Capital punishment

What,
will these hands ne'er be clean? No more o' that, my lord, no
more o' that: you mar all with this starting. ~Lady Macbeth

As I type this blog, Stanley "Tookie" Williams is being murdered by the State of California in the above execution chamber at San Quentin. I can't believe that we as a "civilized" society still use such a barbaric and disgusting way of dispensing "justice." We should be ashamed of ourselves for allowing this practice to continue.

The LA Times yesterday ran a recap of of San Quentin Operational Procedure No. 770, which is 43 pages in length.

The death chamber will be equipped with 12 rolls of adhesive tape, 20 syringes, 10 needles, 15 tubes of varying sizes, four bags of saline solution, scissors, six tourniquets, two boxes of surgical gloves and one box each of surgical masks and alcohol wipes. There will be handcuffs and leg irons. Nothing is left to chance.

Williams will walk to the death chamber once witnesses are in place. The execution team will strap him to a gurney and connect him intravenously to two bags of saline solution. No member of the San Quentin staff may address team members by name or ask them anything that would require an oral response.

After a final time check, Warden Steven Ornoski will order that the flow of saline cease and be replaced with lethal agents: first, the sedative sodium pentothal, then potassium chloride to paralyze Williams and, finally, pancuronium bromide to stop his heart.

The identity of the person who has inserted the poison will not be revealed. The infusion will continue until the prison doctor pronounces Williams dead. The execution chamber will be shut with a curtain. "The body shall be removed with care and dignity and placed in a body bag," says Procedure 770. "The chamber should then be cleaned thoroughly."

 

The Apology

Twenty-five years ago when I created the Crips youth gang with Raymond Lee Washington in South Central Los Angeles, I never imagined Crips membership would one day spread throughout California, would spread to much of the rest of the nation and to cities in South Africa, where Crips copycat gangs have formed. I also didn't expect the Crips to end up ruining the lives of so many young people, especially young black men who have hurt other young black men.

Raymond was murdered in 1979. But if he were here, I believe he would be as troubled as I am by the Crips legacy.

So today I apologize to you all -- the children of America and South Africa -- who must cope every day with dangerous street gangs. I no longer participate in the so-called gangster lifestyle, and I deeply regret that I ever did.

As a contribution to the struggle to end child-on-child brutality and black-on-black brutality, I have written the Tookie Speaks Out Against Gang Violence children's book series. My goal is to reach as many young minds as possible to warn you about the perils of a gang lifestyle.

I am no longer "dys-educated" (disease educated). I am no longer part of the problem. Thanks to the Almighty, I am no longer sleepwalking through life.

I pray that one day my apology will be accepted. I also pray that your suffering, caused by gang violence, will soon come to an end as more gang members wake up and stop hurting themselves and others.

I vow to spend the rest of my life working toward solutions.

Amani (Peace),

Stanley "Tookie" Williams, Surviving Crips Co-Founder,
April 13, 1997