Joe Veal, spokesman for the LA RCP wrote:
Stanley “Tookie” Williams, co-founder of the Crip street gang in Los Angeles, was executed in San Quentin Prison on December 13 just after midnight.
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger coldly and callously refused to grant him clemency, saying that “the facts do not justify overturning the court decision.” Even though Tookie Williams had changed and became a very outspoken advocate against gang violence and for peace. They showed him no mercy. But it is deeper than this. In a highly political statement, Schwarzenegger also said that Tookie Williams' 1998 book Life In Prison was “dedicated to people like Assata Shakur, Mumia Abu Jamal” and particularly “Black militant George Jackson” which, according to Schwarzenegger, “is a significant indicator that Williams is not reformed and that he still sees violence and lawlessness as legitimate means to address societal problems.”
George Jackson and the other prominent Black figures mentioned in Schwarzenegger’s statement are heroes to a lot of Black people and people of all races and nationalities because of their revolutionary stance. This is proof that this is a politically motivated execution. [read]
Here's what Gov. Schwarzenegger said:
The dedication of Williams' book Life in Prison casts significant doubt on his personal redemption. This book was published in 1998 several years after Williams' redemptive experience. Specifically the book is dedicated to Nelson Mandela, Angela Davis, Malcolm X, Assata Shakur, Geronimo Ji Jaga Pratt, Ramona Africa, John Africa, Leonard Peltier, George Jackson, Mumia Abu Jamal, and the countless other men, women, and youths, who have to endure the hellish oppression of living behind bars. The mix of individuals on this list is curious. Most have violent pasts and some have been convicted of committing heinous murders including the killing of law enforcement.
But the inclusion of George Jackson on this list defies reason and is a significant indicator that Williams is not reformed and that he still sees violence and lawlessness as a legitimate means to address societal problems."
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We can thank the governor for introducing a new generation to the unbreakable spirit of George Jackson, a great soldier in the revolutionary movement, a true martyr killed by the California prison system. He was convicted of petty robbery at the age of 17 and sentenced to "one-year-to-life." In prison, he vowed never to be broken and became a Field Marshal of the Black Panther Party. That the threat of respect to his memory is so great, a man like Tookie Williams must die, shows the power of comrade George's words and example.
He left two books in his own words, written under conditions of solitary confinement: Soledad Brother, The Prison Letters of George Jackson and a collection of essays Blood in My Eye around the time of his murder.
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Dan Berger, author of the forthcoming history of the Weather Underground Outlaws of America, wrote a good piece for the Nation on the execution of Tookie, along with the recent passing of a less known revolutionary Richard Williams in prison. [read]
Also worth a read is Dave Zirin's short piece on the governor's Sneering at Redemption
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