Well, Governor Arnold says Tookie should pay the ultimate price for his crime. Over the years I have waffled back and forth on the issue of the death penalty. Right now I am against it. Lock and seal hard core criminals away from the world would seem more of a punishment. Of course if I were a warden with free reign, my prison wouldn't have cable and all the nice amenities that they currently have. Regardless, I would hope that any hard core convict would find forgiveness and grace from the Lord as they spent the rest of their lives behind bars.
At the same time that I am currently against the death penalty (I reserve the right to be wrong), remembering yesterday's lesson, I can't pronounce forgiveness when I am not the victim. Hollywood can ride all the coat tails they want but they don't have a single iota of credibility compared to the victims of Tookie and his violent legacy. A legacy which continues today in the gang he founded.
At worst Tookie is playing Hollywood for fools and trying to get out of his truly deserved sentence. At the least Tookie has the same problem Saddam Hussein has, he is/was a thug responsible for multiple atrocities (Tookie on a different but still atrocious level) and is being held accountable for a legacy of violence.
I hear that Hollywood and others believe that Tookie has redeemed himself. My hope is he has found the Lord's redemption because it looks like the State of California is about to help Tookie pass on to his eternal fate. Only the Lord knows the conditions of Tookie's heart. It's at the judgment seat of Christ where Tookie, and each of us individually, will face true justice.
… and what a Day that will be.
Matthew 12:35-37 (New International Version)
35The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him. 36But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken. 37For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned."
As for my words, if the Lord allows, they will speak of a forgiving Christ as I am held to account. I have no defense other than His atonement.
Sidenote: Is it surprising that the MSM seems to be chomping at the bit to see if LA will erupt in race riots? Sometimes it seems that they want to create news by "speculating" (implanting) ideas into people's heads.
Well, my prayers will be with all the families involved, Tookie of course and LA as a community.
Update: La Shawn has a good post on this. She says that Tookie is reportedly "saved." I will join her in prayers that this is true. She also reports that the Supreme Court has denied intervening in the case.
Update 11:35pm EST:Wow, the blogswarm on this is amazing (as usual with any blogswarm.)
Update 12/13/05 3:03pm EST: La Shawn has yet another excellent post on the difference between individual forgiveness and state imposed justice. You must read it.
Update 12/13/05 3:22pm EST:Dawn has also posted on the matter.
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
Arnold should deny clemency to Stanley “Tookie” Williams. It’s time for his victims to have their day of reckoning.
People calling for clemency on behalf of Stanley Williams should remember this: This is the Stanley Williams who co-founded the Crips, setting in motion a legacy of wanton violence. Los Angeles had a history of gangs, but the Crips took gang violence beyond community turf wars. They were known for drive-by shootings and armed robberies, for cruising foreign neighborhoods and picking fights. Membership multiplied quickly, thanks to their fierce reputation, and new gangs formed to protect themselves from their aggression — including a rival supergang, the Bloods. Since then, hundreds of spinoff Crips gangs have been formed, not only in the United States but also in Belize, Switzerland and South Africa.
If Hitler had lived beyond WWII, been put in prison, and decided to write books condemning the atrocities that took place, would society have spared his life? If Osama bin Laden comes out of hiding and denounces the actions of all who kill in the name of Allah, will society spare his life? The answer is NO to each of these questions. This is the same reason why the execution of Tookie is just. Many lives have been lost due to the gang he founded and the teachings that went along with that. The fact that his philosophy on life has changed does not change the fact that his choices earlier in life caused the death of many.
All very good thoughts. Thank you all for sharing them. I know about the theological perspective of God raising up a state system of justice. That’s why,while I am against the death penalty, I don’t fight against it’s implementation through our system of government.
Don’t ask me to defend that…again I am self-confessing a flip floppy attitude toward the death penalty.
Again, great discussion so far.
Even if Tookie is a saved believer, our justice system has found him guilty of cold blooded murder. If our society’s judicial systems becomes weak, we are all worse off for it.
We can let God be the judge in the afterlife but he has put men in place to be judges in the current life.
wow, we actually disagree on different sides.
Tookie had over 20 years of appeals and review. As a taxpayer of California, and somebody who reviewed the case of these murders (and the 4 people he was convicted of killing), I say he’s had more than enough time to prove his innocence.
He’s costing me tax money, he’s seen many appeals and he said some very hateful things against a racial minority while he was killing and robbing them.
Justice is about to be served on this one.
Is the death a penalty a deterrent? I doubt it, those who are going to kill or commit other serious crimes are doing so without any thought to the consequences of their actions. However I believe society has a right to extract a degree of retribution including death. Tookie can write all the books he likes, go on Opra, have every Hollywood putz lined up behind him and it would still not mitigate the lives he has destroyed. I’m sorry it took this long to bring this to a close. I am continually amazed at the lack of concern the bleeding hearts show for the true victims. I suspect they don’t generate sufficient press to be worth their efforts.