Tuesday, December 13, 2005

Tookie, Tookie, Goodbye

"Well, any human being will cast about in a moment of stress" -- Ulysses Everett McGill (from "O Brother, Where Art Thou?")

It is now 12:05 AM EST. In a little less than three hours, Stanley (Tookie) Williams will be dead. He will be executed by lethal injection, according to the laws of the State of California.

He had his last appeals, to the appellate court, the Supreme Court, and to the Governor of California, Arnold Swartzenegger.

He has been turned down.

Twenty five years ago, Stanley Williams took the lives of four people, all of them strangers to him, for a little bit of money. He gave them no final meal, no final words, no final appeals. And they didn't die quietly, painlessly, in their sleep, as he will. They died painfully and slowly, while, in at least one instance, Stanley laughed at the sound of the death rattle.

And yet, there are those who say that the execution of Stanley Williams is unfair and unnecessarily cruel. They say he has reformed, that he no longer represents a threat to others. They say he has devoted the last few years to attempting to persuade young people to stay away from street gangs, and the drugs and violence associated with them. He has written children's books to that end. It has been reported that he has been converted to God.

But has he? Only God knows for sure.

But let's look at the evidence.

First of all, he refuses to admit guilt, in spite of overwhelming evidence to the contrary. He refuses to show remorse. He shows no sympathy for the victims and their families. Even if he wasn't guilty, it seems to me that he would at least feel sorry for the victims of this horrific crime. But he doesn't.

He is a founder of the infamous street gang known as the Crips. A gang that has grown to national prominence, with thousands of murders to their "credit" over the past 25 years or so. He has ordered gang hits from his prison cell. He has been in many fights in prison over the last 25 years. He has assaulted the prison guards.

Sunday afternoon, I caught part of an interview with Williams on the radio. He was asked if he was afraid of death. He said he doesn't fear death because he doesn't fear the unknown.

He must be the only person on Earth that doesn't fear the unknown. He said no one has ever been resurrected from the dead and come back to explain what is in store for those who are facing death. I find this to be a strange statement coming from someone who has been converted. After all, Jesus was resurrected and came back to warn us of what is in store for us after death. If Stanley has been converted, wouldn't he know that?

I don't fear death because I know what will happen to me after death.

I think anybody would do anything they can think of to avoid death. Including reforming himself, at least until he can get out of the situation. It is human nature. I don't think Stanley Williams is any different in that regard.

In an interview, Mike Farrell, the actor famous for his role on TV's MASH, said the government doesn't have the right to take the life of Stanley Williams. He said it would cut his life short before he could make amends with the Lord.

Personally, I see this as an opportunity few of us get. To actually know in advance the exact time and day of your death. No one can ask for a better opportunity to get your affairs in order and to repent and ask forgiveness. If he refuses to do so, he has no one to blame but himself.

Seems to me, Stanley Williams, in that, is a very lucky man. For his sake, let's hope he will avail himself of the opportunity.

12 comments:

Pamela Reece said...

May Tookie had truly repented for his sins so that when he stood before God he was forgiven. I'm sure many wish he would rot in hell, but I as a Christian hope all human beings will sit beside God and Christ.

I find it interesting that this subject has come to the forefront at the same time the war over Christmas does. Don't you?

MJ said...

"May Tookie had truly repented for his sins so that when he stood before God he was forgiven."

Assuming there is a god... I would certainly hope he would not be forgiven.

Meanwhile I assume I will go to hell for rejecting the belief in god. That would be some real cosmic justice, huh?

Pamela Reece said...

"Meanwhile I assume I will go to hell for rejecting the belief in god. That would be some real cosmic justice, huh?"

No, you wont go to hell. That is assuming I believe in eternal hell, which I don't.

Anonymous said...

Hmm. You have an unusual religious philosophy, Pamela.

I based my statement on this:
"He who believes in him is not condemned; he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God." John 3:18 RSV

Pamela Reece said...

Fiar, I agree that my philosphy on God is different than most. If you want to know more about my learning experience, please go to my blog and read my post today entitled "My Religion?"

"He who believes in him is not condemned; he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God." John 3:18 RSV

Nowhere in this does it say anything about "hell". Condemnation does not neccesarily mean the proverbial "fires of hell".

I am not your traditional way of thinking but more along the lines of spirituality combined with conservative Christianity.

Poison Pero said...

I'm not a Christian, and I hope his last moments were horrific........Much as his victims last minutes were.
http://www.homestead.com/prosites-prs/tookiewilliamsvictims.html

Justice was served with the death of this vile scum. Unfortunately the scales are terribly imbalanced towards injustice, however........Because we have allowed so many who deserve to die to remain alive.

"It is a cosmic injustice for anyone who takes an innocent life to keep their own." - Prager.
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There are some crimes for which repentence is impossible.....Ending an innocent life is one of many.

Dookie took at least four, and likely hundreds (directly and indirectly)......For such, there should never be a chance to repent.

I know Christians believe in this chance, but if there is such a chance it will be with the Big Guy......Here on Earth we should simply give murderers the chance to meet Him sooner.
----------------
I'm glad he's dead and I hope he suffers in the afterlife (whatever it is).

I also hope we start cranking out these death sentences.......There is no way it should take 20 years. The whole system is a joke and justice is cheated with every breath this foul pigs take.

NEXT!!!

Erudite Redneck said...

Of course, I have expounded previously on my opposition to the death penalty. It is a power that no government should have over its citizens, period.

Which means I leave the door open for family justice and a certain kind of vigilantism.

But not the government, neither states nor federal. Every time the state of Oklahoma executes someone, I, as a taxpaying resident of Oklahoma, am made an executioner. I hate it.

Poison Pero said...

Not to stray or to open a new can of worms, ER, but do you feel the same sense of filth when an Oklahoman receives an abortion?

Dookie was a scum and at least got to die in a pretty peacefull manner.....Same can't be said for abortions.

Just wandering (spelling error is not an error).

Poison Pero said...

And I feel more clean knowing my government rid the world of such a POS.....Take out a few more and I'll feel even better.

Poison Pero said...

Another question: Did you feel the same way when McVeigh was executed.......Or will when Sodom is put down?

Erudite Redneck said...

No government should be able to execute its own citizens. I don't know how to make that any clearer. It's a form of self-murder, or civic suicide, if you will.

Had I had a family member or friend killed in the Murrah bombing, I might have wanted McVeigh dead. And I might have wanted to be the one to make him dead. But I don't want my government, either state or federal, to have the right to kill him -- because it is not beyond the realm of possibility that the government might decide it wants to kill me, or people like me. Better to just not have the power to kill any citizen.

I don't understand the abortion question. The death penalty is an overt act of government, therefore, as a citizen I am made part of a collective act of homicide. Abortion is the act of an individual, allowable under the law. I oppose it. But in the clash of rights and responsibilities and right and wrong and liberty that IS "the abortion question," and absent any clear guidance from Scripture, I stand with those who would continue to allow women to make the decision and deal with the consequences both here and in the hereafter. That's what "pro choice" means.

Erudite Redneck said...

Let me put it this way, PP.

If my kiddo got pregnant and wanted an abortion, at 19, I would weep, scream, holler, or pray, plead and cajole, and try to persuade her not to. If she chose to, ultimately, it would be her decision.

Then, if you, or anyone else, came along and wanted to invade her body, and crawl up inside her womb, and inside her head, and deny her the right to make the decision for herself and to live with the consequences, I would want to shoot you dead.

But I wouldn't want the government to do it. I'd just want the government to lock you up for a long, long time.