UPDATE 2: Read our view of the racist blitherings left by numbskulls in the comments on this page HERE.
UPDATE: Apparently Gov. Schwarzenegger’s focus groups and polling indicated that he would derive the greatest political benefit from allowing the execution of Tookie Williams to proceed. Barring a last minute stay from the Supreme Court, Williams will receive the lethal injection tonight at 12:01 PM.
And that puts us on riot watch here in Los Angeles. Right now, I’m not feeling it. There hasn’t been a groundswell of protests, and no protests that I’m aware of that weren’t celebrity generated.
It seems very unlikely that the city is going to erupt like it did in 1992. And if it does, we have a better police force now so we can hope for the best.
From December 5, 2005:
Rage redux: The LA Weekly reports that the word is out in the “gang-osphere” that if Crips founder Tookie Williams is executed on Dec. 13, angry mobs are set to riot once again in Los Angeles:
“Took die, the city fry,” said Raymond “The Hatchet Man” Locket, a member of the West Side Harlem Crips, who says he knew Tookie back in the day. “That’s the word on the streets.”
Having lived through the riots in Los Angeles after the Rodney King verdict in 1992 and then the Northridge earthquake in 1994 (not to mention the Landers quakes and hundreds of fore- and after-shocks), I personally would take a 6.9 quake over citywide riot any day of the week.
The 1992 Riots
The ’92 riots showed how vulnerable cities are to an angry mob. Looking back, the weeklong state of emergency in Los Angeles 13 years ago also offered a preview of the Katrina disaster in New Orleans this year. There was official negligence: Police chief Darryl Gates was at a fundraiser the night the riots erupted, and purposefully stopped the LAPD from moving in to quell the violence at Florence and Normandy.
Ironically, Gates was raising money that night to fight efforts to reform his police department in the wake of the videotaped beating of Rodney King. It was the not-guilty verdict in the trial of the LAPD officers involved in the beating that sparked the riot April 29.
That night, millions of Angelenos watched local news overnight as the burning and looting escalated and spread across the city. The next morning, when Gates finally deployed the police, the LAPD was massively outnumbered by looters and malcontents. Our Thin Blue Line was a sad and pitiful joke. National coverage of the rioting apparently depicted it as being isolated to the ‘hood but in reality stores were looted Downtown, in Koreatown, Silver Lake, Hollywood, Beverly Hills and all over the city. Smoke and ashes from burning buildings blanketed the Basin and the hlls for days. Just about every Circuit City on the Westside was emptied. Molotov cocktails were tossed out of cars along Wilshire Blvd. in Beverly Hills at the Saks and Barney’s stores. Even the famous lingerie store Fredericks of Hollywood was trashed and picked clean.
Firefighters were hampered from saving lives and property by people firing weapons at them. Emergency medical services were overwhelmed. Citizens with health crises not related to the riots – heart attacks, broken legs, etc. – were out of luck for days. It took Gov. Wilson 72 hours to get the California National Guard onto the scene, and even then, the soldiers discovered they lacked ammunition for their weapons.
The point is, in Los Angeles, we take a threat of rioting seriously. And while it is hard to imagine that the city will once again erupt into violence if Williams is executed, in 1992, no one – including especially the mayor and chief of police – believed there would be riots after the King verdict.
I’m personally opposed to the death penalty (it doesn’t work as a deterrent, and I’m repulsed by the idea of society being in the business of exacting bloodthirsty revenge) but fear of rioting should not stop the execution of Tookie Williams – which is not to say that it shouldn’t be stopped. Williams has steadfastly denied his guilt. Moreover, he’s done his best to make the best out of his life in prison.
Clemency
Of course, Williams has one last chance, and that chance lies with the governor of California. Could there be a more bizarre scenario than having a lunkhead like Arnold Schwarzenegger in the position of deciding whether someone lives or dies? And yet he does. Williams will have a face to face hearing with the governor on Dec. 8. (The first such clemency hearing since 1992.)
Marc Cooper estimates the chances that Arnold will grant a stay of Williams’ execution to be about 40 percent – and he rightly points out that if Williams were facing Schwarzenegger’s Democratic predecessor, Gray Davis, the chance would have been well below zero. An ex-Marine, Davis was an extremist on law and order issues. In fact, in 286 cases in which a parole board had recommended release of prisoners, Davis turned down 100 percent.
Williams was a founder of the Westside Crips, and, as mentioned, he denies that he was involved in the cold-blooded murders of Albert Owens, during a robbery at a 7-Eleven store, and of motel owners Yen-I Yang and Tsai-Shai Chen Yang and their daughter Yu-Chin Yang Lin, at the Brookhaven Motel in South-Central Los Angeles, on February 27, 1979.
He has also spent his time in prison productively. He’s the author of several children’s books that encourage kids to avoid gang life and violence and has even been nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize.
Of course, Tookie Williams’ deeds and misdeeds will mean little this governor. He will make the decision based entirely on political considerations, a factor that may spare Tookie Williams’ life.
All Politics
At this point, Schwarzenegger is desperate to regain support among independents. To do this, he appears to be on a path of abandoning the few supporters he currently has, who are all on the extreme right.
Arnold (and his eternally misguided staff and advisers, including his Democratic wife) could well make the political calculation that sparing Tookie might please independents and liberals. If so, the governor will grant clemency to Williams in order to further his own political goals.
On the other hand, if Schwarzenegger denies clemency, we will see if the passions exist in the vast flatlands of South Los Angeles to bring turmoil down onto our heads once again – one week before Christmas.
I am a 53 year old white women, and am disgusted by some of the comments that white people have made on this site. First of all Moses from the bible married a black women from ethiopia and because his sister condemed that she was struck with leprosy, So there you go my unwanted white counterparts, only God has the right to take a life. PS reads Numbers in the bible KJ
We’re all just tiny grains of sand in the vast ocean of the universe. We quibble amongst ourselves, but when the game is up, we look back on our life and reflect. If we had a good life, we smile, if we rape,rob,pillage and murder, we pay…
He’s not redeemed nothing he’s done since his crimes will ever redeem him. But as a person living in Los Angeles and focusing on the fact that there is a HUGE chance of riots. I think that making him take life in prison is a much better case then riots. The riots are coming, hope these people know what they’ve done.
I am sorry to hear such racial ignorance on a single web page. This country is failing and you racial fucktards aren’t helping. Thanks. Keep up the mindless activity so our demise comes sooner. Why waste time being thoughtful and forgiving? Fuck ignorance. Use your goddamn brains….if at all possible.
MAN FUCK YALL , DIZ MAN IS GREAT , AND LET L.A FUCKEN BURN , MAY SWARCHZNYUGGAAHHH DIE , ALIEN MUDAFUKA, MAN SHAME ON YALL , IF IT WASNT FOR HIM DERED B NO CRIPZ , HEZ DA KING , DER FATHER , ID LYK 2 SEE YALL IN A ROOM WIT SUM CRIPSTAHZ , FUCK U UP MAJOR , WESTSYDE CRENSHAW BIETCHEZ
OREO PACKIN MUTHAFUCKAZ !
WATCH LOS ANGELES BURN
FUCK WHITEYZ
BLACK POWER
Ok, after reading the complete idiocracy spoken in the last two posts, can you honestly not see how I pass judgement on those types?
Nick – Yes, I can understand it, because it shows you are naive and gullible enough to believe those posts were left by angry black people instead of the real posters – angry white idiots who are trying to rile up racists like yourself.
Propensity to commit crime has nothing to do with race. Prove it? If Caucasians were less inclined to commit crimes than people of African descent, there were be no crime in Russia, home of the Caucasus Mountains, where our Aryan roots (supposedly) lie. In fact, quite the opposite is true. Russia is just as rife with crime and violence on all levels as the US, maybe more so.
The factors that lead to criminality include poverty, disenfranchisement, desperation and greed. Unfortunately, these are all human characteristics, not racial ones.
the civil rights movement never ended its just on the side of the road waiting for FEMA to help,, racism will never end , this country is still healing from all the hate crimes that went on in the south ,, any human being walking around thinking ,, especially african americans ,,all these rappers,, ball player, enetertainers, actors,would be foolish to think that racism is done just because they have 40 acres and Bentley now , the Racism machine still hates you no matter how much money u have look at OJ and kobe ,, now if tookie commited those crimes he should have stayed in jail all his life,, but if he was innocent then he should have been released,, now to the gentlemen who made the comment about being a gang member i feel sorry for you because your life has no purpose thats why you are upset and cursing and carrying on,, acting a fool and “settripping ” don’t mean nothing man if you saving ya people ,, guess why you don’t see the KKK marching through our hoods anymore cuz we are KLAN now black men kill each other over stupid stuff ,, gangs kill and cripple there hoods with drugs and kinda other illegal bull, wake up man latino’s,blacks, asian we are the reason for own demise and ignorance and stupdity can be found in any human being white or black ,, Be leader not a follower ,part of the solution or part of the consistent problem..
Well said Madison.
Nick, you’re a oxymoronic racist maggot.
I have ZERO tolerance for the kind of mindset you have. Saying things like, “Look, I am somewhat racist. I really do not care about color of skin, myself. I have some black aquaintences that I get along with just fine”.
How can you be somewhat racist? Well, I guess you can be when you’re a full blown dumb ass which you have already displayed. I will not apologize for my rhetoric as I have already mentioned my zero-tolerance toward your type of ignorance.
My display of anger is justified but my reasoning is encompassed by empathy. Perhaps this is your opportunity to redeem yourself and stop being afriad of things you don’t understand….hense racism. I am admittedly a reactionary when it comes to blind hatred…and this appies to any racial or religious bigotry despite your heritage. I am human and subject to mistakes. I am also willing to make changes in my life to better my own and others around me. Perhaps you might find the strength to do the same.
And “Bluez Cluez”….I’m all about black power but I’m not fucking anything that you can’t spell!…lol
Oh! and “53 year old white woman, Karen”… Give me a break with the Moses crap. Do me a favor and research the history of the Bible (if you dare) as opposed to being a lemming.
Science has PROVEN that we ALL started in Africa…Eden was evidently in Africa for fuck sake. In fact, God is a very pissed of Black man. LOL!!!!
Hey “walt235″…. kill yourself. Or, at the very least, don’t breed.
Has anyone here looked at the pictures of his victims? eg. the Asian girl with her left eye and forehead blown away from the blast of Stanley’s shotgun.
Tookie has never admitted to what YOU are claiming he did. Stop looking at gross pictures and stop pointing your finger.
If you want facts….do some homework.
He DID start the Crips….but that’s not why he was executed.
A shotgun shell found at that crime scene was said to be from a gun purchased by Stan five years earlier. But the gun was, in fact, found under the bed of two people – a husband and wife facing felony insurance fraud charges and who were also under investigation for murdering their own crime partner. This husband-and-wife crime team did not serve any prison time and their murder investigation was dropped after they testified that Stan “volunteered” a confession to them.
ALSO:
Fingerprints were found at both crime scenes, but they were not Stan’s. These fingerprints have never been identified.
A bloody boot print left near the victim at one of the crime scenes was not Stan’s. This boot print has never been identified.
The “star” witness at Stan’s trial – a white man and longtime felon who was placed in a nearby cell while Stan awaited trial and was years later discovered to have been a paid police informant – also testified that Stan “volunteered” a confession to him. But nearly 20 years after Stan’s trial it was discovered that a Los Angeles police officer had left a copy of the police murder file involving Stan’s case in this informant’s cell for overnight study. The next day the murder file was picked up by that same officer, and the informant informed the police that Stan had volunteered a confession to him. In return for this testimony, the informant – who himself was facing the death penalty for rape, murder and mutilation – was given a lesser sentence that allowed him the possibility of parole and freedom.
What is *wrong* with people who admire Tookie Williams?
He wrote children’s books – and then refused to participate in gang de-briefing because he wasn’t going to “snitch.” The message received is kids, don’t join gangs, and whatever you do, don’t tell anyone about crimes in the neighborhood.
He founded an organization that peddles drugs and violence and has led to the deaths of thousands of young African-Americans. For that alone he should have been put against a wall and stoned. And he’s supposed to be a “hero” to African-Americans.
Snoop Dogg, whose music is pro-gang, pro-drug, pro-disrespecting women, and obscene says that Tookie has had an impact on him. How? His music still glorifies what Tookie claims to now condemn.
Tell the next mother burying her son or daughter how Tookie was such an anti-gang hero.
So,
I just saw some of the pictures that “stanleys dead” suggested we look at. Pretty ugly I must say. Not to completely change the subject…but on the note of bloody, gross pictures, have you looked at the THOUSANDS of bloody, gross pictures of Iraqi civilians as a result of America’s war on terror? Where do YOU draw the line where “okay” killing is concerned? I think this is the main argument (apart from ignorance) of this page…..at least, it is for me.
Rome is falling! Watch your head!
Great news! In the wake of Tookie’s execution, all of the LA gangs got together today and announced that they are going to quit the thug life for good.
Through their spokesdogg Snoop, the gang members said they realized that if Arnold would kill Took, he might kill them too! Took’s execution, they said, made them re-think their situation and realize it was just too risky to be in gangs anymore.
There you have it. No more Westside gangs. Who says the death penalty doesn’t work as a deterrent.
Nadja, for god’s sake. “Snoop” is or was a Crip….who cares. He is also marketed to young, angsty kids who will go out of there way to be rebellious regardless of the catalyst. To older listeners and producers, he has some remarkable talents for rhythm and “feel” despite the content of his lyrics which I assume reflect both his personal sruggles through life, shock value (which sells) and the stuggle to appease the corporate machine for which he works. I don’t own a “Snoop” album but can appreciate him stylistically and have noticed a more positive stance outside of his career. Elvis was censored and condemned at one point, as were the Beatles…as were many that we now look back and think was rediculous hype.
If your (or any) child thinks that rap stars are “real” then someone’s not doing a very good job of expressing the realities of life to thier youngens’.
I think the majority of children recieving the message you’re conveying about Tookie is overshadowed by a more positive message which has already been proven. I don’t know where you’re getting your facts from….but I have not heard of such.
Bottom line? We will all bury our children…. Actually, they will most likely bury us first if all goes well. And I can only hope that when I die..or my children die, we will have learned the value and miracle of life be it through hardship or education….with a little less of a tendency to throw stones without thinking.. such as Tookie did, though I don’t know if he actually “hit” anyone. Times are changing and there is NO point in life in which it’s to late to learn from our mistakes, or other’s. Hopefully, the common marketing of black angst will subside a bit, though it does exist for good reasons based on American history that wasn’t that long ago.
Perhaps if you understood more about the butterfly effect of “snitching”..you’d understand someone refusing to do so. I mean, christ, I’m not THAT underground and I can see the disaster in that. Kinda like shaking the hornets nest I suppose. NOT a good idea.
GREAT NEWS MADISON!!
Now, If we can just get the Eastside gangs to stop fighting….I think they call it NASCAR or Monster Truck racing…or something.
I could definitely get behind the death penalty for stock car racing.
LOL!!!!! Get ‘er done fer Jesus, Madison!!
Dead Man Talking….(wise words from Tookie)
On His Transformation:
“People forget that redemption is tailor-made for the wretched.”
On the Case Against Him:
“I always ask the question: Can a black man in America receive justice? I can say to you or anybody else that the answer is absolutely no. Theres a myriad of things that bring me to this conclusion prosecutorial misconduct, the biased selection of juries, the issues of informants, the exclusion of exculpatory evidence, illegal interrogation of witnesses. Its commonplace. Its deeply ingrained in the California criminal justice system.”
On the Man the Jury Saw:
“I was darned near twice this size. I had an indelibly entrenched grimace on my face. I had total disdain for the law enforcement system and it showed. And I was shackled.”
On the Families of the Victims:
“To threaten me with death does not accomplish the means of the criminal justice system or satiate those who think my death or my demise will be a closure for them. Their loved ones will not rise up from the grave and love them. I wish they could. I sympathize or empathize with everyone who has lost a loved one. But I didnt do it. My death would not mollify them.”
On His Work With Children:
“They can empathize with me. I pretty much experienced all the madness theyre going through.”
“I feel a sense of bliss within. I like to see the viability of youth.”
“I dont take myself seriously. I do take my helping children and writing books exceedingly seriously.”
On Taking Responsibility for the Murders:
“How can a person express contrition if hes not guilty?”
“If I were culpable of these crimes, Id be on my knees, begging everybody.”
On What He Would Have Said to Mr. Schwarzenegger:
“First and foremost, I would say that Im innocent. Second, I believe that if Im allowed to get a clemency or an indefinite stay, it would allow me to continue to proliferate my positive message, including a collaboration with the N.A.A.C.P., to create a violence-prevention message for at-risk youth.”
On Death Row:
“Ive never seen a millionaire here.”
“Youre surrounded by a motley of different characters. Within the madness, there are those other than myself who have opted to redeem themselves.
“The longer I sit in this animalistic cage, the more human I become. Ive learned not to allow the negative ambience to control me. Ive risen above all of that, like a phoenix, a black phoenix.”
“Had I still been in society I never would have been able to make the kind of impact I can now.”
On the Death Penalty:
“We know that its not a deterrent. Its wasted a lot of the taxpayers money. The death penalty in a sense is a disguise for vengeance.”
“Its a barbaric system that propagates, to resolve murder is to murder someone, another oxymoron. It doesnt work.”
“Its a more sophisticated type of killing than a mob lynching. Its pathetic.”
“In reality, theres no disparity between this place and Texas.”
On What He Misses:
“My freedom. Being able to hold my grandchild. Being able to go to the beach. Women. Food. My mother.”
On the Prospect of Execution:
“They have the audacity to ask, ‘Do I want a last meal?’ Absolutely not. ‘Do I want anyone present?’ Absolutely not. ‘Do I want a preacher?’ Absolutely not. I want nothing from this institution.”
“I feel good. I really do. I feel good physically and mentally and spiritually. Had I not undergone this redemptive transformation, I guarantee Id really be a mess.”
“I have that joie de vivre. I love life.”
“My faith sustains me. I dont crack under pressure.”
“The least I can do is maintain my dignity. I confront madness with integrity. I dont walk around like some shuffling black man.”
“Ill go through it with dignity, with integrity, with love and bliss in my heart. I smile at everything, and Im quite sure Ill smile then, too. I smile to myself, and I dont worry about it.”
i happen to live in south central LA…infact all of my brothers and one sister were gang related except me. but i was a black sheep aswell in my own ways. when i was in junior high my dad kicked my ass for bringing home a large tub of ice cream that i looted from an ice cream shop when the rodney king riots broke out. today i wouldnt dare make the same mistake age the age of 27. i would gladdy run over folks that are rioting and looting, burning down peoples american dreams. they will just be as guilty as tookie for taking innocent lifes that werent even gang related. arnold made the right choice. i give props to the govinator who i didnt even vote for. this isnt a black thing at all. tookie needed to pay for what he did…if he was really reformed tookie should of agreed to be excecuted and tell everyone what will happen if they made his same mistakes. get real!!!
-voice from tha hood
South Central Los Angeles
Arnold Swartzenegger is nothing short of a jack-booted, goose-stepping nazi douchebag sycophant in the same class as the murderous evil thugs in the Whitehouse.
“Another governor, this one from Texas, was asked on a right-wing radio program what were the last words of a woman, Karla Faye Tucker, before his state executed her. That governor sadistically affected a woman’s voice to mock the 23-year-old born-again and whined, “Please don’t kill me!”
Now he’s our President.”
(Trey Ellis – Huntington Post)
We are a civilized society? Cheney, Rumsfeld and Doktor Rice’s vile lies and pro-torture pulpit? These people are sick. And so are the racist hateful comments on this site.
Please act on your threats, you banjolipped black bastards. I personally don’t think a single one of you has the balls to do jack shit. Out here in my Old Kentucky Home, we have a way of dealing with disobedient coons. Tallest tree and shortest rope. Happy rioting, niggers!!!!!
White power mommy,
I don’t want to believe you exist….and to be honest, you shouldn’t. But the tree should.. as it has more brain power than you do.
“Voice from the (supposed) hood”
Your voice is nowhere near as loud as Tookie’s was. Nice try though.
Well, thank Hitler son-of-a-nazi governor Schwarzenegger did the White thing and ended that sorry shitskin’s life. I certainly regret the death of the innocent White man whose life he ended, but I won’t lose any sleep over the yellow vermin he eliminated. I guess even the lowert of porch monkeys can be useful for something. But I’m still waiting for my dream to come true and the race war to begin. All I want for Christmas is a nigger holocaust. I would challenge the primitive apes in LA to make good on their threats again, but it’s doubtful they can read, much less access the internet. The ones who have evolved that far mainly use the net to surf bestiality and child porn websites anyway. It was a nice thought, though.
Re: Cae- Yes, I do exist. And there are thousands more like me. Be afraid, be very afraid.
http://www.vnnforum.com
P.S.
Good comment Mr. Shelly. Fancy meeting you out here in cyberspace. I LOVE your website!!! If you are lucky enough to snipe a few burrheads if the SHF, please consider posting pictures and stories over on VNN. We love a good laugh, too. Keep up the good work bro, 88 and a Merry White Christmas to you.