Stanley Tookie Williams on Death Row

December 14, 2005

THE WILLIAMS EXECUTION

Austria Feels Sense of Betrayal by Native Son

VIENNA — For years in his Austrian homeland the tabloid papers affectionately referred to California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger as "Our Arnie." On Tuesday, after he refused to pardon convicted murderer Stanley Tookie Williams, a headline on the front page of one of the country's largest newspapers was "Terminator."

2:18 AM PST, December 13, 2005

DEATH WATCH AT SAN QUENTIN

Tookie Williams Is Executed

Stanley Tookie Williams, whose self-described evolution from gang thug to antiviolence crusader won him an international following and nominations for a Nobel Peace Prize, was executed by lethal injection early today, hours after Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger refused to spare his life.

December 10, 2005

Every Execution Detail Prescribed

SACRAMENTO — Barring clemency from the governor or a last-minute stay, Stanley Tookie Williams will be expected to walk on his own to the death chamber Monday at San Quentin State Prison.

December 4, 2005

Should we kill this Crip?

He's a murderer. He should die.

There are heartfelt moral and religious reasons to oppose capital punishment, but holding up Stanley Tookie Williams as a symbol of redemption is absurd and obscene.

December 4, 2005

Should we kill this Crip?

Governor, let Tookie live

In deciding whether Stanley Tookie Williams should die Dec. 13 for murdering four people, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's unenviable task is to play God. The question he must answer is whether Williams' reformation during the last 16 years is sufficient to let him live out his life in prison.

December 4, 2005

COMMENTARY

'Thug Life' Must Be Stopped

AS A CAREER educator in urban schools, including 10 years as principal of Washington Preparatory High School, which is in the community where the Crips street gang originated, I have experienced the horrific effect of gang culture and violence in our schools and neighborhoods. I attended more than 20 funerals of children and adults during my tenure as principal, including two students who died on campus and a mother in the neighborhood — all killed by gangbangers. I am haunted by the tragedy of these lives lost.

December 4, 2005

COMMENTARY

A Stupid Waste

I met Stanley Tookie Williams, co-founder of the Crips street gang, at San Quentin. Several times we sat locked together in a metal cage and talked, sharing food I'd purchase from the vending machines. He's the same age I am, early 50s, a big man gone gray at the temples. You can see how imposing he'd have been in his youth. Now he's surprisingly soft-spoken, picks his words carefully, has a writer's ear for language.

December 4, 2005

COMMENTARY

Our Real Heroes Don't Kill Black Kids

LURKING BEHIND the question of "Should Tookie die?" being pondered by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger are the troubling attempts by some of Stanley Tookie Williams' supporters to present the Crips' purported co-founder as a role model for inner-city youth.

December 4, 2005

COMMENTARY

A Pootbutt's Scary Life in Outer Space L.A.

I ALWAYS THOUGHT Stanley Tookie Williams wanted to kill me. I thought he wanted to kill all of us pootbutts who didn't gangbang, and that fear informed how I lived my life as a boy.

December 4, 2005

COMMENTARY

Who Doesn't Have a Nobel Prize Nomination?

MANY advocates of clemency for Stanley Tookie Williams note that he has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize and the Nobel Prize in literature for his anti-gang work, which includes writing children's books. How could a convicted murderer and co-founder of the Crips be nominated for such prizes?

December 4, 2005

COMMENTARY

Let Black Los Angeles Decide Williams' Fate

I PROPOSE that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, rather than unequivocally deciding to save Stanley Tookie Williams or send the convicted murderer to his death next week, instead conditionally postpone his execution.

December 4, 2005

COMMENTARY

Reading for the Gangsta With Time on his Hands

THERE'S A LOT of time to read in prison. Tolstoy? It's not like you're in a rush. But if you want a magazine that really speaks to you, why not try a gangsta magazine?

January 11, 2004

Death Upheld for Crips Founder

A federal appeals court Tuesday upheld the death sentence of former Los Angeles street gang co-founder Stanley "Tookie" Williams for four 1979 murders. But in a rare move, the court suggested that Gov. Gray Davis consider commuting the sentence because of Williams' "laudable" anti-gang efforts while in prison, which led to his being nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize last year.

January 11, 2004

Made-for-TV Atonement

Stanley "TOOKIE" WILLIAMS, a legend in street-gang and law-enforcement circles for three decades, is about to join the long parade of little-known souls turned into TV-movie celebrities.

January 11, 2004

Do Not Follow in My Footsteps

At the West Athens Elementary School in South-Central Los Angeles, principal Barbara Lake could recall no other first day of school when fifth-grade students actually asked to take a textbook home. She could think of no other set of books that prompted parents to jam the school's switchboard, wondering where they could buy their very own copies.