An Interview with Stanley Tookie Williams

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.

Stanley Tookie Williams' life now largely rests in the hands of California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger who has the power to commute the death sentence. On December 8th the governor will meet with Williams" defense team to hear its case for executive clemency. An international campaign to save his life has also been growing. Actions are planned across the world today in what has been described as International Save Tookie Day. In Los Angeles hip hop star Snoop Dogg and actor Jamie Foxx will join others in reading excerpts from Williams' books. Foxx starred in a film about Tookie's life titled Redemption. To date over 32,000 people have signed online petitions calling for Schwarzenegger to commute the death sentence.

The story of Tookie Williams begins in the streets of Los Angeles in the early 1970s. At the age of 17 he started the Crips street gang with his friend Raymond Washington. The gang would expand across the country and even overseas. In 1979 Williams was arrested in connection with four murders.

He was convicted of shooting dead a 7-Eleven clerk named Albert Owens and of robbing and killing a Taiwanese motel owner along with his wife and daughter. He was sentenced in 1981 to four death sentences.

Tookie Williams has always maintained his innocence and claims he received an unfair trial, in part, because he was convicted by an all-white jury. In 1993, Williams life took a dramatic turn when he agreed to record a videotaped message from death row supporting a truce between the Crips and the Bloods. The videotape was shown during a peace summit meeting attended by over 400 gang members.

* Stanley Tookie Williams, speaking in 1993.

After Tookie Williams addressed the Hands Across Watts gang peace summit in 1993, he became more involved in helping to keep young people out of gangs. With the help of his main advocate, Barbara Becnel, Williams soon began writing children"s books and speaking with young people about the gang life. He also helped orchestrate truces between gangs.

While his court appeals have largely been exhausted, judges have publicly admitted there is a strong case for clemency. In 2002, a three-judge panel on the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld his death sentence but in a rare move urged then-Governor Gray Davis to consider commuting the death sentence. The judges praised Tookie Williams for his "laudable efforts opposing gang violence" and his "good works and accomplishments since incarceration."

On Tuesday I had a chance to interview Stanley Tookie Williams from death row in San Quentin. He called us collect on a phone monitored by prison officials.

* Stanley Tookie Williams, speaking from San Quentin death row.


More information: http:/SaveTookie.org

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

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Interview With Phil Gasper:

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.

So it's quite contradictory for a San Quentin spokesperson-or anyone else, for that matter-to state that I'm still involved in gang activity, when that same person's superiors say I've been programming positively for over 10 years.

SOME OF the same people say that if you were serious about opposing gang violence, you would allow the authorities to "debrief" you on what you know about the Crips. Do you have any inside information that could be used to weaken the Crips or other gangs, and why have you refused to be debriefed?

THE FACT of the matter is that "debriefing" is a euphemism for snitching-telling on people. In my redemptive transition, I vowed to myself not to participate in any kind of violence, or anything that would harm other people, and for me to tell on another person is, in my opinion, harming another individual.

But first and foremost, I have no information.

Secondly, there's another contradiction with these individuals who continuously promote this claim about me. As it stands, the Departmental Operations Manual clearly states that the only gangs or individuals who will be debriefed are prison gangs. The Crips and the Bloods are not considered prison gangs. Prison gangs are those that were formed and created in the prison.

If I were a gang member, and if there was any iota of data that showed this, I would never have left the hole. I was in there in solitary confinement for close to seven years. And if debriefing was necessary-if it was legal for a street gang-then they would have done that to me then.

THE MEDIA has made much of the fact that you have never apologized to the murder victims' families in your case-you've said that you would rather die than lie about something you didn't do. Do you have anything you would like to say to the victims' families?

IF I had the opportunity to talk to talk to any victims' family members, I would say that I can empathize and I sympathize with their loss of a loved one. I would say the same thing to anyone who has lost a loved one.

However, in regards to me apologizing, it would be wrong of me to apologize for something I didn't do. I didn't commit those crimes. I've been averring my innocence since day one, and it is the truth. So I cannot apologize for something I didn't do.

It would be wrong of me. It would be a coward's act. I would be craven to proclaim guilt for something I didn't do. And that's why I say that I'd rather just go on and die than to lie about something that is so untrue.

WHAT MADE you decide to redirect your life and dedicate yourself to helping kids?

I'VE LIVED a pathetic life, and I believe it was education that helped me to change. It was through education that I was able to create common sense and use reasoning. And it was through this that I developed a conscience that led to my redemption.

This is something I feel I was obligated to do as a man, period-to do something that would help youth out there. I feel obligated to try to convince them that the life that they wanted to live or are thinking about living-the so-called thug life, or the gang life, or the criminal life, or the drug life-will ruin their lives forever. I was motivated to do something in my small way-to make a contribution.

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http://counterpunch.org/gasper11292005.html