Die Tookie, Die

On December 13, 2005, the state of California is planning on executing one Stanley "Tookie" Williams for the 1979 murders of a convenience store clerk and a mother, father, and daughter who ran a Los Angeles motel. Tookie maintains his innocence of the murders. Just for the sake of argument, let's say he really is innocent (which he isn't). I would call for his execution anyway. That is because in the early 1970s, Tookie Williams co-founded the Crips - a Los Angeles street gang. Think of the thousands of murders that have been committed in the name of the Crips, and that can all be laid at the feet of the creator of that gang: Tookie Williams, and his co-creator, who is dead. He was murdered years ago.

The wrinkle that could possibly save Tookie from execution is his behavior behind bars. He had a conversion of sorts in which he renounced his former life, and worked for peace instead of violence. He has been nominated for the Noble Peace Prize, and Jamie Foxx even portrayed him in a movie. I am glad that Tookie decided to see the light and renounce his former ways. Perhaps God will show mercy upon Tookie when he meets him soon. In the meantime, four innocent people were brutally murdered by Stanley "Tookie" Williams, and he must pay for those crimes. I always want to ask the question, "Would you have had this conversion had you not been caught?" Somehow I doubt it.

We have seen this before. A few years ago in Texas, a woman named Karla Faye Tucker was to be executed for a double axe murder. She too experienced a conversion behind bars. While it is the left wing that is trying to keep Tookie from his meeting with the executioner, it was the right wing that led the fight to save Ms. Tucker. Thankfully, they were not successful. In fact, if memory serves me correctly, it was Gov. George W. Bush who signed her death warrant. So Mr. Williams, God bless you for what you have done with your life behind bars, but may God curse you for what you did outside your prison walls.

Good Day to You, Sir