R.I.P. Tookie

Stanley Tookie Williams, Crips Gang Co-Founder, Is Executed

SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 13 - Stanley Tookie Wiliams, a condemned gangster whose execution drew more national and international attention than any here in decades, was executed by lethal injection and pronounced dead at 12:35 this morning at San Quentin State Prison.

Mr. Williams, 51, a co-founder and leader of the Crips gang of Los Angeles who was convicted of the brutal murders of four people in 1979 amid an avalanche of gang violence there, had become, to his supporters, an icon of jailhouse redemption and a powerful critic from his cell on death row and through his writings of the perils and misguided allure of the gang life on the nation's urban streets.

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I don't know how I really feel about all this. Growing up in a strict private school for most of my life, I was taught that capital punishment was the way to go. If you kill, you must be killed as well. An eye for an eye type of education I suppose. However, after reading this man's story and life in prison, you can't help but feel sorry that this execution happened. At least coming from someone who wasn't even born when the murders took place. We could argue on and on about what is fair in the justice system and what isn't - I have a friend who is doing the law school thing and I'll chat with her on her thoughts of the death penalty. But I think on a fundamental level - the choices you make everyday have some sort of consequence, either in the short or long term, or even both.

The self is not something ready-made, but something in continuous formation through choice of action.

- John Dewey