A “Tookie Teach-In”

by Hube on November 30, 2005

in Cultural Decline, Education

December 12, 2005: If you Tookie Googlers are looking for the latest info on the quadruple murderer, here it is.

Update from LB (12/2): Bilges writes:

I’ve personally tended to ignore the capital punishment debate, considering it a well-settled issue morally, practically, and politically. By intentionally killing another person you forfeit your right to live, end of story.

————————————————————————————————

Hey all! Hube here from The Colossus of Rhodey. Many thanks go to La Shawn for allowing me to guest blog while she’s away!

Via Joanne Jacobs comes word of a “Tookie Teach-In” at Oakland’s Street Academy High School:

Stefanie Faucher stood inside a classroom at Oakland’s Street Academy High School last Thursday and asked a class of about thirty teenagers, “Do you want to help Tookie Williams live?”

The students nodded and shouted in agreement. Most had just watched a video about the former Crips leader, convicted of murdering four people in 1979. Williams has since apologized for his role in spreading gang violence and written several children’s books condemning his old lifestyle. “Heck yeah,” one student yelled out. “Free Tookie.”

“Good,” said Faucher, projects director for the grassroots group Death Penalty Focus. “Because if the governor does not grant Tookie Williams clemency, he will be executed on December 13.”

Ah, nothing like a balanced discussion of capital punishment in a contemporary American classroom, eh? But then again, the room’s decorations weren’t exactly idelogically neutral:

A portrait of Che Guevara hung next to a sign that read “Dare to Dream.” Another poster suggested, “Honor Dr. King. Defend Mumia Abu-Jamal.” A massive painting of the African continent was slung just beneath Cesar Chavez, who was near Malcolm X.

Indeed — American icons: Martin Luther King Jr. and … Mumia Abu-Jamal?? Uh-huh.

Ms. Faucher offered up this whopper to the enthralled class as well:

“There is actually little evidence to suggest Tookie Williams was actually guilty of the crimes he’s accused of. He was convicted by virtually an all-white jury. So what do we think of the criminal justice system?”

Those nasty whities! Of course Tookie was found guilty, right? So what do we say to that, class? “BOOOOOOOO!”

But come on, Ms. Faucher — if even the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals declared that Tookie got a fair trail, you know that you’re arguing a lost cause in this case now, don’tcha?

No word on if there was a speaker to counter Ms. Faucher. Like maybe some of Tookie’s victims’ relatives? But again, this was an American public school classroom — whose prospective teachers are now being assessed on their ideological “dispositions.”

{ 6 trackbacks }

Michelle Malkin
11.30.05 at 6:33 pm
Those Bastards!
11.30.05 at 10:34 pm
aaron
12.01.05 at 4:39 pm
Classical Values
12.03.05 at 10:17 am
Opinionated Voice
12.03.05 at 2:33 pm
California Conservative
12.03.05 at 5:38 pm

{ 32 comments }

Heliotrope 11.30.05 at 6:46 pm

“Because if the governor does not grant Tookie Williams clemency, he will be executed on December 13.”

Too rich not to be exploited!

If the governor does not commute the sentence…..ta dum………the governor will be executed on December 13!

Is there a particular style to “executions” carried out by the Crips?

NE 11.30.05 at 7:05 pm

What is it with these yahoos? If they stopped at just being opposed to the death penalty, I’d be inclined to respect their position. But then they go and start making excuses for murderous thugs (Tookie, Mumia etc.). Not smart enough to quit while they’re ahead, I guess.

scmommy 11.30.05 at 7:27 pm

Some low-life murders 4 people, is tried, convicted & sentenced to death. He spends years on death row apologizing for gang violence but not cold-blooded murder. He somehow gains the support of the “hollyweird” and liberal crowd who now claim it was:

-he had a bad childhood
-unfair trial
-he’s not guilty

I guess I am just a simple country girl. If you do the crime, you pay the price. I agree with NE, I would respect death penalty opponents alot more if they would stop making excuses for every lowlife on this planet.

Marybel 11.30.05 at 7:51 pm

The Los Angeles District Attorney’s response to the William’s clemency plea is long(56 pages, but large type, with lots of blank space), but a most worthwhile read. While I have watched the cable news coverage with interest, nothing galvanized my thoughts like reading this document. How the governor can grant clemency is a mystery to me, someone who ordinarily tends to be against capital punishment. Take the time, read the response. Although it is a legal document, it’s chilling, the crimes barbaric…even with all the photos redacted. When I’d seen on TV that Williams was convicted by an all white jury, I had second thoughts. However, this was a lie. There was a black juror, now deceased, who not only voted to convict “Tookie,” he also voted that Williams should receive the death penalty. Also not publicized was that, prior to his trial, the “innocent” Williams had made a quite elaborate plan to explode the prison van, kill his guards, and escape. Again, read it all.
It is stunning.

As for the “teach in,” nothing that happens in California schools surprises me anymore. I will be moving soon, so it is with great relief that these shenanigans will cease to be funded at least through the hefty state taxes I’ve been paying for over 30 years.

Marybel 11.30.05 at 7:56 pm

I am a dolt when it comes to anything cyber, can just about make my way through the blogosphere, so I have no idea how to provide a link. Just go to Michelle Malkin’s website for the link to the LA DA’s document. Sorry for the inconvenience…it’s still worth it…

Parley 11.30.05 at 8:15 pm

The comment the teacher made regarding “an all white jury” (which is a lie) makes me sick.

Indoctrinating kids into group mindthink that “whitey” is inherently racist or that an all white jury is somehow unfair is beyond wrong.

This teacher should be fired immediately.

Joe Brennan 11.30.05 at 11:29 pm

Iwould just like to know when is that murdering

Pig Mumia going to get his? Its been way to long.

What are they waiting for? Natural Causes?

Dapney 12.01.05 at 1:47 am

I am a hetero sexual white blue eyed blonde in my ’50’s who was raised in the lily white ultra Conservative Republican suburbs of Western MD where the white trash still burned crosses in a field up until the late 1990’s and some to this day like to call a black person that crazy “n” word that way-to-many rapper use loosely.

The Klan still canvasses handing out literature on a regular basis and of course no one can stop the insanity because they have their rights. And the recent Halloween parade was threatened with home grown terrorism because the NAACP decided to enter a float.

Now when I went to public school in Maryland during the 1960’s we were taught in our classroom that blacks should keep their mouths shut, no matter what and if we were white we had no business hanging out with them. And Asians, Gypsies and Hispanics? They were not even addressed – they just got the good ole’ cross on the lawn routine whenever a family moved to town. Jews also were not welcome in my Country Club.

Shame on you for castigating blacks like Martin Luther King just to make your silly point…and what is it? That blacks are not allowed to look up to role models that one of your role models like say – Rush Limbaugh – hasn’t stamped with the stupid white man seal of approval?

You thirty-something-know-it-alls should have experienced what my generation experienced; being told you could not talk to your black classmates or have anything to do with them no matter what. Yes, whites were nasty and in some pockets of this country they still can be and are.

Tookie is a cold blooded killer, The Crips are as bad as any other gang and I am forever amazed at the thirsty Right Wing…and their conquest for retribution, whether it affects them personally or not…

“The meaning of the cross is that God takes the full weight of sin upon God’s own self, that for which there has been retribution and also that for which there has been none. Here we find the objective basis for forgiveness. This is the moral-religious meaning of divine suffering.”

Terrence 12.01.05 at 7:41 am

What Would Jesus Do about all these bloodthirsty calls for revenge?

Hube 12.01.05 at 7:45 am

Dapney — if you’re referring to this line in my original post – Indeed — American icons: Martin Luther King Jr. and … Mumia Abu-Jamal. Uh-huh — I’m mocking the reference of Mumia as an icon, not MLK. I’ll go in and edit that to make it clearer.

Mike 12.01.05 at 8:41 am

Dapney,

I agree there are bad people of all colors in this world. I do not care if Tookie is a white guy from Ohio; it makes no difference to the crimes he committed. If this guy ever escaped from jail do you think he would kill again? He has never apologized, never shown an ounce of remorse. If you want to argue that the death penalty is wrong that is one thing I might even agree with you for I do not believe it is a good form of punishment. But this is not a race issue it is COLD BLOODED MURDER. This guy killed 4 people for what? Oh yeah approximately $220. And every wing nut from Hollywood has the audacity to stand up for this guy. It sickens me that people so gifted and blessed with talent cannot see right from wrong.

nobody important 12.01.05 at 9:01 am

So Dapney, nothing has changed since the 60’s? I’m a white heterosexual blond blue eyed male in his fifties who grew up in poor mixed race urban neighborhoods in the Northeast. Should I extrapolate from my experiences that the rest of the country was the same?

rhodeymark 12.01.05 at 9:04 am

Yo Terrence, I think you misunderstood the “cast the first stone” incident. I don’t think Jesus would look at the desire to see the proscribed sentence carried out as bloodthirsty. You want to know what’s bloodthirsty? The ground that those innocent victims fell to and bled upon. Tookie isn’t an adulteress, he’s a remorseless, unrepentant monster. Reminder – this commutation push is from the same left that openly mocked Carla Fay Tucker’s prison conversion. She now rests in the Lord’s bosom I trust. Tookie has had more than enough time for his own reconciliation.
Dapney – I grew up in the even more conservative “OC” (we gave the world B1 Bob Dornan). Your rant does not reflect well on your experience, education or MD in general, sorry. I feel bad for you.

rhodeymark 12.01.05 at 9:08 am

“prescribed” sentence – PIMF

One angry mom 12.01.05 at 9:09 am

I thought it was the preponderance of the evidence and not a jury that convicted him. The judge passed the sentence.

Seems like they are so confused. And to think that I had ten years in the California public education system.

But this drivel was started in the late 1960s. We had an assembly when Bobby Kennedy was murdered. We had another one when Dr. King was murdered. The penultimate was my fifth grade teacher, a liberal, who adored Angela Davis and Huey Newton, as well as Eldredge Cleaver and spoke to us about how blacks were going to kill all the whites for all the oppression, using the combined forces of
the Nation of Islam and the Black Panthers.

I was in fifth grade, and my father was in the Army and counseling returning veterans. He visited the school and the liberal crap stopped.

But not before this ‘educator’ had indoctrined a whole generation of Angelenos.

Kill Tookie and to make it equally deserving, off Charles Manson too.

One angry mom 12.01.05 at 9:18 am

One other observation: In reading the San Jose Mercury News article, the justices on the court who dissented were white. The justices who voted to block the reopening of his case are minorites. Asian, Hispanic, etc.

All a defense attorney has to do is raise reasonable doubt. It seems that his attorney either didn’t get the doubt level he wanted, nor was he able to discredit the forensic evidence against Williams.

Yes, Ahnuld, you are talking about a person’s life here. But he didn’t give that choice to his victims.

Ron 12.01.05 at 9:20 am

Excuse me Terrence but these aren’t calls for revenge, these are calls for justice.
There is a big difference.
Revenge is based on emotion, justice is based on the fact that we are ALL held responsible for our actions, whatever ethnicity (that is for you Dapney)
If I speed through a school zone, I should expect to have to pay a hefty ticket.
If I commit cold-blooded murder, I should expect that I will lose all rights, including my right to live.
I believe that most people on this site would probably be OK if a life sentence was actually indeed a life sentence. However, the same people against the death penalty, also believe life in prison is cruel & unusual punishment as well. In other words, any excuse will do, as long as we are not held responsible for our own actions.
And Dapney, with the experience you have with racism, being told not to talk to people that were different, in other words, only getting one side of the story; you should be concerned as well that the students do not seem to be getting both sides of an important issue. That has nothing to do with racism, it has to do with common sense.

Paul 12.01.05 at 9:33 am

Tookie , I think, is playing a game to stay alive. What about the four people he killed?

T. Jack 12.01.05 at 9:47 am

Let him live……..

Dan 12.01.05 at 9:52 am

The liberals seem to forget the victims. They give more rights to the perpetrator than the people he gutted and left to die.

When the liberal elite remember the dead people, and then still think the death penalty is wrong (and not just that it’s wrong because the majority of the conservatives think it’s right), then I’ll grant them their opinions. Until then, I suggest they put their families up for the murderers to come at, since they seem so full of forgiveness and all….

Frank Zavisca 12.01.05 at 10:52 am

La Shawn:

The CA law enforcement got this wrong – as did the Philly group with Mumia.

No doubt these two deserve death, but the “law of unintended consequences” kicked in. These two convictions occurred at about the same time (early 80’s) just as the “Black Victimhood” movement peaked. Therefore, they became martyrs.

At this late date, it would be political suicide to back off of the death penalty – the wheels have rolled too far.

But Atlanta’s Neal Boortz said it correctly – about murderous thug H Rap Brown who killed a cop in cold blood.

They could rightly adk for the death penalty, but the cops and others wanted to put this hoodlum out of business.

With a certain conviction, a death penalty verdict would be subject to prolonged appeals, and make Brown another Mumia.

With life without parole, Brown was put out of business. He is irrelevant, and not a martyr. The same should have been done with Mumia and Tookie.

Bubo 12.01.05 at 11:28 am

In all this mess, I have only read one article (in the LA Times) with the story of the victim’s family. Someone should start up the website http://www.frytookie.com before it is too late.

Jack Tanner 12.01.05 at 1:26 pm

Thanks Dapney – there’s nothing like listening to some bleeding heart liberal guilt trip defender of a mass murdering sociopath.

steve 12.01.05 at 2:32 pm

ALL “Save the Tookie” people are pro abortion. If you don’t believe me, just asked one. This is one of the underlying truisms of the “liberalism is a mental disease” argument, i.e., being against capital punishment because,”life is precious”, but believing that terminating a child in utero is a “choice”.

V the K 12.01.05 at 2:42 pm

So, let’s see if I follow Dapney’s thought process here.

1. Dapney is an upper-middle class, middle-aged white guy who was aware of racism 40 years ago.

2. ??????????

3. Tookie and Mumia should not be executed for the cold-blooded murders they committed.

Dapney 12.01.05 at 3:46 pm

First off I am female. I am a menopausal mother, my daughter is 27 and my grand just turned 3 – a little girl. My thoughts on Tookie are that he is a murderer, period. But my thoughts on Capital Punishment are more along the lines of Joe Brucia’s, Carlie Brucia’s Dad.

Death is too sweet and too quick, big deal he will basically be put to sleep. I also believe God is an all loving and forgiving God and that we are in hell now – this is hell. So what do you all really think will happen when he passes over? Do you really think Satan/Lucifer/The Beast will be waiting to handcuff him and lead him away? I believe he will come before God and God will forgive him.

I like Joe Brucia’s idea of throwing them into the general prison population (especially Joseph Smith and Jennifer Lunsford’s killer) and making them ride the jail house roller coaster – always having to fight for survival and have to glance over their shoulders on a daily basis. On Death Row they are sequestered – big whoop! Tookie has been sitting in a cell playing chess, he hasn’t been in the general population in years.

There is a difference between justice and vengeance, the way he will die is hardly justice in my book…

cpt 12.01.05 at 4:00 pm

We need to apply the “Yossarian” method to Tookie. Tookie should be spared execution if he proves he’s been rehabilitated. How do we know if he’s rehabilitated? Because then he will acknowledge his crimes, and ask to be executed. I haven’t heard him say this, so he’s not rehabilitated, and should be executed.

Let’s review this, if he asks to be executed, then he’s rehabilitated, and should be eligible for consideration to have his life spared. If he asks not to be executed, then he’s not rehabilitated, and should be executed.

SR. Wumpus 12.01.05 at 5:41 pm

Why Tookie? Why not some woman or guy who was abused and killed their abuser? Tookie is the wrong case to have a hearing about the DP.

Dean 12.01.05 at 10:02 pm

Alright here’s my take.
If Tookie is rehabilitated, writes children’s books and a good follower of Islam, isn’t one of the first steps of asking forgiveness confessing one’s sins?
Another thing, if he is reformed, shouldn’t he accept the consequences of his actions?
So in the end, if he has accepted God as part of the Muslim religion, shouldn’t he be looking forward to the next part of his journey?
One more note: why is it that he dies with more compassion, than the lack of compassion he showed his victims?

shari 12.02.05 at 4:31 am

he says he is innocent . how can he be reformed if he is innocent.

Jack Tanner 12.02.05 at 10:34 am

‘I like Joe Brucia’s idea of throwing them into the general prison population (especially Joseph Smith and Jennifer Lunsford’s killer) and making them ride the jail house roller coaster – always having to fight for survival and have to glance over their shoulders on a daily basis.’

‘the way he will die is hardly justice in my book… ‘

Your knowledge of both the culture and practices at correctional facilities seems to be as warped as your social views. Tookie is a f’ing hero in jail and beating the reaper would only make him more so. Having him exposed to potential retribution would put the CPS in the same boat as Massachusetts is over the Geoghan murder by Joseph Druce.

Nick Byram 12.02.05 at 8:01 pm

Dapney, you are a dupe. If you really think that Tookie and Mumia don’t deserve to die because some of your neighbors were unpleasant toward black folks 40 years ago, then frankly you deserve to be raped and beaten by a gang of crips. And no, that WON’T be considered a “hate crime”, because of dupes like you. Just as Tookie’s murder of Asian motel operators wasn’t considered a hate crime, because of dupes like you.

Throwing Tookie into Gen Pop won’t kill him, because the crips ARE largely Gen Pop. Tookie in Gen Pop will run his gang nicely from the prison until he dies a very old man.

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