"Oh come on...is it REALLY that diffiCULT to figure out?!"
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."
In honor of Tookie, someone should have passed out marshmallows - 'cause Tookie's burning in hell...
""I think people see tonight just how unjust the system is," added Sarah Poole, another young death penalty opponent from San Francisco."
I have to agree with this young lady, the system is very unjust.
Tookie took four lives, but only had one to give in return.
It's too bad we can't resusitate him and do it three more times!
Ian't he though? He fashions himself a real intellectual, just head and shoulders above the rest of us.
Emotions run high? Thank God, I am blessed with the ability to employ logic and reason when engaging in critical thought. These poor schmucks are at the mercy of allowing their emotions to dictate their thought patterns.
And after all he was a socialist. Maybe you are right about Hitler.
LOL!
Then when a jury convicted him, Tookie defiantly said "I'm going to get each and every one of you m----- f------."
But Tookie's changed...you can't go back now, 25 years later, and look at the crimes. It's barbaric. Boo hoo.
"Oh come on...is it REALLY that diffiCULT to figure out?!"
Very good points. Someone should ask Farrell why he is not holding vigils all over the country.
I think the left judges these people on their life after the sentence and the right judges on life up to sentencing.
Yup...same snivelling weakness....you pegged it!
Is Joan Baez still around? I listened to her in the "swinging 60's", forty years ago.
That 'torment' was just a Preview Of Coming Attractions, you betchum.
It gets worse, he also compared him to Moses yesterday.
Did Sean Penn's raft sink again?
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