Posted on 12/19/2005 7:33:26 PM PST by SmoothTalker
Hundreds of people converged Monday on the South Los Angeles neighborhood where Stanley Tookie Williams co-founded the Crips to say goodbye to a "homeboy" executed last week over the objections of supporters who said he had turned his life around.
Williams, clad in a gray suit, lay in an open coffin at the House of Winston Mortuary as people quietly filed by with their heads bowed.
"Mostly everyone is out here because of his reputation," said Robert Collins, 27, who said he was a former Crips gang member. "Everyone knew Tookie was no angel. Everyone's just paying their respects to him."
A line of 200 stretched out the door shortly after the six-hour viewing began in mid-afternoon. More than an hour later, the line had dissipated but people were still streaming through.
Williams, whose execution was carried out over the protests of supporters who included celebrities and civil rights activists, spent his last years on California's Death Row renouncing gang violence and writing several children's books warning of the dangers of gangs.
See Love, a teacher with the Los Angeles Unified School District, said she had seen firsthand the way Williams' book "Life in Prison" had changed students' lives.
"Tookie's words were able to do what no judge or probation officer was able to do," said Love, 35. "I hope Stanley's spirit continues to live in the name of peace."
Williams, 51, was executed last Tuesday for the murders of four people during a pair of 1979 robberies. Although he had renounced his past as co-founder of the deadly Crips, he maintained to his death that he did not commit the killings.
A crowd lingering outside the mortuary carried signs and handed out flyers proclaiming his innocence.
Lori Tompkins, 48, of Los Angeles, said she came "to say goodbye to our homeboy and also give support to his family."
"We feel he was innocent and wrongly killed," she added.
The viewing was to be followed by a funeral Tuesday in Los Angeles. Organizers said those expected to attend included the Rev. Jesse Jackson, Nation of Islam Minister Louis Farrakhan and hip-hop artist Snoop Dogg.
"Being a Nobel Prize nominee is like kissing your sister."
Being a nominee means that they thought you were less deserving of a peace prize than Arafat!
Just before I flushed this morning, I thought I saw Tookie's face ... peaceful at last ... smiling, waving ... then he was gone, in a swirl of Tid-D-Bowl blue and fresh wintergreen scent.
I didn't write it. I got it today in an e-mail and it had no name to credit.
"We feel he was innocent and wrongly killed," she added.
Facts be damned. "Feelings" always trump facts with liberals.
Wow. Creepy. I have now seen everything. Might cut down on the Lamborghini's resale value a little bit though...
Isn't Ole Jesse as about annoying as Cindy Sheehan, they seem to have endless funds to show up all over the world!!! Wonder where his next appearance or cause will be!
From the Noble Prize Home Page:
Has X been nominated as a candidate for the Nobel Prize, or where do I find a list of Nobel Prize nominees?
According to the Statutes of the Nobel Foundation, information about the nominations is not to be disclosed, publicly or privately, for a period of fifty years. The restriction not only concerns the nominees and nominators, but also investigations and opinions in the awarding of a prize. Nomination information older than fifty years is public. At this web site the Nomination Databases for the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, 1901-1949 and for the Nobel Peace Prize, 1901-1951 are now available. Nomination Databases for the other prize categories will follow shortly.
Anybody who says that they have been nominated for a Nobel Prize is flat out lying.
He was a black man killed by "the man". Right or wrong, innocent or guilty. He gets support because he is of a certain color. OJ got the same support. Black folks feel than the "black man" has gone through so much injustice at the hands of a white man that there is no such thing as a guilty black man. Just like there is no such thing as a racist black man.
I seems like his color is more important than the truth. Color is more important than the life of the innocent people he put 6 ft under. I wonder if Jesse actually worships color rather than Jesus Christ.
I pay my respects every day, if I'm regular.
See Love, a teacher with the Los Angeles Unified School District, said she had seen firsthand the way Williams' book "Life in Prison" had changed students' lives.
"Tookie's words were able to do what no judge or probation officer was able to do," said Love, 35. "I hope Stanley's spirit continues to live in the name of peace."
(Denny Crane: "I Don't Want To Socialize With A Pinko Liberal Democrat Commie.Say What You Like About Republicans. We Stick To Our Convictions. Even When We Know We're Dead Wrong.")
And where can the members of Free Republic send our flowers and contributions?
Will they be playing Dope's melody "Die M...F..er Die" at the service?
That sweet ditty is running through my mind tonight.
See Love, a teacher with the Los Angeles Unified School District, said she had seen firsthand the way Williams' book "Life in Prison" had changed students' lives.
Total BS!
5 posted on 12/19/2005 7:35:56 PM PST by ncountylee
Now you know what is wrong with California's school system.
To many teachers such as "See Love".
Uhm, did people quit reading Twain, Harte, Bierce, Steinbeck, Lew Wallace, Heinlein, Asimov, Shakespeare, Mallory, Blake, O. Henry, Zane Grey, Poe, R. L. Stevenson, Moses, Paul, Jeremiah, Solomon, David, Aquinas, Aristophanes, Herodotus, Aristotle, Plato, or any other writer worth reading, simply because they died?
Guess Tookie's books aren't worth much, (and they aren't!) if his being dead will bring a halt to his "message".
The name surprises you? Why?
It is La-La Land, where everyone is a star, and the names are fake.
She teaches sex-ed & peace studies at the high school, and tutors pole dancers in the evenings, unless she has an "audition".
A few summers ago, she co-starred in Tookie Loves Everyone, And So Do I".
/sarc>
With the help of 'Necklace Winnie' AKA 'Mad-dog' Madikizela-Mandela, the murdering, gang-banger ex-wife of the commie ex-president of South Africa, who offered to help fulfill his wish, Tookie’s ashes will be scattered in South Africa.
How (sniff!) touching; so...fitting! Mutual admiration at work. It just chokes me up.
I mentioned earlier on this thread, or possibly another, that most of the good people in south central (and there are many) would have nothing to do with glorifying this individual.
It will be interesting to see how many that planned to attend tomorrow, have sudden last minute changes in plans, and wont be able to attend.
It would be nice if who ever speaks at this memorial would plead for all not to follow or join these destructive gangs. Only a true leader would have the guts to stand up and say this.
Conjugal visit with mumia?
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