Stanley

I have been following the story of Stanley "Tookie" Williams for a while now. And like most people, I have my opinion. This is it:

Stanley, you, according to a jury of your peers, committed 4 murders. You, by your own admission were a co-founder of the Crips. Your work has destroyed the lives of 4 people, not to mention the lives of their families, their parents, children, brothers and sisters. Your work and what you helped to create in the Crips has damaged and destroyed thousands of more lives.

You have been in prison for 24 years now. You have been in solitary confinement for 6 of those 24 years. It has only been after you were placed in solitary confinement that you decided to go on your journey of 'self-reflection' at which time you decided to write your anti-gang books and develop your anti-gang coloring books for children. All well and good but let's face it...it's a little too little and a lot too late.

Remorse for what you have done is good, even if it comes after 20 years of incarceration. Being shameful of your past is good too if it brings about a change in you. Accountability, however, is also necessary. Accepting the fact that you have done what you have done and being willing to accept whatever the punishment may be is what makes us adults.

I am not a cruel person by any means. I am sure that you are consumed with anxiety at the thought of your impending execution. No one wants to die after all. I am sure that the 4 people you murdered didn't want to die either. I am also sure that the many victims of gang violence, be they territory murders, drug murders or just the innocent bystanders of drive-bys didn't want to die either. I am sure that there are a lot of mothers and fathers and sisters and brothers out there that didn't want to have to go to a funeral but they did. Their choices were taken from them.

And now you ask for mercy. You ask that your 'good deeds' be considered and that they nullify the fact that there are at least 4 people dead by your hands, and many more as the result of your work. You want coloring books to take the place of people's lives. I'm not sure there are many families out there who would put a coloring book at the dinner table in place of a loved one.

You have many people and many celebrities to back your cause and to fight for you. Good for you....too bad they weren't there when you were snuffing the life out of your victims.

You reap what you sow, Stanley. Please stop trying to manipulate the government, the justice system and the general public at large. Accept the punishment that has been handed to you. Even if I can't respect you, I could respect that.

Please give these people's families the closure that they need. Be a man....for once.

Peace alllll.......