Posted on 12/12/2005 9:03:25 PM PST by lunarbicep
The candles flickered outside the gates of San Quentin state prison Monday night as the minutes ticked down to midnight and the scheduled execution of Stanley Tookie Williams.
More than 100 death penalty opponents stood or sat in the middle of the two-lane road leading to the prison gates, waving signs, shivering in the cold and trying to ignore a pair of Los Angeles shock jocks who were broadcasting live and screaming, "Kill Tookie,'' into their microphones.
The protesters, a determined but relatively small band, were outnumbered by the army of reporters and photographers, some from Europe and Asia, who had come to tell their story.
Williams' supporters stayed about 25 feet east of the prison gate, kept back by a steel police barricade as three dozen California Highway Patrol officers and Marin County sheriff's deputies stood watch.
Fred Jackson, the 67-year-old director of the Neighborhood House program for troubled youths in North Richmond, passed through the prison gates after paying a final visit to Williams, whose anti-gang books he uses in his program.
"He still has faith that something will happen,'' Jackson said, "but he said that if he dies, it's God's will.''
Another Williams supporter, Troy Goodwin of Richmond, brought his two children, 12-year-old Trayva and 11-year-old Tevin, to the prison gates on what he said was a "reality-check field trip.''
"I want them to see the pros and cons behind this issue up close and personal," Goodwin said. "The message is that no matter how good you become, they still crush you. This guy couldn't have got any better.''
David Johnson from Richmond said he had come to show support for Williams on his final day of life.
"I'm not a Crip, but he's a role model,'' Johnson said of Williams,
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
"I want them to see the pros and cons behind this issue up close and personal," Goodwin said. "The message is that no matter how good you become, they still crush you. This guy couldn't have got any better.''
that's sick... sounds like he's really molding to wonderful, future model citizens
Is he dead yet?
Good at what? Fooling liberals?
That's it!!!! why didn't they think of it sooner!! A candlelight vigil....of course....how obvious. That's the way Tookie will be saved from the EVIL racist justice system. Bwaaahaaahaaahaaahaaaa!
Tick tock for Tookie.
"It's good to be a Gangsta"
"More than 100 death penalty opponents stood or sat in the middle of the two-lane road leading to the prison gates"
It'll be interesting to see how the MSM manipulates images to make it look like there are thousands of "protestors". These aren't protestors, these are people who are egotists. They want to be in the spotlight. They really don't give a cr*p about Williams....most of them probably don't even knwo his name or who he is.
"He still has faith that something will happen,'' Jackson said, "but he said that if he dies, it's God's will.''
Get a grip or crip Fred. BTW, it's not God's will, it's man's will, just as it was when Williams decided to murder 4 people. God does not exert will over us, God gave us free will.. that is the crux of it right there.
Did this fine parent take the time to show his kids what it looks like to have half your face blown off with a sawed off 12 guage? Or your arm nearly severed at the elbow before you recieve a fatal shot?
I saw that picture of the woman with half her face off. If it wouldn't be disrespectful to the woman who was murdered, I imagined someone counter the protest with a large poster of this image--asking "How do you redeem this?"
Another fine example of false compassion.
This is from SFGATE.com. "More than 100" probably means a handful of aging hippies, Jessie Jackson, and a few homeless people panhandling nearby.
You can be forgiven, but you still must face your justice.
If the Governor offered to release Tookie ot these "protestors" with the stipilation that he has to live in their home[s], I wonder how many of them would take him up on it.
Dang, ANOTHER target rich environment, and so little time.
The next time any of us hears of a particularly violent killing, just remember that twenty some odd plus years from then, the fruit-cakes will be out in force demanding justice for the perp. They won't even know the name of the victim.
There are some very sick people out there.
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