescapably, be erroneously applied and innocent people will be put to death.

Second, all the evidence suggests that the death penalty is no deterrent to crime. Indeed, in those states that do have capital punishment, the average murder rate per 100,000 people is 8, while in states that have abolished the death penalty, the murder rate is just 4.4. In other words, states that do not have capital punishment actually have lower murder rates than states that do. I confidently believe that rather than decreasing murder, capital punishment actually has a brutalizing effect on society, contributing to an increase in murder.

Third, the evidence shows that the imposition of the death penalty is both racially and economically biased. African American defendants, for example, are far more likely to receive death sentences than others who committed similar crimes. To put that into perspective, 42% of inmates on death row today are African American, even though they comprise only 13% of the U.S. population; 180 African Americans have been executed in cases involving white victims, while 12 whites have been executed in cases with black victims. Of all the people on death row today, 75% of them are non-white. Moreover, a full 98% of all defendants sentenced to death have been people who could not afford their own attorneys. I simply cannot support a policy that is so unfairly and unevenly applied.

Fourth, America is one of the last nations in the world to still practice the death penalty. In fact, for each year since 1976, two additional countries have abolished capital punishment, and the overwhelming majority of nations around the world have now put an end to it in law or practice. Even in our own country, opposition to the death penalty has doubled since 1994. Recent polls say that 64% of Americans support a moratorium on all executions.

-more-

http://www.kucinich.us/issues/death.php


We must end this barbaric practice in our country. The facts can't be ignored.

happened to it?

H.R. 2574<108>: Federal Death Penalty Abolition Act of 2003

Official Title: To abolish the death penalty under Federal law.

Status: Introduced (By Rep. Dennis Kucinich )
This bill was proposed in a previous session of Congress. Sessions of Congress last two years, and at the end of each session all proposed bills and resolutions that haven't passed are cleared from the books. This bill never became law.

Introduced: Jun 24, 2003

Last Action: Sep 4, 2003: Referred to the Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security.

-snip-

This bill is identical to S. 402.

***

"This bill never became law."

why? where did it go from Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security? do you know?

let to die.

ah, homeland security...
hole in the ground??

not reintroduced again??

maybe need to write Kucinich.

thank you!!


"We must end this barbaric practice in our country. The facts can't be ignored." yes!!


peace!

Tookie Williams was one of the founds of the Crips gang - one of the most notorious and bloodiest gangs ever in this country. Despite all the flaws on his case the guy has probably committed more heinious crimes in his lifetime than most of us could even conjour up.

Even still this man does not deserve to die.

From everything I've read this man has changed since his time in prison. He has been a major anti-gang advocate providing tools & edutional materials for children encouraging them keep out of gangs. If I'm correct he also has a website available for online.

The man will suffer for the rest of his life for the crime he committed. However, killing him will not solve the problem. It will destroy an important voice in the anti-gang movement from the one man who knew firsthand the horrors of gang life!

I will also state that this man, if allowed to live, will carry on his work encouraging young people to avoid/leave the gang life that he led prior to his incarceration... as he has been doing for more than a decade... while incarcerated.

This man's story is remarkable!

(There is a link to his website in the OP, and much info in the previous thread link.)

could use to hear those thoughts.

150,000 and counting, kids whose lives have been given hope by this man's ceaseless devotion to them, and to redeeming himself.


peace!

this is it. This might be able to help turn him around with californians who so overwhelmingly hate him!

almost time to write him, en mas, inviting him to try liberalism now.


and think he could relate to redemption, what with his history?

commute Stan's sentence and feel better in his own conscience at the same time!

thank you!


peace!

and his Bully boys laughing about Tookie this morning.

They were thisclose to making racist comments and laughed about the possibility of getting the death penalty.

It was so awful that I want to give even more energy to saving Tookie an all others from the Dealth Penalty.

If it doesn't bring the dead person back to life, why do it?

The fate worse than DEATH is to be in a cell for the rest of your life.

Justice for Tookie~

"Justice for Tookie~"

yes,yes,yes!
YES!!

thank you so much for posting this!


peace and solidarity!

are able to change the world with your passion.

If I'm ever on an island and can't get off, I want the two of you with me! :)

The cause is not just about Tookie, the cause is so much larger than that, it is about JUSTICE IN AMERICA, not AMERIKA.


The Death Penalty is barbaric and AMERICA knows that, Amerika the Bully Part doesn't understand and probably never will.

March On for Justice!

"The cause is not just about Tookie, the cause is so much larger than that, it is about JUSTICE IN AMERICA..."

yes! Justice that is so very threatened here, now.


:blush:

honored

and if you ever needing off an island, absolutely do call!

you got some awesome passion for Justice and Reason, y'self, goclark! teaching me!



peace and solidarity!

Gov. from my cell phone today and left a message.


Maybe if other Du'ers have "cousins or uncles or sisters" they can call too.

learn the facts here.

many people have worked to provide you with those facts.

please, please, please look into those facts!!!

and PLEASE CALL EMAIL FAX THE GOVERNOR!!!!!

THIS IS URGENT!!!!

on december 8, the governor will meet with the lawyers.

PLEASE let him hear from you, by phone, email and fax - before then!!!


peace!

and we are listening carefully to the discussion on this issue in America.

Justice + just the TRUTH !

Im not one to automatically assume that an allwhite jury is incapable of rending a correct verdict. That in and of itself is a racist assumption.

However I would find it noteworthy if Tookies victims were white, and the jury white, then that should have been taken up on appeal.

countless facts in these threads!

then PLEASE ACT!!!

CALL EMAIL FAX THE GOVERNOR!!!!

URGENT!!!!

and from what i've seen, most, maybe all, have acute consciences.

so, i have to conclude that most do not know the facts.

that is why we are trying so hard to get those facts laid out here.

please read them, listen to them, watch them....

then please ACT!!


peace!

To: --------------------
From: governor@govmail.ca.gov
Subject: Re:Stanley 'Tookie' Williams

Thank you for your correspondence regarding Stanley Williams.

There is a court order currently in place that calls for Mr. Williams
to be executed by the State of California on December 13, 2005, and Mr.
Williams has, through his attorneys, expressed his desire for the
Governor to grant him clemency in this matter.

Capital punishment is an issue about which many people hold strong and
impassioned views, and Governor Schwarzenegger appreciates you taking
the time to express yours with regard to Mr. Williams. Your
correspondence will be given due consideration during the clemency process.

Thank you again for writing.

Sincerely,



ANDREA LYNN HOCH
Legal Affairs Secretary

writing him!!

at least it's a pointed email, versus a generic form letter.

they are hearing the outcry! please, all, keep on!!


peace!

Hopefully that means good news.

Regardless of how you feel about Capital Punishment and Gang violence, it does show that the Govenor has taken note of the opposition which is good for Tookies followers.

The fact that they simply acknowledge the opposition, and then state that he is scheduled for execution however, doesnt bold well for Stanley Williams.

But with any luck, and enough pressure from the public, he could be bought some time.

The Crips are responsible for thousands of murderers.

Yet the leader and founder of the crips has been unfairly accused and convicted of killing 4 people. The leader and founder of the crips is an innocent and peaceful man who prefers to write childrens books.

Just as John Gotti was simply a plumber and a Gang leader who never committed a murder, so is Tookie, a gang leader and childrens book author.

While this saintly gang leader/book author has a postive impact of the lives of many children, sadly that positive impact has escaped his own children. One of his children is also in prison for murder, and another is currently being sought for the rape of teenager.

How sad, it seems that Tookies children didnt inherent their fathers saintly values.

Please. Save this book author from the same fate as John Gotti, who was also innocent.

Tookie deserves far more and should be able to join other innocent people, like OJ Simpson in freedom

At the time he started it, the Crips numbered around thirty
members, when he was convicted, still less than a thousand.

Tookie's work over the past decade has saved tens of thousands
of kids from gang life. He can do far more good living than
his death could ever accomplish.

Nobel Laureates, peace & justice activists, the religious
community, the anti-death penalty community, community
activists, anti-gang activists, celebrities, and everyone
else, including & especially our precious children & youths
wanting to avoid/leave gang life, support Tookie and urge the
governor to grant him clemency.

I thought I heard that announced about half an hour ago during their 8:30pm news break. I cannot find a link for this any where and am at work so was only partially paying attention to the TV. Anyone hear this?

Edited for clarification: Clemency in this case would be life w/o parole.

I found what I heard. It seems the CA supreme court has refused to hear this case. Sorry for my confusion. Link below.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/LAW/11/30/williams.execution/index.html

In the 1958 book "The Human Condition," author Hannah Arendt notes that, "The freedom contained in Jesus' teaching of forgiveness is the freedom from vengence, which encloses both doer and sufferer in the relentless automatism of the action process, which by itself need never come to an end." (page 241) Is it possible that we can apply this thought to the case at hand? Could we even take it a step farther, and look at some of the hatred being expressed by a few DUers towards Mr. Williams, which includes their continued hostility towards the efforts of those on DU looking to save Tookie's life?

In his 1964 book "Gandhi on Non-Violence," Thomas Merton writes, "It is no accident that Hitler believed firmly in the unforgivableness of sin.This is indeed fundamental to the whole mentality of Nazism, and its avidity for final solutions and its concern that all uncertainties be eliminated. Hitler's world was built on the central dogma of the irreversibility of evil ...." (page 12)

Merton continues with an examination of St. Thomas Aquinas's views on evil. He viewed evil as real, and recognized that it was necessary to confront it. But he knew it could be overcome, even healed, and built upon. Aquinas noted that there were characteristics common to those who could not forgive, which make them remarkably similar to the sinners they hate. In "Summa Theologica," he notes "the mood of Nemesis" that "rejoices in the belief that others justly suffer and grieves when good comes to the unworthy." That sounds strangely similar to some of the ugly things one DUer has recently posted on this thread.

In Haudenosaunee (or Six Nations Iroquois Confederacy) culture, there is a position on the Grand Council of Chiefs that is known as "the chief of chiefs." This man serves as Tadodaho. In the actual history of the Iroquois, the first Tadodaho was a brutal man, a cruel man who boiled and ate the victims of his rage. The prophet known as the PeaceMaker eventually was able to comb the hatred from his mind. Just as Merton and Aquinas taught, an evil person could become healed, and could offer good to society.

A few years ago, my good friend Rubin Carter told an audience at the State University in Binghamton, NY, that everyone who hates their brother is a murderer. He was paraphrasing 1 John, 3:15. It's the quote that Merton selected to begin his book with. Small world.

We need to move beyond hatred. Bitterness consumes the vessel that contains it, the Hurricane told that audience in Binghamton. Reading this thread, and a couple of the hateful messages, shows how true that is. I appreciate how hard it can be to get by the pain that violent criminals inflict on the families and friends of their victims. But we need to take a little time to decide what direction we want our country to move in: the Hitler/Nazi direction, where the government decides what people should be killed? Or the Gandhi/Merton direction, where we attempt to heal societies' wounds, and transform peoples' lives?

Please call the governor. Thank you.

... and yes, love. You help to sustain my faith in humanity. Thank you. :hug:

It's a subject I feel strongly about, as a result of a number of experiences through the years.

As always, thank you H2O Man for this kindred, & most significant reminder. Reading through some of the postings literally brought me to tears last night.

Thanks for the spiritual uplifting. We have to learn something from this sad, sad event. One that occurs way too much in our society. And it all begins with "not" being like those we hate.

Something good can be found (always) in something bad.

A Serious :thumbsup:

In the months after his talk, I helped coordinate a local professor's attempt to have the Hurricane add a chapter to a book on the power of forgiveness. Rubin spoke about pain and suffering, and about how he spent 20 years in prison for a crime he did not commit.

"Hate took over everything. I was furious at everyone -- the two lying criminals, all the people who sent me to prison, the racist white jury who accepted the decision. All I could see was man's inhumanity to man, police brutality. All I could smell was the vile stench of shit. Simmering anger and hatred consumed me. I was existing in hell. ....

"....I did not belong there. Because I followed their rules I spent 10 out of my 20 years in solitary confinement -- 6 feet under ground, 5 slices of stale bread a day. I was stinking and starving. There was no morning, noon, or night -- just different shades of darkness. ....

"Every 15 days, we were allowed to take a shower, and every 30 days we were given a physical checkup. During one of the checkups, I walked by a mirror. I saw a grotesque image. I saw the face of hatred, a monster, and that monster was me. I realized I was not hurting them. They were hurting me. Hatred and bitterness only consumes the vessel that holdsit.

"I asked myself .... How could I forgive them? How could I forgive the people who took me away from my wife and daughter? How could I forgive the people who left a 3 year old girl thinking her father abandoned her? How could I forgive that?

"I first had to forgive myself. I had to understand conditioning. People are not born hating themselves or others. Other peoples' hatred did not need to become my hatred. This burden was imposed upon me, but I was driven to do something about it. .... I had to come to an understanding of who and what I am. Like Victor Frankl wrote about the concentration camps, I realized that prison provided me all of the tools I needed to become all I could be. I was able to seize the opportunity to use the horrible conditions to find something above the law. I had to go on an anthrolopogical expedition into an unnatural laboratory of the human spirit."

There is a reason why, in the stories of the gospels, that the prophet Jesus tells us that we are given one particular power of the divine, and that is forgiveness. And all of the other enlightened teachers, from all of the cultures around the globe, from all of the different eras of human history, have taught that same lesson.

And it can be summed up as you say: something good can always be found in relationship to that which is bad. As Frankl taught, we do not become better because of evil, we become better despite it. Hate only produces hatred, and we need to step out of that cycle, that never-ending nightmare. We need to wake up to our humanity.

and so thought provoking that I needed to have a glass of wine and toast to your words.

Your message is for the hatefulness expressed by one and silently felt by many too afraid to be counted.

Your message is also for those of us who believe that the Death Penalty is not the right path but yet there remains a piece of the brain that says,"Kill Him because The American Justice System told me That He Is A Bad Person."

Your words gave my inner most thoughts new meaning and I thank you for that ~ I am no better than the one that we have been lead to believe did the crime if I allow myself to judge someone else and keep even a touch of Hate In My Heart.

As much as I believe that I hate George Bush, I cut away a piece of my own happiness when I waste my precious time being as evil as I believe him to be.


Peace and Justice H2O Man ,Peace and Justice

I've always known something about your spirit. A kindness.

There is a prison in India where a great experiment is taking place. I saw a documentary on this prison. Some inmates meditated on a voluntary basis, as a substitute for regular prison activities. The results were nothing short of miraculous.

One of the most freeing and beautiful things I've ever seen was the murderer, and his victim's family in a state of forgiveness. This man had gained so much from his meditation that he became the best friend of his victim's family. It was not weird. Nor contrived. It was real.

I've spent a lifetime observing anger. I was dealt a triple whammy in this life. I've had a lot to overcome. Embrace anger, and become anger.

I find we whip ourselves into orgies of hate around here. I enjoy it at times. But the reality behind it all is forgiveness. The Limbaughs; The Bushes. And even Mr. Cunningham's tears. We are all weak and fragile in our own ways.

Life is unfortunate. And it can be nearly impossible to see through the misfortune. It's the effort that counts. Even if we can't find it in our hearts to love our enemy. I wouldn't want to see anyone unhappy.

Furthermore, I have found that misfortune is almost always a misunderstanding. It's easy to find anger. But very difficult to let it go. And yet it becomes very easy to let it go once we discover that the reality of the situation was not as we thought.

We do need to move beyond hatred - the Gandhi/Merton direction is fine by me!

have been seething since hearing of the ca sup ct...

no word for what they have done tonight...

vomiting rage

then i come back here, and here are these words of yours


i wept for

how long??

but i can breathe now. and i feel the love in my soul that they can not extinguish

your vision is inspirational


humblest gratitude

the dramatic cycle known as the Orestia portrays the evolution of justice from divine vandetta to trial by jury.

Without becoming bogged in plot, the officers of justice change from the Eyrinies, or Furies, to the blessed ones. It is not a replacement, but a transformation. I have always believed that the Gods, immortal, yet constrained by their natures know that human kind is special. Gods may suffer, but mortals perish, surrender our egos, and are recreated.

In the Christian great chain of being, we are the pivot point between the basest and the most elevated powers, and we are the ones that struggle and die. Those uncreated powers, spirits, or core memes if you will, rely on us being worthy of our souls. We betray our nature, and the divine order of existance when we surrender to the debased, or elevate ourselves beyond empathy.

That is the role of the sentient mortal. If we cannot always conquer our hate, at least we frequently remember our common humanity. Humanity needs mercy *and* justice in the appropriate seasons and amounts. That is Dharma-- that is the good shape of the world.

Our human need for justice sings to me from a Hindu passage wherein the mortal persona of God, Krishna tells his friend Arjuna "I was born to destroy the destroyers, and I became your friend out of my love for mankind."

Thus, there is only a paper thin veil between Krishna, and Kwan-Yin.

If you cannot love what you punish, and having punished, extend mercy to the corrected soul, you are invariably punishing yourself.
A darkened room may be re-lit, and rare is the unmendable lantern.

If you cannot see clearly why what you destroy must be destroyed, then you do so out of hate, and not justice. You destroy the light at the very moment you pride yourself on destroying the dark. That is why human destroying human should be the rarest and direst of acts.

We love, we fear, and we hate as a community of mortals. In the end, we are connected as much that that which pleases us, as that which angers us.

The Eumenidies or blessed ones destroy, not from hate of the transgressor, but out of love of the community of humankind. Humankind may judge and punish, but the wise leave it to the Gods to destroy.


Just my opinion, YMMV.

thank you for this thought- and conscience-provoking post, realpolitik.

please write with your gift for words, please reason with that man holding power beyond his wisdom

please call him to realize


peace

Appreciated with tears, Peace

like Tispaquin,Assowampset.

:kick:

yes, a government gone mad with power, gone to anarchosyndicalism (think, mussolini), while torturing tormenting our finest hopes for the future of humanity


pah!


stop them stop this call write fax reason plead



solidarity

"SAN FRANCISCO - The California Supreme Court refused Wednesday to halt the scheduled execution of convicted killer Stanley Tookie Williams, the Crips gang founder who became an anti-gang activist while in prison and whose supporters claim has redeemed himself. "


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051201/ap_on_re_us/williams_execution;_ylt=AqYHL.FzrM8FI.8Ea3EG5ySs0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA3b2NibDltBHNlYwM3MTY-

I am afraid he is window dressing to appease the death penalty opponents....

I hope he does the right thing & grants clemency.

...is encouraged to do the right thing.

I mean, it's only 12 days. Williams' fate will be known by then.

that also deserve to be pinned, for the admins to pick and choose.

i will repost a thread each day.

please, though, pass the word!


peace and solidarity!

12/1 *** URGENT*** 12 Days to STOP the EXECUTION!! PLEASE ACT!!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x5493020

Many thanks to nofurylike!!!

Will try to fax when it's not ringing busy.

Dear Governor Schwarzenegger,

I have never written to request clemency for someone in my life. But, I feel, I must write today to ask you to consider granting clemency to Stanley "Tookie" Williams when you meet with him on December 8, 2005.

Mr. Williams’ conviction was based on a trial that contained very questionable tactics. How can he have received a fair trial, a jury of his peers, when not one black juror was retained? When fingerprints and bloody footprints found at the scene were not his? When police files were deliberately left in a paid informant's jail cell so that he could prepare to testify against Mr. Williams.

Mr. Schwarzenegger, you know that people change. Yes, Mr. Williams did things in his past that were morally wrong, but he is paying for them by doing good work while incarcerated.

Mr. Williams' work over the past decade has saved tens of thousands of kids from gang life. He can do far more good living than his death could ever accomplish.

Gandhi said: "An eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind." Please consider this when making your decision.

With Respect,




***BEAR425***
***address***

on edit: hope you don't mind I plagiarized you a little!

the brilliant post by H20 Man, which SapphireBlue was kind enough to bring to everyone's attention here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=5490397&mesg_id=5490397

I told the Gov's office that we have to hold ourselves out as a humane society, and that precludes executing people who've redeemed and rehabilitated themselves and who have gone on to do good with their lives.

To which I'll add:
'Cause, man, we ain't shit as a society if we do this. It's that simple.

I've often thought to myself that we've lost our way re prisons and big swaths of the justice system. We probably never quite figured out what exactly we wanted to accomplish by throwing someine in prison -- do we merely want to punish? protect the rest of society? rehabilitate? Whic or what proportion of these three? (I suppose in these fascist times I should add: make money for privatization to that list of goals.)

Not having a clear idea, we do none of those particularly well, I don't think. But our proportion of "rehabilitate" has seriously declined since the 1960s or so. Nowadays, it's mostly all about vengeance. I'm not sure punishment hasn't been mostly replaced with just all-out desire for vengeance.

Sigh.

you for doing that, and for sharing that.
you say it very well!


peace and solidarity!

... and all who are helping w/this effort!!! :grouphug:

:hug:


:grouphug:

Thank you for your correspondence regarding Stanley Williams.

There is a court order currently in place that calls for Mr. Williams to be executed by the State of California on December 13, 2005, and Mr. Williams has, through his attorneys, expressed his desire for the Governor to grant him clemency in this matter.

Capital punishment is an issue about which many people hold strong and impassioned views, and Governor Schwarzenegger appreciates you taking the time to express yours with regard to Mr. Williams. Your correspondence will be given due consideration during the clemency process.

Thank you again for writing.

Sincerely,



ANDREA LYNN HOCH
Legal Affairs Secretary

12/1 *** URGENT*** 12 Days to STOP the EXECUTION!! PLEASE ACT!!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x5493020

Per original poster request