Posted on 12/07/2005 7:39:38 AM PST by SmithL
SAN FRANCISCO - A condemned US inmate who turned from a gang leader to an anti-gang advocate behind bars has been nominated for the 2006 Nobel peace prize, the college professor behind the nomination said.
Professor Philip Gasper of Notre Dame de Namur University in California has nominated convicted killer Stanley "Tookie" Williams for the prize five years in a row, according to Alice Kim of the Campaign to Stop the Death Penalty.
A Swiss parliamentarian was the first to recommend Williams for the prize, Kim said.
"I respect him for his willingness to be public with his stand against gangs and for peace, though he must cope daily with a violent prison environment where gang members and unfriendly prison officials surround him, many of whom do not support his message or his work," said Gasper.
"Moreover, I admire Mr. Williams because of his ability to do this remarkable work for youth, despite the fact that he is, in prison jargon, a 'dead man walking'."
Williams is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection in San Quentin Prison on the San Francisco Bay early on Dec. 13.
Celebrity governor Arnold Schwarzenegger will hold a clemency hearing on Thursday at which each side will get 30 minutes to make their case why Williams should be spared or killed.
"His contributions to anti-gang activities; his children's books and his role in negotiating gang truces has had effects in the United States and internationally," Gasper told AFP.
"This is somebody who is playing a very positive role. It would be a huge loss to society to stop him from playing that role."
Williams, who co-founded the notorious Crips gang in Los Angeles, has maintained his innocence in the four 1979 murders that resulted in his death sentence.
The 51-year-old Williams was convicted in 1981 of the murders but has since renounced his violent past, penned children's books and worked to stem gang warfare.
Aside from writing children's books with anti-gang themes, Williams has inked a "Protocol for Street Peace" for gangs to use to achieve truces.
Gasper, head of the department of philosophy and religion at the private Catholic university in Northern California, said his nomination of Williams for the peace prize was endorsed by 32 other professors.
Support for Williams has gained momentum in recent weeks. Rallies have grown increasingly frequent at the prison gates. Actors, musicians, Nobel laureates and political leaders have urged Schwarzenegger to grant clemency.
Rapper Snoop Dogg, born Calvin Broadus, lobbied for Williams in his latest music CD and in a new music video.
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People launched a four-city tour in California on Tuesday to rally support for Williams.
Meanwhile, a group called Religious Imperative to Stop State Murders and a hippie-generation icon, "Wavy Gravy," dressed as "Santa Insanity Claus" planned a demonstration at the prison gates on Tuesday.
Gravy and the group were to deliver gifts including Life Saver candy "for the children of the world," a life preserver for Schwarzenegger and Twinkies for inmates, organizers said.
Vigils outside the prison were expected to intensify with the approach of the execution date.
The Gubernator: You're a funny guy, Tookie. I kill you last.
Tookie: Thanks, Governor.
The Gubernator: Remember when I said I kill you last Tookie?
Tookie: That's right, you said you'd kill me last!
The Gubernator: I lied!
Where do I get the nomination forms?
Excellent post. Thank you.
Hell, then I myself would have nominated him.
I hope the Governor states this loud and clear tomorrow, through his actions if no other way.
What has the nominee done to promote peace? Founded the Crips and was tried and convicted of murdering four people. For this, he's a hero to the NAACP.
I am SO proud!
Is there a check that comes with this?
I do note that this glowing profile of this multiple murderer does not mention his two rapes of other prisoners, which is part of his career as a "model prisoner" according to the Rt. Rev. Jesse L. Jackson.
Well, in another week, Tookie will be dead, and Jesse ... well, Jesse will have to find another scam to shill the public.
Congressman Billybob
If the NAACP is really opposed to capital punishment, why doesn't it raise a stink when someone other than an African-American is about to be executed?
Nominating them for Nobel Prizes, "peace prizes", world citizenship and all sorts fo claptrap is merely a method of promoting it further as a cause celebre in order to make the US judicial system and the US as a whole, corrupt and oppresive when viewed by the weak minded.
NOBEL PISS PRIZE
I think you just get a t-shirt or a coffee mug or something like that. Oh by the way, what size T shirt to you wear - I have to write that in on the form.
Dead Crip walkin'.
I say execute him, stick the prize up his a$$ and send the body to Sweden.
He butchered four Americans, a jury convicted him and he still got to live 26 more years.
Good grief, I feel like I just fell down the rabbit hole! This murdering scumbag sits in prison and writes children's books, so that makes him a "good guy"? Paging Saddam, please ask the guards to pass you the white courtesy phone...
Our educational system wishes to award murderers; this is not surprising.
Liberal theological question: What if Tookie killed Cindy Sheehan?
*Silly hypothetical! Cindy Sheehan is the forerunner among illustrious nominees for the Nobel Peace Prize. If Tookie killed Cindy would he win the Prize? He should. (/sar)
PING
Well that settles it then. Anyone who can get 6 Nobel Peace Prize Nominations must be innocent!
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