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FinalCall.com News
National News
Gang leader becomes peace broker
By David Muhammad
Updated Apr 12, 2004 - 10:15:00 AM
LOS ANGELES (FinalCall.com) - The author of nine children's books promoting peace, a man who says he has dedicated his life to helping youth, and a Nobel Peace Prize nominee whose life has been made into a movie starring Jamie Foxx, is second in line to be executed by the State of California.
Stanley "Tookie" Williams has been on death row in San Quentin for 23 years. The co-founder of the notorious Crips street gang, Mr. Williams transformed his life during a six-year stint in solitary confinement. Mr. Williams, who admits and apologizes for his part in creating the Crips, maintains his innocence in the crimes that sent him to death row—the murders of four people during two robberies that netted $120.
"I apologize to you all, 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," writes Mr. Williams, in a formal apology for co-founding the Crips. "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."
Mr. Williams started the Crips in 1971, when he was 16, with Raymond Lee Washington, who was killed by a rival gang member in 1979, the same year Mr. Williams went to jail.
On April 11, Fox's FX network aired, "Redemption," the made-for-television movie starring Jamie Foxx and Lynn Whitfield.
The movie tells the exhilarating story of a boy from the South who moves to Los Angeles and, to protect his neighborhood, unites several smaller gangs into the Crips. Known as Tookie, Mr. Williams becomes the King of the Crips. He maintains his reign over the gang while incarcerated until he is sent to solitary confinement for six years.
While in the "hole," Mr. Williams begins reading, praying, studying words, history, and politics. He then meets a writer working on a book about gangs. Barbara Becnel, played by Ms. Whitfield, begins visiting Tookie and agrees to help him write children's books and get messages out to gangbangers in Los Angeles, which helps create truces.
Ms. Becnel's life was transformed as well, she co-wrote the children's books with Mr. Williams, began working with inner-city youth and became the Executive Director of a non-profit agency serving youth and seniors in Richmond, California.
Ms. Becnel, who was a co-producer of the movie, worked with FX for the past three years to create the film that has already been showcased at the Sundance Film Festival and the Pan African Film Festival.
"Stan had the courage to embrace humanity in the most inhumane of circumstances," said Ms. Becnel during a star-studded premiere of the movie at Fox Studios here. She says she decided to work closely with Mr. Williams after she witnessed a room full of 400 gangbangers watch a taped message of his.
"They gave him a standing ovation, some with tears in their eyes," said Ms. Becnel. Mr. Williams' message helped spark a gang truce between Crips and Bloods.
After the premiere, Ms. Becnel played a recently taped address by Mr. Williams.
"I hope that the redemption motif of the film will shatter the inveterated myth that a person on death row can't be redeemed," said Mr. Williams. "Even the most wretched of humanity can change for the better."
Mr. Williams' books and messages on his website [www.tookie.com] have reached children all over America and in many other countries, including South Africa, Japan and England. In 2000, Mr. Williams was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.
"To get to real change, you have to have systems in place. Then, you put a powerful voice with that system and you get the result," said Hall of Fame athlete and actor Jim Brown, who founded Amer-I-Can, a gang intervention program.
"We have worked for years to put a system in place and have now joined forces with the powerful voice of Stanley Williams," said Mr. Brown, who recently visited with Mr. Williams for three hours on death row. "Tookie is brilliant and has a fantastic spirit."
