From Pensito Review
"Took die, the city fry,"
Rage redux: The LA Weekly reports that the word is out in the "gangosphere" that if Crips founder Tookie Williams is executed on Dec. 13, angry mobs are set to riot once again in Los Angeles."Took die, the city fry," said Raymond "The Hatchet Man" Locket, a member of the West Side Harlem Crips, who says he knew Tookie back in the day. "That’s the word on the streets."
Having lived through the riots in Los Angeles after the Rodney King verdict in 1992 as well as the Northridge earthquake in 1994 (and many, many others), I personally will take a 6.9 quake over rioting any day of the week.
The '92 riots showed how vulnerable a city can be to an angry mob. Our Thin Blue Line was decimated. After purposefully allowing the violence to escalate overnight on April 29, when Chief Darryl Gates finally deployed the police the next morning, the LAPD was massively outnumbered by looters and malcontents. Firefighters were hampered from saving lives and property by people firing weapons at them.It took Gov. Wilson 72 hours to get the California National Guard onto the scene, and even then, the soldiers discovered they lacked ammunition for their weapons. (Is this starting to sound familiar?)
It is hard to imagine that the city will once again erupt into violence if Williams is executed, but then again, no one took the signs seriously that there would be riots after the King verdict.
I'm personally opposed to the death penalty (it doesn't work as a deterrent, and I'm squeamish about society being in the business of exacting bloodthirsty revenge) but fear of rioting should not stop this execution.
Which is not to say that it shouldn't be stopped. Williams has steadfastly denied being guilty of the crimes he was convicted for. Moreover, he's done his best to make the best out of his life in prison.
And, in fact, Williams has one last chance, and that chance lies with the governor of California. Could there be a more bizarre scenario than having a lunkhead like Arnold Schwarzenegger in the position of deciding whether someone lives or dies? Leaving aside the merits of the case, that is exactly the position Williams is in. He will have a face to face hearing with the governor on Dec. 8.
Marc Cooper estimates the chances that Arnold will grant clemency for Tookie at about 40 percent - and he rightly points out that if Williams were facing Schwarzenegger's Democratic predecessor, Gray Davis, the chance would have been well below zero. Davis took law and order very serious. In fact, in 286 cases in which a parole board had recommended release of prisoners, Davis turned down 100 percent.
Williams was a founder of the Westside Crips, and, as mentioned, he denies that he was involved in the cold-blooded murders of Albert Owens, during a robbery at a 7-Eleven store, and of motel owners Yen-I Yang and Tsai-Shai Chen Yang and their daughter Yu-Chin Yang Lin, at the Brookhaven Motel in South-Central Los Angeles, on February 27, 1979.
He has also spent his time in prison productively. He’s the author of several children's books that encourage kids to avoid gang life and violence and has even been nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize.
Of course, Tookie Williams' deeds and misdeeds will mean little this governor. He will make the decision based entirely on political considerations, a factor that may spare Tookie Williams' life.
At this point, Schwarzenegger is desperate to regain support among independents. To do this, he appears to be on a path of abandoning the few supporters he currently has, who are all on the extreme right.
Arnold (and his eternally misguided staff and advisers, including his Democratic wife) could well make the political calculation that sparing Tookie might please independents and liberals. If so, the governor will grant clemency to Williams in order to further his own political goals.
On the other hand, if Schwarzenegger denies clemency, we will see if the passions exist in the vast flatlands of South Los Angeles to bring turmoil down onto our heads once again - one week before Christmas.
