Posted on 01/06/2006 7:41:11 AM PST by Former Military Chick
Editor's Note: African-Americans who rallied for clemency for Stanley "Tookie" Williams must do the same for Clarence Ray Allen, a non-black, 76-year-old blind man just weeks away from execution, the writer says.
LOS ANGELES--In the wee hours of the morning on Jan. 17, another man will be put to death by lethal injection in the State of California. This comes exactly 36 days after the execution of Stanley Tookie Williams. But where are the protesters?
With less than a month to go before the scheduled execution of a 76-year-old blind, deaf and wheelchair-confined man, there has been no public outcry of support for clemency for Clarence Ray Allen, a non-black. There's been no planned protests and celebrity read-ins in support of saving an old man's life. Community activists and civil rights leaders aren't organizing statewide tours to bring attention to Allen's execution. There hasn't even been one "Kill Clarence Ray Allen Hour" from KFI-AM'S "John and Ken Show."
Which raises the question: Was the community cry for clemency for Williams because he was a black man, or was it because the death penalty is immoral, inhumane and cruel?
Granted, Allen hasn't written any children's books, been nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize, or had a Hollywood actor play him in a film, but that doesn't mean his life isn't worth saving.
The fight for clemency should not have died with Stanley Tookie Williams. With two more executions scheduled in the New Year, including Michael Morales, who was convicted at the age of 21 for the rape and murder of a 17-year-old female, now is not the time for all of Williams' supporters to retreat back to their separate corners of the world. In fact, it's time for the opposite. We need to get back into action and show the world that the fight for clemency for Williams was not solely based on the fact that he was a black man but rather that he was a man who did not deserve to have his life prematurely taken from him, no matter how heinous were the crimes that he was accused of committing.
Californians are very close to establishing a moratorium on the death penalty. Although the vote didn't come soon enough to save Williams' life, our work today and through the 10th of January, when an assembly committee plans to consider the legislation, could aid in saving the lives of many condemned prisoners, including blacks, while a state panel reviews the system.
Black Californians who supported clemency for Williams need to re-examine their reasons for wanting Williams to live. Was it because he was a black man? Was it because he co-founded the Crips? Was it because of his anti-gang and anti-drug work? Or was it because we abhor the death penalty?
Allen poses no significant risk. Blind, deaf and wheelchair-bound, it's very unlikely that he will be ordering the killing of anyone if left to live his remaining days on death row.
Many of the black leaders who supported clemency for Williams vehemently denied they were racists when challenged by a pair conservative radio DJs in Los Angeles who sponsored the repulsive "Kill Tookie Hour." Accusing the black leadership of getting involved in the fight to save Williams only because he was black, the shock jocks noted that these same activists were going to be nowhere to be found when the next execution of a non-black person came up.
If all of the protests around clemency for Williams were not just for show, it should be no problem for the black community to reassemble for the fight to save Clarence Ray Allen. He may not have been our homeboy from back in the day, or demonstrated to the world that he is a redeemed man. He may not even be likeable, but his life is worth trying to save even if he's not black. What kind of message does it send if we sit back and do nothing while another person was systematically put to death on our watch?
PNS contributor Jasmyne Cannick, 28, is a Los Angeles-based writer of political and social commentary and a member of the National Association of Black Journalists. She can be reached via her Web site, www.jasmynecannick.com.
Allen is about to crap out on his own. I wouldnt mind giving him a pass if we moved up someone else to take his place.
Its a shame to waste a good death date when you have 640 prisoners just dying to get onto the Gurney.
So let Allen live and move someone up in his place.
The limousine liberal set are just as racist as any Dixiecrat segregationist: They just show the bigotry differently. Open hostility is out. Condescension and "the tyranny of low expectations" is in. They love Tookie because he fits their stereotypes - uneducated, violent, dangerous, etc.
They see black people as subhumans that can only be saved by the wise and beneficent guidance of moral supermen like Ed Asner or Mike Farrel. Clarence Ray Allen is just a decrepit old white guy. He doesn't float anyone's agenda boat so he gets a press realease rather than a protest.
If Mr Allen wants some sympathy he should announce that he is gay.
They slobbered all over Tookie for exactly the same reasons they love:
Rubin "Hurricane" Carter
Mumia Abu Jamal
Some people have a heart.......some people don't!
Some death row inmates got it and some don't. Good point on the radio program guys not doing the same against this guy as they did against Tookie.
Sentence: Three counts of first-degree murder with special circumstances and one count of conspiracy
County of Trial: Glenn (change of venue from Fresno County)
County of Residence: Unknown
Offense Date: 09/05/1980
Court Date: 12/31/1986
Sentence Date: 11/22/1980
County of Offense: Fresno
Court Action: Affirmed
Case #: 18240
Victims:
Bryon Schletewitz (male)
Douglas Scott White (male)
Josephine Linda Rocha (female)
Summary:
In 1974, Clarence Ray Allen planned a burglary of Fran's Market in Fresno, California and solicited the involvement of two men who worked for him at his security guard business. Allen also arranged the help of a young woman to get the keys to the store and its burglar alarm from Bryon Schletewitz, son of the market owner.
Following the burglary and after stolen money orders were cashed, the young woman told Schletewitz it was Allen who had robbed the market. Schletewitz confronted Allen's son, who denied it, and Allen himself also denied it. Allen said that something would have to be done to the young woman and he arranged her death. Allen was arrested. He was convicted of burglary, first-degree murder and conspiracy and sent to prison to serve a life sentence on March 16, 1978.
He was incarcerated at Folsom State Prison and knew Billie Ray Hamilton in prison. While in prison, Allen plotted to kill the people who had informed on him and gotten him prison time.
Three days after Hamilton was paroled, he was picked up by Allen's son at the bus station where he also asked for weapons to carry out the crimes.
On Sept. 4, 1980, Hamilton and his girlfriend, Connie Barbow, went to Fran's Market and purchased some meat from Joe Rias. Rias went into the storeroom with Douglas White. Since it was after the market's closing time, the front door was locked. Bryon Schletewitz and Josephine Rocha came into the storeroom followed by Hamilton who was holding a sawed-off shotgun. Barbow followed behind. Hamilton ordered them to lie down. They all sat down. He asked Schletewitz for the keys to the safe, ordered him out, and told Barbow to watch the others. She pulled out a handgun. They went to the safe. Schletewitz told Hamilton he would give him all the money. Rias later testified that when Schletewitz and Hamilton went to the safe area, he heard shuffling and a bang. It was later learned that Hamilton shot Schletewitz at close range with the shotgun.
Hamilton went back to the room and asked Douglas White where the safes were kept; White did not know and Hamilton shot him at close range in the chest and stomach.
Another shot was heard and it was later learned that a shotgun blast at close range killed Josephine Rocha.
Hamilton attempted to kill Rias, but Rias covered his face with his left arm. The blast hit his arm, blowing off most of the tissue and shattering his elbow. Hamilton and Barbow checked on the other three victims to make sure they were dead. Hamilton was later arrested as a suspect in a Modesto robbery and assault with a deadly weapon. Among his possessions was an address book with the name of Clarence Ray Allen. Because of the listing of Fran's Market and the names of some of the victims, investigators believed there was a connection with the murders and the Fran's Market burglary for which Allen had been convicted. The investigation of this matter led to the arrest of inmate Clarence Ray Allen. Allen was convicted of three counts of first-degree murder with special circumstances and was received onto California's death row at San Quentin State Prison on December 2, 1982.
His first murder conviction had been for ordering the murder of 17-year-old Mary Sue Kitts, who had revealed his role in a Fresno burglary.
...Schletewitz, 27, whose father owned the store. He (Billy Ray Hamilton) killed him with a shotgun, along with two bystanders, Douglas White, 18, and Josephine Rocha,17.
"I have no sympathy for him,'' said Tricia Pendergrass, whose brother, Bryon Schletewitz, was one of Allen's murder victims. ``He was allowed to grow old. He chose his life."
She stole a page from your book.
Yes, the writing is just hilarious.
Say what you will about us, but CA voters are strongly pro-death, particularly for scum like Tookie and Allen. They would never, ever vote for a moratorium. Our liberal legislators from SF have introduced a bill in the state assembly, but even if it passes (a long shot) it will be DOA on Arnold's desk. So I don't think they would even bother until after 2006 elections.
Now here's an inspiration: a re-elect Arnold commercial with the xmas jingle featuring Tookie: "I'm dreaming of a moratorium". Worked well for Bush v. Dukakis.
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