I have a friend living with me for a few days with her animals and her partner while her bathroom is getting finished.
On Wednesday, she received a call that her grandfather died during the night of a heart attack. She and her grandfather were very close. She just returned from the funeral services yesterday.
Then, this afternoon, she received a call that her father had died of a heart attack this morning.
Merry fucking Christmas to her. She's someone who is so strong and calm during whatever situations arise at work or in life, and I hope I can give a little of that back to her during this sad, sad time.
I'm also thoroughly ashamed to be an American today, as we salivate over the death of a convicted killer who turned his life around in prison. Arnold Schwarzenegger is a bad, bad man. I cannot fathom how anyone could have the decision in front of him to spare someone's life, especially someone who is contributing to the world in a positive way, and not do it. I cannot believe that this person exists, cannot believe that he was elected to a position of power, and cannot believe he was in some movies that I liked. I feel ill. My optimism is dimmed a bit today. Who got to decide that the government putting someone to death by sticking poison in his arm was not cruel and unusual punishment? Death. Not cruel. I cannot fathom.
I hope the protests tonight are longreaching and loud. My own silent protests will be grading papers of Baltimore kids who hopefully have saved themselves from becoming young Tookie Williamses. A student of ours was shot five times last week, and is paralyzed still after five separate surgeries - maybe until swelling goes down, maybe forever. A bullet remains lodged in her spine. Sometimes, the world of Tookie Williams isn't that far from their world. I just wish he could stick around some more and teach even one more kid that a gang life won't get anyone anywhere. Instead, his death will just teach kids that the government is not to be trusted, that American doesn't actually believe in rehabilitation or redemption, and that there are different rules of law for blacks and whites. Chalk one up to despair over hope this round.
You'd think that after so many thousands of years of the human race, we might have figured out that revenge killing solves nothing, that an eye for an eye does leave a man blind.
I need to throw up.
The Right Brain For The Job
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Part of an excerpt from Temple Grandin’s new book: If people can
consciously recognize the strengths and weaknesses in their ways of
thinking, they can the...
1 hour ago
14 comments:
While I hear what you're saying about the Tookie Williams case (and the death penalty in general), I really know of no one who is "salivating" over Williams' pending fate.
Perhaps you're right, Frank. I do envision those in favor of the death penalty as a bloodthirsty lot, though.
I'm with you. It's not as if we couldn't use a few living examples of people who have turned their lives around and started making a contribution. Sure it took prison to wake him up, but isn't that supposed to be the point of prison?
Williams represents that some good can come froma a prison term - as a product of the prison system, he's become a new person, seemingly rehabilitated. No one is arguing that he is a good person or that he should be free, but it's pretty clear that he's turned his life around. Now we're going to kill him. It makes not one iota of sense, and is simply horrific.
I'm so sorry for your friend with the death of her grandfather and father. It's good that she has friends to help support her during this time.
I'm far from bloodthirsty, but I disagree with you about Tookie Williams. He has already had 25 years more than his victims had, and his death will be much gentler than those of his victims.
The death penalty is an awful thing, but I would hope that children will learn that there are far-reaching consequences of murder that they can't get out of, no matter what they do after the fact. They have to think of those consequences beforehand.
I understand your position on the matter, and I respect it. I just disagree with it.
You might hope that they would learn it, but study after study has shown the the death penalty is no deterrent to crimes.
The only lesson children, particularly kids in the type of situations that Tookie Williams has found himself in, will get from this is that despair triumphs over hope.
A very moving post. I had a student murdered in a gang related incident last week. It is a shame that Tookie Wiliam's death will end up leading youths to distrust our government.
It's easy to live a life of redemption when you know the year you are going to die.
I am really curious to know if he would have went down the same path of redemption if he only got life in prison.
I'm not pro-death penalty, but I'm not against it either. He knew his actions were wrong in the first place. He knew it was wrong to take lives. And there is no doubt about his guilt. I'm not salivating over this news item and I won't be staying up tonight to hear the news briefs the moment he dies. It's just one of those cases where it's hard to pick a side.
I don't believe the death penalty is a deterrent, I don't think death is much of a punishment for someone facing life in prison. That said, Tookie Williams was hardly a saint -- a man who never renounced the Crips, who never confessed to his crimes, and "reformed" only because he was locked in jail. He was a thug who wrote childrens' books to improve his public image. Sure, I'd be happier if he was going to spend the next fifty or sixty years locked in a tiny cell like the heartless animal he is, instead, in a few hours, he gets a "get out of jail free" card.
I disagree that folks will "distrust" the government over this. Tookie had numerous appeals, and of course, a last ditch appeal to the governor. In Arnold's place -- and lacking a mental defect on Tookie's part -- I probably would have done the same thing: deferred to the judge & the jury that determined Tookie's fate. That's why we have a criminal justice system, and unless there's evidence the system is being abused -- and there's none here -- best to let it be.
Bonanza: I disagree it's easy to live a life of redemption if you know you're going to die. And you've given not one argument about why it's hard to take a side. What is accomplished with his death?
Snay: Best to let it be? I'm just blown away by this statement by you. If the criminal justice system was faultless, then perhaps you'd have a point that you'd only grant clemency if there were a mental defect. But the overwhelming fact of the matter is is that there are a different set of rules for black defendents versus white defendents, particularly when dealing with capital cases. Tookie Williams was a poor black kid from the city. He had an all-white jury. Study after study after study has shown that he is much, much more likely to get the death penalty than someone who is white. The system is messed up. Capital punishment is used to perpetuate subconscious racial norms in this country, and nothing else.
And no one is saying this guy is a saint. Saying he didn't renounce the crips is right wing propoganda because he wouldn't snitch.
this was a very moving post, particularly in your contrast with the terrible losses of your friend (my deepest sympathies, prayers, and meditations) against the subject of the death penalty.
I can't help it if this comes out sounding like some sort of Buddhist fortune cookie, so here goes: life is sacred. Every aspect of every person's life, in every moment.
When we look for right and wrong, we all lose. (that is *not* an excuse to kill, either the victim or the perpetrator, but merely a broader spiritual view. *And this is coming from my own raw space, having lost a dear friend two weeks ago, and recognizing the death of my deepest, best friend six years ago today.)
E, I want to agree with you, but there are a couple of simple things Tookie could have done that he did not. Admitting his own wrongdoing would probably have saved his life. As it was, he never acknowledged the impact that his brutal behavior had on for families, and never accepted responsibility for it.
As far as not cooperating with police, you referred to it as "snitching", but how could Tookie be truly remorseful about what he'd done and yet not cooperate with those who were trying to dismantle the foul organization he helped to create? The children's books were a good thing, I am absolutely behind that, but he also had a chance to help dismantle a gang which is still continuing to recruit from the young and which preys on the weak.
The pieces are almost all there, but I don't see how failing to to the above fit with the story of a reformed and remorseful Tookie.
"Best to let it be? I'm just blown away by this statement by you."
Don't misunderstand me - I'm all for seeing the death penalty done away with. As I said before, I think life imprisonment in a concrete cage is a much more heinous sentence than death.
Back to my position on Arnie - in a state where capital punishment is legal, I don't think its the governor's job to second-guess a judge and jury, not to mention the appeals process. If Williams had gotten clemency from the governor, it most likely would have happened because of the media circus surrounding the case and not because of any inherent problems with the death penalty itself, or for his trial -- great for Williams, but super unfair for other death-row inmates who haven't been nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize or written childrens' books.
(I don't know off-hand: in California, does a jury recommend a sentence or is sentencing up to the judge?)
What I think would have been acceptable would be for Arnold to put a moratorium on all pending executions, order a study on the fairness of the DP, then either make a decision on his own when he's got the study in hand (to abolish or end the moratorium), or leave it to the people to vote on during the next special elections (Californians like their special elections, they've had like twenty of 'em in the last four years).
Apart from that, yeah, he should stay out of it.
"Saying he didn't renounce the crips is right wing propoganda because he wouldn't snitch."
His mistake: snitching would have been evidence of his reformation and might've given him the pull he needed to stop his execution.
Click here to go to where I've spotlighted this very thoughtful piece. I'm anxious to read more of your blog!
Take Care!
AJ :-)
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