Petition to Save Tookie Williams

[IndianaGreen]

Greetings to all the DUers in the California Forum!

The following is from an e-mail alert making the rounds:

IN A MATTER OF DAYS on December 13th, Stan Tookie Williams is scheduled to be
executed by the State of California! He is innocent. All African Americans were
barred from his jury by the prosecutor, and the witnesses against him received
sentence reductions or dropping of charges in exchange for their testimony. Stan
is revered for his outreach to youth on avoiding gang violence, and has been
nominated for four Nobel Peace and Literature prizes.

I have just sent URGENT FINAL APPEAL messages to California Governor
Schwarzenegger, President Bush, the California congressional delegation and my
congressional delegation saying "STOP THE EXECUTION OF STAN TOOKIE WILLIAMS
NOW!" through the International Action Center's STAN TOOKIE WILLIAMS CAMPAIGN.

Please take the time to do the same by clicking on the link at the bottom of
this email message.

Thanks!


http://www.iacenter.org/tookiewilliamscampaign.shtml

Subject: Petition to Save Tookie Williams

Dear Friends,

I am writing to please ask you to sign a petition asking for clemency
for Stan Tookie Williams, scheduled to be executed by the State of
California on Tuesday, December 13th, 2005. The petition can be signed
at: http://www.iacenter.org/tookiewilliamscampaign.shtml.

As Gov. Arnold Schwartzenegger dallies trying to figure out which way
he'll gain the most votes, either by murdering a man or letting him
live, the day assigned for Tookie Williams' death draws very close.

Stan Tookie Williams was a leader of the Crips Gang in California. He is
being murdered by the State of California due to his false conviction
for murder. No physical evidence linked him to the crime. The prosecutor
used blatantly racist tactics to win the conviction and the death
sentence.

While incarcerated Tookie Williams has written a number of children's
books aimed at ending youth and gang violence. He's been nominated for
the Nobel Prize for his work.

In any case, the death penalty in the USA is racist and cruel in its
implementation, and immoral and wrong in its existence. All other
western nations have outlawed the death penalty. Only the United States
continues with this particularly cruel, indefensible, and unusual
punishment. The death penalty should be outlawed in the United States.

While the families of the people who were murdered call for Tookies
murder, the criminal justice system does not nor should it exist to
assuage the need for revenge by anyone. The criminal justice system
exists as the means of physical oppression against those in this country
who would rise up to demand an end to the exploitation and abuse we
suffer at the hands of the wealthy. It is racist and anti-working class
from top to bottom and no one should be killed for being caught up in
its powerful hands. At its best, the criminal justice system exists to
protect society from harm, not to exact revenge.

Revenge is not a worthy response to the sadness and grief of such a deep
loss as the murder of loved ones. I would have wished for the sake of
the living who cared for them that the mourners would have risen, as
many have, beyond the grief of revenge to the grief of forgiveness and
celebration of life.

Please take a few moments to sign the petition mentioned at the top of
this email and help to influence whether Stan Tookie Williams lives or
dies.

In unity and struggle