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Stanley Williams: Remember the Victims

Dawne Hendrix - 11/20/2005

Albert Owens. Thsai-Shai Yang. Yen-I-Yang. Yee Chen Lin. These are the victims of Stanley “Tookie” Williams, the California death row inmate scheduled to die in December. Interestingly enough, when perusing articles on Williams, there are very few that actually mention the names of his victims. Out of sight out of mind? Whether the omissions were intentional or not, it appears supporters of Williams have done this in hopes of decreasing the importance of the slain, and erasing memories as well, in their campaign to save him. But, even almost twenty-four years later, the deceased are still very important.

Williams was convicted of these murders in the early eighties, and since the early nineties and his awakening, he has written children’s books warning against the dangers of gangs while also being nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature. For these reasons, many of his supporters have turned over every leaf trying to save the inmate. While his efforts on death row have been commendable, does it necessarily negate the murders and his being the co-progenitor of the Crips in Los Angeles?

Depending on the type of shoes an individual walks in, the perspective of Williams’s case varies. An objective outsider whose family has not been affected by the loss of a loved one can easily wear shoes of forgiveness while it’s much more difficult to step into the boots of loved ones who don’t have another a moment or holiday to spend with their deceased relatives and seek justice. So, when the families of the victims request the sentence be carried out by the justice system, why have their feelings been silenced by supporters of the convict? For example, according to the LA Times, Lora Owens is not in support of clemency for Tookie because Williams refuses to take responsibility for the murders he was convicted of. Incidentally, part of the campaign relates to Williams’s pleas of innocence, as he refuses to publicly take responsibility for the deaths or his role in them. Another report on prodeathpenalty.com states Owen’s daughter, Rebecca Owens Vaul, also supports his execution because she simply wants the justice meted out by the state of California for her father’s death to be carried out. The only other voices joining these family members of the deceased Owens and Yangs are a few clergy, who cite biblical scripture as support for the death penalty, and California state officials who are actively blocking any attempts at a reprieve the government may give. All of their pleas are silenced, though, by the cacophony of protesters in favor of Williams’s appeal. Keeping in mind the victims’ relatives have lost twenty four birthdays, anniversaries, Christmas’s and Thanksgivings, not to mention the numerous milestones of watching their loved ones mature and live full lives, all the while having to watch Williams’s rise to celebrity via his “redemption.” One can only image the internal tumults and sickness the relatives and the prosecutors in charge of the cases have felt every time they have read about Williams’s supporters—some whose status weigh heavily in the Los Angeles community.

Many support Williams’s wish because they feel the work he’s done has overwhelmingly negated his crimes and his co-creation of mayhem in South and South Central Los Angeles. In looking at what Williams has co-created, one has to wonder whether his good deeds behind bars really mitigates a reprieve, as there are approximately 274 gangs that are apart of the Crip set. This is just in the Los Angeles and incorporated areas. To understand the impact of Williams in society, it’s important to scrutinize how his creation has impacted the people of these communities. In 1973, two years after the organization was reportedly started, the authorities identified 12,000 gang members, according to Beth Barrett and Phillip Browne, staff writers for Terror in Our Streets: A Special Report on Gang Violence in Southern California. In 2004, the same report lists the number of gang members at 57,000 in the Los Angeles, Ventura, and San Bernardino counties. In the abstract, these numbers may not have a huge impact on the human psyche. In reality, though, these numbers translate into neighborhoods, in some cases, so crime ridden that everyday people, who want to live safely and without the specter of crime, are held hostage by invisible boundaries that dictate life and death for those individuals daring to traverse these lines. The people who live in these neighborhoods, by the way, are no different to middle class dwellers whose desires are to raise their families in a safe and peaceful environment. I digress. The point that is being made is Williams has created one of the most prolific and dangerous gangs and that fact should not be ignored or forgotten.

For those sitting in their comfortable home in Santa Monica or some other liberal enclave or for those community activists showing support for Williams, it’s easy to pontificate on the evils of the justice system against minorities, and there are many cases that support these negative beliefs. One cannot deny this fact. However, this case does not seem to be one that is one of them. According to LA Times staff writer, Henry Weinstein, the lawyer for the convicted has exhausted all habeas corpus petitions. They have also had time to apply for access to the evidence necessary to exonerate Williams but they are only attempting to do so now. The justice system appears to have given his camp the time and opportunity to seek redress for his conviction. It appears as though “the system” has been very fair in allowing Williams a lot leeway while in prison. How many other convicted murderers would have the opportunity to be a Nobel Prize candidate?

Additionally, what does this say to the individuals who are apart of law enforcement and the criminal justice system? It says that the citizens of California do not trust the system or the people who are entrusted to enforce the law. It says the man-hours dedicated to close and try this case were meaningless. Shoot, why have a justice system? Yes, there are instances of abuse—but this doesn’t appear to be one of them. These protests undermine the justice system in every way because these protestors, in a sense, are saying that the police, the prosecutors, twelve jurors and appellate courts were wrong in their original decisions based on Williams’s present behavior.

And many of these same supporters would be up in arms if someone convicted of murder had committed the same crimes in their communities or against one of their loved ones and had asked for clemency. So why should this be acceptable for people who live in areas that are overwhelmingly impoverished and minority? The blind support these people have for Williams says a lot about the expectations many place on these neighborhoods. Believe it or not, there are a lot of people who live in poor neighborhoods and who grow up to be law-abiding citizens who contribute to the community in positive ways—but they rarely get the attention this case has garnered.

The death penalty is one of those punishments that will always galvanize both supporters and opponents. Ironically, both sides see the sanctity of life; the system seeks justice for the slain and death penalty opponents seek protection for lives lost to capital punishment. Both equally cherished. Should Williams die for his crimes? Should his good deeds erase the chaos he co-created? Who knows, but a couple of things are for sure: Communities where gangs have flourished have had difficulty in recovering from the scourge of the violence—that cannot be ignored. More importantly, though, the four deceased victims will never have the same opportunities in death that Williams has had in life, even as a death row inmate. Those lives lost by his hand were just as treasured and as cherished by their loved ones, as Williams’s would be if executed—this truth should not be forgotten.

Albert Owens. Thsai-Shai Yang. Yen-I-Yang. Yee Chen Lin. We should never forget the victims or their families.