Stan "Tookie" Williams - California D.R

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www.tookie.com/

Tookie Williams was one of the founders of the Crips street gang; subject of a Jamie Foxx movie; nobel peace prize nominee; California Death Row Prisoner.

This is his apology :


The Apology
Twenty-five years ago when I created the Crips youth gang with Raymond Lee Washington in South Central Los Angeles, I never imagined Crips membership would one day spread throughout California, would spread to much of the rest of the nation and to cities in South Africa, where Crips copycat gangs have formed. I also didn't expect the Crips to end up ruining the lives of so many young people, especially young black men who have hurt other young black men.

Raymond was murdered in 1979. But if he were here, I believe he would be as troubled as I am by the Crips legacy.

So today I apologize to you all -- the children of America and South Africa -- who must cope every day with dangerous street gangs. I no longer participate in the so-called gangster lifestyle, and I deeply regret that I ever did.

As a contribution to the struggle to end child-on-child brutality and black-on-black brutality, I have written the Tookie Speaks Out Against Gang Violence children's book series. My goal is to reach as many young minds as possible to warn you about the perils of a gang lifestyle.

I am no longer "dys-educated" (disease educated). I am no longer part of the problem. Thanks to the Almighty, I am no longer sleepwalking through life.

I pray that one day my apology will be accepted. I also pray that your suffering, caused by gang violence, will soon come to an end as more gang members wake up and stop hurting themselves and others.

I vow to spend the rest of my life working toward solutions.

Amani (Peace),

Stanley "Tookie" Williams, Surviving Crips Co-Founder,
April 13, 1997
www.tookie.com/

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Listen to Tookie on this Public Service Announcement aimed at kids :

www.tookie.com/Audio/Tookie_psa_60_sec.mp3

TOOKIE'S LETTER TO YOUTH

My Letter To Incarcerated Youth, No. 1

I've been on San Quentin's death row for more than 21 years. I hope that this brief message will provoke thoughts of change among you.

Across this nation, countless young men and women, like you, are vegetating in juvenile halls and in youth authorities. More and more prisons are being constructed to accommodate your generation when you grow to adulthood. The question is, can you become motivated enough to defy the expectations that many people have of you?

For those of you who are fortunate enough to regain your freedom, prepare an agenda to survive outside the walls of incarceration. Learn about computer technology, politics and the sciences.

On the other hand, if some of you are facing a lot of time, I suggest that you strive to educate and discipline your mind. If you have access to a library, read every relevant book that you can get your hands on. Educate yourselves about history, world religions, math, English, spirituality and your culture.

It's time to flip the script. You or I can complain 24x7 about the problems of poverty, drugs, violence, racism and other injustices, but unless we choose to initiate a personal change, we will remain puppets of unjust conditions. Unless we change, we will be incapable of changing the circumstances around us.

In conclusion, there are two ways to view your incarceration: either your present situation will convince you to straighten up your life or it will be the beginning of a wasteful future behind bars. Or worse - you'll end up on death row.

My Letter To Incarcerated Youth, No. 2

What is the relationship between prisoner and guard? Is it slave versus master?

Foremost, the interactions between captor and captive can vary from person to person. All guards do not behave the same way; neither does every prisoner exhibit an identical pattern of behavior. But a relationship of any kind that is based on distrust, caution or fear will eventually give rise to open hostility.

In prison, the basis of the so-called relationship between guards and prisoners is that guards issue institutional orders and prisoners must comply – or the prisoners suffer the consequences. These consequences include prisoners being placed in solitary confinement in "The Hole," which is known as receiving "hole time," or prisoners are forced to comply through violence inflicted on prisoners.

In the matter of the master-slave concept, there are commonalities between a guard as master and a prisoner as slave.

Similarity between the guard’s role and the master’s role can be found in the guard’s absolute power to control the prisoner. This control is carried out by enforcing rules on the prisoner; closely watching the prisoner to ensure compliance with those rules; punishing, abusing and, if need be, eliminating the prisoner through banishment to solitary confinement or through violence.

On the other hand, the resemblance of the prisoner to the slave is that both are subjected to strict rules, confined like animals, controlled, often brutalized physically as well as psychologically, and deprived of basic human rights.

Dare I take the master-slave connection a step further to point out that many people – of all races and ethnicities – have allowed themselves to be modern-day slaves. Indeed, a person does not have to be Black to exhibit a slave mentality. Unwittingly, too many of us – and it does not matter whether we are Black, Asian, Chicano or White – perpetuate "the Master’s will" through our own self-hatred and destructive behavior. For those individuals who are in denial, here are some recognizable signs of self-perpetuation of slave behavior, be it in prison or in society.

Modern-Day Slave Traits

1. A modern-day slave will neglect to educate himself, which in turn creates mental slavery. (During slavery, Blacks were prohibited from learning to read or write. So, these days, everyone should take advantage of the opportunity to get an education.)
2. A modern-day slave will swindle and commit other crimes against his own people and others instead of helping to break the chains of poverty by earning an honest living.
3. A modern-day slave will perpetuate self-hate through committing violence on people of his same ethnicity, such as black-on-black violence, including murder, which is a form of genocide.
4. A modern-day slave will deal, buy and/or use drugs that will make him and others function as slaves (addicts) to drugs, slaves to misery and slaves to defeat.
5. A modern-day slave will adopt the wicked ways of the slave master, who disrespected and abused women.
6. A modern-day slave will abandon his children – leaving them for someone else to raise – just as the old masters abandoned Black children by selling them off to other slave owners, not caring about their fate.
7. A modern-day slave will foolishly commit crimes that cause him to end up behind bars, incarcerated, in mental and physical bondage.

Take a look at this list and then read it again. Look within yourself for any similarities and eliminate your modern-day slave traits. If you cannot admit to any of the seven signs, you are in denial. But all is not lost. The first step toward defeating a slave mentality begins with your acknowledgment that it exists.

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On death row, an author and Nobel nominee
Paul Van Slambrouck Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
RICHMOND, CALIF. - The mattress pads in the death-row cells of San Quentin State Prison are unusually thin.

But former gang godfather and convicted murderer Stanley "Tookie" Williams has made that a virtue. He rolls his up tight, binds it together with shoelaces, and sets it on end. From that makeshift stool, using his metal bed frame as a desk, Mr. Williams writes books for children, warning them of the life he led and now rues.

"I have to ad lib," says Williams in a phone interview from his cell. "You do a lot of that in here."

Indeed, Williams's life has been full of ingenuity and surprises. But perhaps none so great as the recent announcement that he has been nominated for next year's Nobel Peace Prize by a member of the Swiss parliament.

Williams is co-founder of the Crips, a gang rooted in

1971 South Central Los Angeles but now with copycats scattered around the globe.

But it's what Williams has done from a 4- by 9-foot cell - his home for the past 19 years - that has brought him a Nobel nomination. He has created a cottage industry of programs to help at-risk youths in the United States and abroad to avoid gang life. He's written nine books and created several anticrime programs run by the nonprofit Neighborhood House for North Richmond, not far from San Quentin.

While Williams's works have received wide recognition, including support from corporations like Kraft Foods and funding from the US Department of Justice, honoring him as a Nobel nominee is controversial and sure to play into the national debate over the death penalty.

For opponents of capital punishment, Williams's accomplishments are testimony to the power and usefulness of a life turned around.

For supporters of the death penalty, the nomination is the ultimate affront to victims everywhere. Williams was convicted of four murders, which he denies committing.

Reverse role model

For Tandrea Nix, a sixth-grader in tan pants and a black nylon jacket, Williams is a kind of reverse role model.

Tandrea is one of more than 50 children who spend their after-school hours in a converted duplex apartment building in North Richmond, a community with an ever present whiff of oil in the air, thanks to nearby refineries, and a per capita annual income of $4,500. The children are participating in a project begun by Williams and administered by Neighborhood House that provides mentoring and resources, like Internet access, to spread an antigang message.

In a dim upstairs room with windows covered by metal mesh, Tandrea is reading aloud from one of Williams's books to a group of children bused here from their homes after school. Tandrea explains Williams's message to a visitor simply: "It teaches us not to grow up like him."

Growing up for Williams meant an early introduction into the tough street life of South Central Los Angeles. He and his mother moved there by bus from Louisiana in the early 1960s. His first exploration of his new neighborhood led to a fight with the local bully, an experience Williams says convinced him that being bigger, tougher, and stronger than the next guy were the keys to survival.

At 17, Williams and a friend founded the Crips gang, which begat heightened street violence and, ultimately, a couple of robberies and four murders that landed Williams on death row. He is appealing those convictions by requesting new evidentiary hearings.

Slow conversion

Williams's transition from gang leader to gang opponent was not sudden. Gang affiliations and animosities follow their members into prison, and San Quentin authorities were immediately suspicious of Williams.

Convinced he was behind a budding gang power struggle, prison officials sent Williams to "the hole," a place where even minimal prison liberties are denied, where he stayed for seven years.

It was there, says Williams, that the conversion began.

"It didn't happen overnight," he says. "It wasn't an epiphany. It was gradual, and that's what made it more effective - not like one of those crash diets where it doesn't last," he chuckles.

"He's proof that someone can change the direction of his life and give a good example to other young people," says Mario Fehr, who, along with five fellow members of the Swiss Parliament, put forth Williams's Nobel nomination.

Williams is soft-spoken and, while not formally educated, clear and articulate. He credits God for making his life productive, and voracious reading for his impressive vocabulary. His favorite books: the Bible, the dictionary, and a thesaurus.

Williams's work and conversion have been given a strong helping hand by Barbara Becnel, executive director of the Neighborhood House. They met when she sought him out as a source for a book she is writing on the history of L.A. gangs. She became a conduit for his programs outside prison, including the books, which he dictates to her over the phone. She edits them and does the leg work to see them into print.

Ms. Becnel's initial quest for a publisher in the early 1990s failed. Only one was interested, but wanted a blood-and-guts inside account of gang life, which Williams rejected. She then took the idea to a National Booksellers Convention in Chicago, where she literally walked from booth to booth. She found a taker, and the series of books was published in 1996.

Another book, "Life in Prison," was published in 1998, and presents a harrowing account of prison existence that has been applauded by juvenile-justice officials, as well as educators and young people.

Becnel says Williams gets no proceeds from the books. Rather, earnings are funneled into his antigang activities. Williams founded the Internet Project for Street Peace, a Web site that allows at-risk youths to talk to each other in chat rooms. Right now, the network involves American teens talking to Somali immigrants in Switzerland. Eventually, the program will connect with black youths in South Africa, too.

Gang life in the style of South Central L.A. has clearly gone global. Becnel recalls her astonishment on a trip to South Africa, when she visited Pollsmoor Prison, where Nelson Mandela was incarcerated, and noticed prisoners making hand symbols identifying themselves as followers of the Crips.

Little sympathy

Because of his murder convictions, as well as the thousands of lives damaged by gangs, Williams gets no sympathy from victims-rights groups and death-penalty proponents.

"We work very hard not to allow murderers to become celebrities. We find it insulting to the victims, because it just casts the victims aside," says Jan Miller, president of Citizens Against Homicide. Whatever good work Williams is doing today, says Miller, cannot negate his earlier crimes, nor should it affect his punishment.

Mr. Fehr, the Swiss Parliamentarian, makes clear that the Nobel nomination is intended to honor Williams, as well as call attention to the injustice of the death penalty. "This will help push the death-penalty debate to a higher level," says Fehr from Zurich.

Of course, winning the Nobel Prize remains a long shot for Williams, who is just one of more than 100 nominations. But in terms of the debate over the death penalty, simply being a nominee will heighten the controversy that is sure to follow if Williams's legal appeals are exhausted and his execution scheduled.

Aside from the morality argument against the death penalty, Williams embodies a different, more pragmatic contention. If his life now accomplishes a social good, supporters argue, why end it?

(c) Copyright 2000. The Christian Science Publishing Society

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An Inspiration From Death Row

Venise Wagner, Chronicle Staff Writer

Monday, December 11, 2000

Stanley Tookie Wiliams as a youth. Photo c. 1966, court... Stanley Tookie Williams at San Quentin, 1997. Photo cou...

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Stanley "Tookie" Williams seeks redemption word by word -- delivering them to the young people in danger of repeating his mistake.

Descriptions of him sound like oxymorons: death row inmate and author of children's books; co-founder of the Crips street gang and Nobel Peace Prize nominee.

However, in a recent San Quentin interview with the hulking figure who sat in the visitors booth behind inches of scratched Plexiglas, the contradictions appear less so.

The path to the visiting area for condemned inmates is a chain of security checks, Plexiglas and secured steel doors. Their cold metal vibrates to the teeth when they slam shut.

Dressed in prison-issue denim blues, his hair closely cropped, Williams, 46,

spoke in deliberate and measured tones. When asked about the nomination -- made by a member of the Swiss Parliament for his books and an Internet project they inspired -- he smiled briefly.

"I was humbled by it," said Williams, leaning on arms as thick as bricks. "It was something unexpected for a man behind bars, a condemned black man."

Critics say he's an unrepentant criminal with continued ties to the Crips --

a charge the San Quentin warden in June ordered removed from his file because it was no longer true.

"The man murdered four people and is responsible for helping form the Crips, " Los Angeles County Sheriff's Sgt. Wes McBride, president of the California Association of Gang Investigators, told the Associated Press last week. "His creation has spread across the country and internationally."

McBride said he wrote to the Nobel committee to oppose Williams' nomination.

"We should never elevate gang members to statesmen," he said.

The Crips, founded in 1971 in South Central Los Angeles, became the model for street gangs around the country and internationally, including youths in South Africa and young immigrants in Switzerland. In Los Angeles, their membership rivaled only the Bloods street gang. Spin-offs popped up even in rural parts of the United States.

Williams has spent 21 years behind bars since being arrested for the four murders in 1979. Twelve years after entering prison, he said he realized the devastating consequences of starting the Crips. Williams publicly apologized in 1996 before the Congressional Black Caucus.

He dismisses the skeptics.

"I'll let the merit of what I've done stand on its own," Williams said, speaking into a muffled phone. "As long as I know I changed, it doesn't matter what these people think. I've changed without losing my backbone, without violating my moral convictions."

His children's books consist of "Life in Prison" and "Tookie Speaks Out Against Gang Violence," eight readers examining self-esteem, drugs, weapons and violence.

The books are the foundation of the Internet Street Peace Project at the Neighborhood House in North Richmond. Proceeds from the books help fund the project and Mothers Against Gang Wars.

The Internet project is the brainchild of Williams. The program combines literacy building, peer leadership and online chats with Somali immigrants in Switzerland, many trying to resist the gang life.

Williams said the Internet can connect wayward youths around the world as they struggle with negative peer pressure, low self-esteem and identity.

"In many instances, they can establish long-term friendships and knowledge of each other," he said.

It would be tempting to believe that his books are the salvation of troubled kids feeling the tug of gangs, but Williams resists.

"There is no book in the world, not even the Bible, that can have an impact like that on any individual," he said. "Support is more important, individuals in the family who have some type of concern, who have influences on children. You have to combine the two (books and support)."

He doubts his own books would have influenced him as a youth to turn his life around. Although he had a supportive mother, he didn't have a father or role models other than street thugs.

"My mother did her job," he said. "I was just strong-willed. I digested so many negative stereotypes: Black men are violent; black men are promiscuous; black men are drug addicts; black men are liars; black men are criminals. I grew up mimicking pimps and drug dealers."

Born in Shreveport, La., Williams moved at an early age to South Central Los Angeles with his mother, who was divorced. As a teenager, he ran the streets, avoiding school. At 13, he started sniffing glue. Later, he became addicted to PCP. When he formed the Crips with his friend Raymond Washington, who has since been killed, his status in the streets rose. But Williams said he now sees the illusion of that power.

"That was a bogus role anyway," he said. "I didn't have any power. We didn't own any land or anything. Being part of that was being part of something destructive. It was a causeless cause."

In 1981, he was convicted of killing Alvin Owen, shot twice in the back of the head during a 7-Eleven robbery in Los Angeles. Thsai-Shai Yang, Yen-I Yang and Yee Chen Lin were gunned down in an L.A. motel robbery two weeks later. Williams insists that he is innocent and his attorneys are working on appeals.

Williams describes his "transition" as a period of years that still continues. It started, he said, while sitting in "the Hole" in 1993 for inciting a gang war in the prison, an accusation he denies. In the Hole, he said, introspection got the best of him. He began reading more, starting with the dictionary and moving later to tomes on black culture and history.

These days, his routine starts at 4:30 or 5 a.m. It's the quietest time in the prison. He washes up, prays and writes for two to three hours. He then exercises in the yard and comes back to read, draw or respond to letters.

While some ridicule such jailhouse transformations, Corey Weinstein defends them. Weinstein, a physician and board member of California Prison Focus, a prisoner advocacy group, said it's easy for society to dismiss such changes to justify the death penalty and its brutal treatment of inmates.

"It's interesting to say that a person will get out of a bad marriage, turn their life around, go to school, change their religion or do a variety of things to alter their direction. It's so ordinary," said Weinstein. "It's only with criminals we try to freeze people in their worst moments in life."

Williams said while he appreciates the recent recognition, he is realistic about its impact on his case.
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Tookie's supporters will pass emails sent to the following address on to him :

[e-mail]

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Book Club

These books were written by Stanley "Tookie" Williams and Barbara Cottman Becnel with the hope of teaching children about the dangers of being involved with gangs.

Book Proceeds and Donations
Stanley "Tookie" Williams receives no money for having written the Tookie Speaks Out series and Life in Prison. He is donating proceeds to several non-profit organizations, including Mothers Against Gang Wars, located in South Central Los Angeles, California. All donations and grants given to The Institute For Prevention Of Youth Violence, a nonprofit entity, will go toward funding a diverse group of programs that will assist children in becoming responsible, successful and self-confident people.

For information about ordering these books, see the bottom of this page.








Life in Prison
Stanley "Tookie" Williams, death-row inmate in San Quentin State Prison for sixteen years, offers shocking testimony that debunks current myths about prison life. In straightforward, honest prose, Williams speaks out about what it's really like in prison -- and challenges young people to choose the right path.

Gangs and Wanting to Belong
Gangs can be a family to kids who don't have one. Tookie informs kids of the danger of this and tells them where they can get support.

Gangs and Drugs
Gangs often deal drugs and abuse them. Little kids get involved early. Tookie gives an encouraging and helpful message that goes beyond "Just say no."

Gangs and Self-Esteem
Many kids join gangs to feel better about themselves. This book provides kids with other methods of self-empowerment.

Gangs and Weapons
Tookie started out on the streets of South Central LA with fists, then guns. Now he teaches kids the tragedy associated with weapons.

Gangs and Your Friends
Kids need to know that gang members are false friends. This book gives simple techniques to identify peer pressure and to make friends who help, not hurt.

Gangs and Your Neighborhood
Gangs take over neighborhoods. Wars between 'hoods are common. This book tells kids how to stay safe in their neighborhoods.

Gangs and the Abuse of Power
Gangs coerce young kids into doing things they don't want to do. Tookie tells how kids can avoid falling into a gang's power.

Gangs and Violence
Too many kids don't realize how destructive gangs are until it's too late. This book gives the very realistic picture needed.



Specifications and Ordering Information

Specifications
The Tookie Speaks Out books are at Reading Level 3. The books are geared to serve children in grades kindergarten through 4.

The size of each book is: 7 1/2" by 7" and 24 pages in length. The books have full-color photographs, a Glossary, index and Pronunciation Guide to new words for children at those levels.

Ordering Information
All of the books described above can be ordered from Amazon.com, Borders, Barnes & Noble, B. Dalton Bookseller and other book stores. Life in Prison can be ordered direct from its publisher, Chronicle Books. Click here to learn how.

The Tookie Speaks Out books are published by Power Kids Press. You may contact Power Kids Press, a division of Rosen Publishing, at 1-800-237-9932.

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www.tookie.com/protocol/table.of.contents.html

The Tookie Protocal For Peace Between Gangs...

www.tookie.com/protocol/gang.peace.accord.arrowed.html
www.tookie.com/protocol/point.1.proclamation.arrowed.html
www.tookie.com/protocol/point.2.violations.arrowed.html
www.tookie.com/protocol/point.3.peacekeepers.n.monitoring.arrowed.html
www.tookie.com/protocol/point.4.peacekeepers.oath.arrowed.html
www.tookie.com/protocol/point.5.buffer.zones.arrowed.html
www.tookie.com/protocol/point.6.gang.membership.renunciation.arrowed.html
www.tookie.com/protocol/establishing.peace.arrowed.html
www.tookie.com/protocol/maintaining.peace.arrowed.html
www.tookie.com/protocol/social.agenda.for.peacekeepers.arrowed.html
www.tookie.com/protocol/community.peace.accord.arrowed.html
www.tookie.com/protocol/final.note.arrowed.html

[Maggie]

A recent article on Tookie:

Stanley "Tookie" Williams has led a life so dramatic that Hollywood turned his autobiographical book into a 2004 made-for-TV movie: Redemption, starring Jamie Foxx. But Williams remains on Death Row, facing execution as early as this fall if appeals on his behalf fail.

Born and raised on the mean streets of south Los Angeles, Williams and a friend co-founded the notorious Crips street gang when he was just 13. "We performed mayhem and aggression throughout the city. We terrorized everybody. We made it a living hell...," he says today. "We made a mistake -- we morphed into a monster."

Now 51, Williams sits in San Quentin prison in northern California, convicted of the 1979 killing of a convenience store worker during a robbery. He was also found guilty of shooting and killing a motel owner, his wife and daughter -- crimes he says he did not commit.

Still, in the books he's written about those days, he admits that as a Crip and a drug addict, he was unapproachable, unreachable, unteachable and incorrigible. "I was miseducated on manhood. I thought that manhood constituted violence, aggression, womanizing," he says.

Once behind bars, Williams says he found his own path to redemption. He re-educated himself, reading everything from the dictionary to law books. And he began writing children's books -- nine so far -- and speaking out against gangs. He's made public apologies for creating the Crips and adopting the gangster lifestyle.

Those efforts earned Williams a nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize, and may be a factor should Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger decide to grant him clemency. Williams could also appeal his original conviction to the U.S. Supreme Court.

www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4608950

I urge anyone who hasn't seen the movie "Redemption" to see it.... it is awesome! I saw it awhile ago.... and at the time I had no idea who Tookie was-- I rented it because I like Jamie Foxx, the actor who plays Tookie.
I couldn't get Tookie's story out of my head for WEEKS!

The book "Redemption" can be ordered on-line.
I recently sent one to a pen-pal in PA...... Barbara Becnel runs the publishing compnay I think because after I ordered it to be sent to Muncy in PA, she emailed me and said it had to be resent because they sent it in a padded envelope, and it was sent back-- first time that ever happened she said.

Anyhow-- it's a great story! Tookie's petition is on-line to be signed.... the link is at Tookie.com

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can u go grab the direct petition link and post it? i didn't notice it there

[Maggie]

CCADP said:

can u go grab the direct petition link and post it? i didn't notice it there

I hope this is the one.... www.tookie.com/

[Maggie]

Maggie said:

I hope this is the one.... www.tookie.com/

Opps...

www.petitiononline.com/stw4804/petition.html

;D

[CCADP]

thanks!

i signed it!

this is what i wrote -

Please consider the good that Williams can continue to do - as a result of his position and credibility; gang affiliated youth and children at risk listen to him. Save many lives - by saving his!-

Maggie - can u please also add this in the TAKE ACTION section so its not missed ...and so I'm not the only one posting stuff there

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Some notes petition signers left :

The government should let him out and work with him on stopping the violence.

Tookie has tried to end the battle between crips and bloods it is the least the state can do is show some mercy

This man is a true inspiration, don't kill the gangs only hope

is he a danger to anyone? will he not make a difference to youn people? a victim without death. for those he ahs killed how many has he saved?

i never new how bad the gang warfare was untill i saw the film'Redemption'.I was moved to tears at this amazing man.

His work in his books has reached the children all across the world and even if they only save one life, is that not enough. This man has transformed lives with his honest and sometimes brutal accounts of gang culture, but it is working. Lets keep the good work going.

Death is no the answer to murder

This mans wonderful message is worth more than a million words. He will have an everlasting effect on many young children all over the world. Grant him the clemency he deserves.

Stay alive, Tookie

The world is watching, and expects/demands that forgiveness and clemency is shown

don't let this man die. he has done more good than bad.

How can this cause be anythin but worthy?

give him a 2nd chance he has shown the change

Tookie has inspired, educated and touched so many young lives, please embrace this courageous soul.

Save lives

This man is a voice to the children of the world. He is so much more valuable to this world alive than he could be dead. His achievements from a correctional facility are testament to this. Dont let this be for nothing.

Already Justified by Jesus to be a free man

may God bless and keep you my brother

Dont kill him! PLEASE!

Please dont let this man die he's a good man

This man has more than paid his dues and made restitution for his past

I just saw the movie and was deeply moved. At least allow the man to live and continue to help others through his writing and other messages. The death penalty is immoral and terrible. Just imagine if you were someone on death row, especially someone that was trying to change and also change others. Everyone has the right to live and develop, learn, change. That is part of life- to become a better person. Everyone makes mistakes, even really terrible ones, but we all would want a chance to right them.

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more :

Please grant clemency to death row inmate Stanley "Tookie" Williams.

i would greatley appreciate it if you would free tookie because he was a good man in his time

freeeeee tookie

let he that hasnt sinned cast the first stone

i have seen the movie redemption, and i understand that people make mistakes, i believe that Tookie made a mistake and he has learned fromit and now he is trying to sop other people from making the same mistake.

People change, Tookie is a good guy amoung many bad guys. SAVE HIM!

Iam a troubled youth ,for the past three years i have spen my life in juvinile facilities,now i am about to be released ,back home ,back on the streets,i belive if you repent you shall be saved,i believe letting a man diewho has made some mistakes in his life,but has done so much to try to change his ways ,would be a great mistake. i belive that the way to change troubled youth ,would be to use a man who knows what we are going through from expeirence so we may look on his life and decide not to choose the path he went, but for the youth that have already expirencied a little of what he has gone through so we can see that we can still be a great person like tookie is now, to be able to stand up for peace after you have already expeirenced the violence. please spare his life.

teacher of Inner City Middle School Youth

This man has done so much to right his wrong he is truly a reformed man. He would be an asset to the troubled youth of the world as an ambassador.

Who has the right to say someone should die

I beleive that children are our future, and what Tookie Williams is doing is wonderful. If he can help our young children stay away from gangs, then i beleive he disserves a 2nd chance

Please spare this man's life and allow him to continue reaching out and making a difference in the lives of our troubled youth.

a good man

He is inspiration from GOD

I believe everyone deserves a second chance. Tookie ls helping young children to stay out of gangs. To me this is Wonderful. Tookie keep up the great work of saving America's children.

It is wonderful to see someone that is incarcerated actually get rehabilated. You rarely find inmates contributing to our society. Allow him to continue his work by helping the youth.

If a man is accomplishing social good, why should he be killed? Stanley Williams is changing children's lives for the better. As an educator half way across the country, I can see this. Can you?

I think what he is doing is wonderful!

Dont let another face fo appear on walls

SHERMAN I wonder if the politicians are working as hard to eradicate gang warfare, as hard as Mr.Williams has worked from his "Death Row" cell. Our leaders/politicians have no genuine interest in the poor communities. Their interest is solely economics. The use of propaganda helps politicians maintain their undeserving seats, as they continue popularizing/preaching their theories/philosophies; their means to an end, "power & money." End gang violence! Their goal, "Feed the Machine." Their ideological method is to lock individuals away vs. means. Here in California we live between Hollywood & Disneyland, where everyone is out for self, displaying no interest in solidarity. The rich could care less about the people in impoverished communities, which breeds gang violence. I believe that Mr. Williams is the answer to gang proliferation, who will do far better than politicians; people who are bought & sold. The troubled & dispossessed need the experienced ones, namely, Mr. Williams. I Thank you Sir.

[CCADP]

Stanley shouldn't die he was a bad person in the past but now he has changed and he has changed other peoples lives. Giving him death will do nothing but killing a powerful voice that younger kids respect

I think Mr.Williams has paid his dues for killing those four people. No those four people can't be brought to life,However, Mr.Williams remarkable rehabiltation has proven the system to work for a change. His redemption and complete change of thinking has demonstrated a poweful motive for granting him clemency. The initial purpose of prison is to rehab one's mind make them see what ill they may have cause. Mr.Williams is a true inspiration to all of us. If california keep him in jail any longer it just goes to show how the so called system doe not really work.

i believe this man has and can make many more changes in the way young minds think today


HEY here's one idiot - must be a JFA message board poster -
Deep Needle Governor, please be certain to visit www.geocities.com/deep_needle to truly understand who Stan Tookie Williams is.

We need Tookies wisdom and help to save our troubled youth that are into these gangs and viloence. Even if he stays in prison the rest of his life.......let him help save the children! Don't execute him.

Granted, Stanley Williams has done a great deal of harm in his youth and the gang he created continues to wreck havoc all over our nation but the good he has done in the latter part of his life and more importantly the good he can still do for youth everywhere warrants us sparing this man's life that he may now continue his work to save the lives of countless youth. Let us remember that earlier in their lives Moses, David and the Apostle Paul were also murderers but the good they accomplished later far outweighed the atrocities they committed in their youthful ignorance. We grieve for the men whose lives Mr. Williams took and also for their families but sparing his life may keep us from having to grieve for thousands of youth in the future.

For one who has been condemned to death he has done his utmost to prevent others suffering this fate. From a cell he has touched the world and been seven times nominated for the nobel prizes of peace and literature... let him come face to face with the world as a free man, we need people like him to start the change that has long been coming.

Terminator, Free Tookie!

He is a good man of his word

He has done enough time let him be free

He has given me the strength to fight these battles with my son!

Justice is not takeing a life with another

This man's life is truly an inspiration and he is a clear sign that there is redemption. Seeing him a free man would mean that there is justice and that he could reach even more people to help them.