Tookie.

Stanley "Tookie" Williams is an early leader of the notorious Los angeles gang called Crips.The Crips is one of the oldest and most notorious gangs in America.Gang members identify themselves by wearing the colour blue.Crips have a notable number of well-known rappers as their members and this includes :

• Brotha Lynch Hung
• Kurupt
• Eazy-E
• MC Eiht
• Snoop Dogg
• Warren G
• Daz Dillinger
• Nate Dogg
• Spider Loc
• WC
• Jayo Felony
• Xzibit

Stanley "Tookie" Williams was sentenced to death in 1981 for the 1979 murders of Albert Owens, Yen-Yi Yang, Tsai-Shai Lin, and Yee-Chen Lin in two separate incidents.

In prison,Williams maintained his innocence and refused to aid police investigations with any information against his gang. He was also involved in attacks on guards and other inmates as well as multiple escape plots.

However in 1993,a drastic change in behaviour took over Tookie.He renounced his affiliation with the Crips which he co-founded and became a prominent anti-gang activist.He also co-wrote children's books and joined in efforts to prevent youths from joining gangs. However he still refused to assist the police in anti-gang investigations.

The governor of California formerly well-known action movie actor Arnold Schwarzenneger denied clemency to the supposedly reformed Tookie in the days leading up to his execution. His action drew angry responses from the public and this undermined his status as a new governor in the eyes of several residents around the area.

On December 13 2005, Tookie was executed via lethal injection shrouded by debate whether his anti-gang advocacy in prison represented his atonement for his past wrongdoings.His funeral drew a wide variety of people from current gang members to celebrities and religious leaders.



Well-known rapper Snoop Dogg a Crips gang member recited a poem to mourners about the execution:

It's nine-fifteen on twelve-thirteen and another black king will be taken from the scene.



Tookie was nominated for the Nobel peace prize from 2001-2005. Nominations came from Mario Fehr a member of the Swiss parliament and also from Notre Dame de Namur Philosophy and Religion Professor Phil Gasper. He was also nominated for Nobel prize in Literature by a Brown university Professor of English Literature.

December 13 2005, is a sad day for a lot of people.Personally for me,the state nor the government of any country, cannot take the life of another human being whether that person have reformed and atoned for his sins or not.

May God bless the souls of those executed and those who execute.