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Six Degrees of Tookie Williams
Tookie Williams has been rebuffed by the California Supreme Court, and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has refused to grant him clemency. So the convicted killer will be executed at midnight (Tuesday, December 13)--by the time most of you read this, he'll be dead.
Clemency--like "mercy," like "forgiveness"--is one of the sweeter words in the language. It's a word on the side of the angels, on the side of redemption. It says that the terrible bad acts of the past aren't the final judgment. It says that people can change. And that this change can be acknowledged, and rewarded, and held up as an example.
Clemency matters a great deal in a country that believes in second chances--in being, if you will, "born again." Tookie Williams, who founded the Crips gang and killed as many as four people, reformed himself in prison; he wrote a memoir and some children's books about the dangers of gangs. He was the ideal candidate for clemency.
But as a culture, America isn't very interested in reform. We much prefer retribution. There's something perversely appealing to us about overwhelming force: Cross us, and we'll nail you. That is how we currently have two million Americans--most of them black, most of them male--behind bars. Sure, most of them are in jail because they "did something." And so we have sent them to be punished, not rehabilitated.
Our appetite for revenge--almost always on black males--is riveting to me. Not every prisoner is on death row. Lots of these guys get out--indeed, for budgetary reasons, a lot get out earlier than they should. If we don't rehabilitate them in prison, what do we think will happen when they're on the streets again? You guessed it. Right back to the life of crime. And what if they don't stay in the ghetto and prey on "their own kind"? Then the victims are Whitey--that's most of you, Beliefnet readers, and me.
It has long been demonstrated that executions do not deter others from committing crimes. At the same time, if there's no possibility of clemency, they don't encourage anyone in prison to reform. Why bother turning yourself into a good guy? They're going to fry you anyway. If anything, executing Williams makes it more--not less--likely that, in the future, some punk with a gun will pull the trigger and turn an ordinary robbery into a murder. Hey, who wants a living witness who can identify you and testify against you?
Across the way, Loose Canon--an "a la carte" Catholic who never met a pope she felt obligated to obey or a belief system worthy of her full respect--makes light of Mr. Williams' reformation. Her argument closely echoes George Bush's shallow dismissal of Karla Faye Tucker. But of course LC does not dare make fun of George Bush's conversion; Rich Lowry and Ann Coulter would forbid her to link to their stuff. Then where would she be?
My doctor does not allow me to dwell long on Loose Canon. So let us turn our attention to another Catholic woman: Maria Shriver. Where was she in the conversations that led to her husband's cruel decision? She knows Arnold's checkered past, his callous dismissal of women as sex objects. Clearly, she also knows something about forgiveness, because she has forgiven him. You would think she'd put it bluntly to him--you must not do this. And you would think--because with his poll numbers fading, she is his biggest asset--he would listen. But I guess it didn't play out that way. And now the blood of Williams will stain her hands too.
The death penalty, Abu Ghraib, torture as policy--it's a long list, and it all connects. Readers of this column know the litany, and recognize the culture of death for what it is: a big show of manhood and courage from people who are deathly afraid. Afraid of so many things, starting with the harsh fact that there's a bit of Tookie Williams in all of us.
Tonight they'll feed the beast. Tomorrow they'll need new victims. They forget that they’re the ones who believe that an all-seeing, all-knowing God will someday judge us all. Good luck to them on that day.
Clemency--like "mercy," like "forgiveness"--is one of the sweeter words in the language. It's a word on the side of the angels, on the side of redemption. It says that the terrible bad acts of the past aren't the final judgment. It says that people can change. And that this change can be acknowledged, and rewarded, and held up as an example.
Clemency matters a great deal in a country that believes in second chances--in being, if you will, "born again." Tookie Williams, who founded the Crips gang and killed as many as four people, reformed himself in prison; he wrote a memoir and some children's books about the dangers of gangs. He was the ideal candidate for clemency.
But as a culture, America isn't very interested in reform. We much prefer retribution. There's something perversely appealing to us about overwhelming force: Cross us, and we'll nail you. That is how we currently have two million Americans--most of them black, most of them male--behind bars. Sure, most of them are in jail because they "did something." And so we have sent them to be punished, not rehabilitated.
Our appetite for revenge--almost always on black males--is riveting to me. Not every prisoner is on death row. Lots of these guys get out--indeed, for budgetary reasons, a lot get out earlier than they should. If we don't rehabilitate them in prison, what do we think will happen when they're on the streets again? You guessed it. Right back to the life of crime. And what if they don't stay in the ghetto and prey on "their own kind"? Then the victims are Whitey--that's most of you, Beliefnet readers, and me.
It has long been demonstrated that executions do not deter others from committing crimes. At the same time, if there's no possibility of clemency, they don't encourage anyone in prison to reform. Why bother turning yourself into a good guy? They're going to fry you anyway. If anything, executing Williams makes it more--not less--likely that, in the future, some punk with a gun will pull the trigger and turn an ordinary robbery into a murder. Hey, who wants a living witness who can identify you and testify against you?
Across the way, Loose Canon--an "a la carte" Catholic who never met a pope she felt obligated to obey or a belief system worthy of her full respect--makes light of Mr. Williams' reformation. Her argument closely echoes George Bush's shallow dismissal of Karla Faye Tucker. But of course LC does not dare make fun of George Bush's conversion; Rich Lowry and Ann Coulter would forbid her to link to their stuff. Then where would she be?
My doctor does not allow me to dwell long on Loose Canon. So let us turn our attention to another Catholic woman: Maria Shriver. Where was she in the conversations that led to her husband's cruel decision? She knows Arnold's checkered past, his callous dismissal of women as sex objects. Clearly, she also knows something about forgiveness, because she has forgiven him. You would think she'd put it bluntly to him--you must not do this. And you would think--because with his poll numbers fading, she is his biggest asset--he would listen. But I guess it didn't play out that way. And now the blood of Williams will stain her hands too.
The death penalty, Abu Ghraib, torture as policy--it's a long list, and it all connects. Readers of this column know the litany, and recognize the culture of death for what it is: a big show of manhood and courage from people who are deathly afraid. Afraid of so many things, starting with the harsh fact that there's a bit of Tookie Williams in all of us.
Tonight they'll feed the beast. Tomorrow they'll need new victims. They forget that they’re the ones who believe that an all-seeing, all-knowing God will someday judge us all. Good luck to them on that day.
