"Tookie Williams has a new celebrity based on his transformation," the Rev. Jesse Jackson said as he waited, comparing the founder of the Crips street gang to Malcolm X. "He likes that."
Posted on 12/13/2005 9:21:23 AM PST by Goldwater-Reagan Republican
As the crowd outside San Quentin State Prison was told after midnight this morning that Tookie Williams was dead, a lone voice cried out, "Shame." Then the throng took up the chant, "Tookie, Tookie, Tookie, Tookie."
"Despite what happened tonight, people do not feel defeated, as you can hear," said Jeff Boyette of San Francisco, a Williams supporter in his 20s.
"I think people see tonight just how unjust the system is," added Sarah Poole, another young death penalty opponent from San Francisco.
Moments earlier, as the execution time neared, there were tears as people sang "We Shall Overcome."
With California Highway Patrol officers in riot gear standing by, the crowd of well over a thousand dispersed peacefully.
It brought to an end one of the most celebrated death penalty cases in memory.
All night, the scene outside San Quentin's East Gate had been a crush of Tookie Williams supporters, capital punishment opponents, journalists and a few demonstrators in favor of Williams' execution.
As midnight drew closer, people poured into little San Quentin Village, swelling the crowd and jamming the narrow street leading into the prison.
The CHP was very much in evidence throughout the night, tightening security on roads around San Quentin and circling overhead in a helicopter.
The large turnout was not entirely unexpected, even though people had to park far away and hike in. The Williams case, with its condemnation of gang violence and themes of peace and redemption, had become a cause celebre in California.
"Tookie Williams has a new celebrity based on his transformation," the Rev. Jesse Jackson said as he waited, comparing the founder of the Crips street gang to Malcolm X. "He likes that."
Jackson was among a contingent of Williams' supporters who walked to the prison from San Francisco, carrying signs calling for an end to "state-sponsored murder."
Standing on a makeshift stage under glaring lights before the execution, he told the crowd that he had visited Williams twice that day.
"I said, 'We'll see you in the morning,' and we laughed and embraced," he said. "Tookie's last words to me were, 'Those who care about my legacy, avoid violence.'"
Actor Mike Farrell, a longtime death penalty opponent, condemned Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger for denying Williams' clemency, and taking so long to announce his decision.
"He didn't respond for 97 hours," he said. "He tortured him (Williams) for 97 hours."
Folksinger and peace activist Joan Baez took the stage, quoted Gandhi, saying, "An eye for an eye until the whole world is blind," then added, "We have to be blind in this country to do what we do."
After branding the execution "cold-blooded murder," she sang an a cappella rendition of "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot," and said she would "spend the night silently in prayer."
Angela Davis appeared, and Marin actor Sean Penn was on hand, but did not speak.
Marin author Anne Lamott was among those in the noisy, jostling crowd.
"I'm just bearing witness," she said. "As Woody Allen once said, '90 percent of life is showing up.'"
For Lamott, bearing witness at the prison gate has been a lifelong ritual. She said she used to come to San Quentin in the 1950s with her father, who taught English to prisoners.
"We came when they were going to gas someone and stood vigil," she said. "It's so horrible to me."
While the crowd was generally peaceful, there were some minor scuffles and conflicts.
A "shock jock" from a Los Angeles radio station had his microphone broken when he harassed Jesse Jackson, demanding that Jackson recite the names of Williams' victims. He was later surrounded by Williams' supporters, chanting "racist go home."
A capital punishment advocate with a bullhorn was surrounded and drowned out by a circle of drummers. And a man's crudely-lettered cardboard sign, which read: "Cook Kookie" was quickly obscured by death penalty opponents holding signs with slogans such as: "The California Department of Corrections is a serial killer. Stop it before it murders again."
Marin peace activists Alan and Ruth Barnett of Mill Valley came to the prison after Schwarzenegger surprised them by failing to grant clemency in the politically-charged case.
"One feels so helpless," he said. "These are cathartic experiences for people."
"Tookie Williams has a new celebrity based on his transformation," the Rev. Jesse Jackson said as he waited, comparing the founder of the Crips street gang to Malcolm X. "He likes that."
What a biased piece of reporting this is!
Sean Penn is so pathetic.
"After all this is over", Lamott continued "I'm going home to have sex with my adopted stepdaughter. Woody Allen is my hero and whatever he says or does I consider as rules to guide my life."
...and the names of the victims were, thus, not recited or mentioned, and callously cast aside by that screwed up crowd.
Fact is, Tookie killed four innocent people. He tried every strategem imaginable to avoid responsibility for his acts. All of his actions did not and could not bring back those four or fill the voidss in the life of the loved ones.
Only God can do that...and now only God can (and will) judge Tookie for the eternities. He has been judged here and sent on to that tribunal. And that is as it should be given the overwhelming evidence and many of Tookies on actions since, notwithstanding whatever books, and whatever leftist mentors. Schwarzenegger had it right, everyone should read his staement.
I too, am disappointed in Schwarzenegger. I would've thought he could have held out for triple-digits.
When I awoke, the sun was shining upon a new, Tookie-free world.
It felt good.
-Dan
" . . . showing the crime scene victims that Tookie was proven to have killed . . . "
Somebody should have showed up at the execution with large posters of these victims. THEY are the ones who should have been getting sympathy.
She spent the night on her knees no doubt...praying to what god however is a mystery.
Reminds me of the Frenchman that cried while the Germans marched into Paris.
Mike Farrell is pathetic as well.
Not only that they were * gasp * "hate crimes", as three of the victims were Taiwanese, and he referred to them as "Buddha-Heads." But then again, in the moonbat world, only whites are capable of being racist.
John and Ken plus JZ were awesome last night. Too bad the Marin paper is too cowardly to really say what happened.
The Cook Tookie guy was assaulted, as well as the so-called "shock jocks". And NONE of the Tookie supporters could name all the victims, even when offered $20. Only a couple could name Owens. I guess the "buddha heads" don't matter that much.
"How many books do you need to write to balance out murdering one person?"
Well, you have to at least SELL more than 100 books per person. I've heard on two seperate radio shows that he only sold 200 to 350 of his books. Which he had "help" writing.
Who wrote this tripe????
Our country is a better place today.
These sour-faced, candlelit turds might as well be holding a vigil for Hitler.
-Dan
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