West Coast Connection Forum
Lifestyle => Train of Thought => Topic started by: Wessia4LiaNia Chieee Chieee on December 23, 2005, 09:27:04 AM
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This is a long, but very very interesting reading. READ IT ALL THE WAY !
FOOD FOR THOUGHT IS BETTER THAN A MEAL{Farwell to Stanley Tookie Williams by KRS ONE}They killed the teacher! Said Snoop Dogg at the funeral services for Stanley Tookie Williams yesterday at the Bethel A.M.E. Church in Los Angeles. Rev. Jesse Jackson, Bruce Gordon, Minister Tony Muhammad, Stan Muhammad, Rev. Dr. Lewis E. Logan II, Minister Lewis Farrakhan and Tony Robbins all listened as Snoop Dogg brought the packed Church to its feet with a poem dedicated to Tookie entitled; Till We Meet Again.
One line that caught my attention was when Snoop said, food for thought is better than a meal. This phrase stuck with me because it reminded me of man may not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedth from the mouth of the lord and coming from Snoop showed a level of maturity that I wish his Girls Gon Wild, pimps up hoes down, gansta nigga audiences would adopt. And I am NOT being critical of Snoop at all!
Ive been watching Snoop settle his beefs with others, start programs in the hood for at risk youth, seek God and denounce gang-banging publicly. But this is my point. When has a man done enough to be called rehabilitated? What must one do to be actually free from past wrongs? When is a man truly forgiven? I arrived at the Bethel A.M.E. Church to a beautiful scene. Several blocks before we got to the Church helpful, pleasantly spoken, informative Black and Brown police officers were stationed at strategic corners directing traffic toward the Church. When we arrived at the Church we were greeted by the Fruit of Islam (F.O.I.) and escorted to the press balcony.
There was literally nowhere else to be. Even members of Stanley Tookie Williams family were in the press balcony! When this was discovered, Rev. Dr. Logan II requested that the first ten rows of people give up their seats to these additional members of the Williams family and everyone promptly did what was asked. The Church was so packed that many people were in another room outside of the main knave watching the proceedings on a huge flat screen television. When I walked into this room I saw Tookie on the screen saying, If a man must fight, let it be to the death against the beast within himself. Win that battle? No man, no woman, no racial hatred, no system, no vindictiveness, and no Machiavellianism can ever defeat you! And then he said on behalf of the children; teach them how to avoid our destructive foot steps. Teach them to strive for a higher education. Teach them to promote peace. And teach them to focus on rebuilding the neighborhoods that you, others and I helped to destroy. And I cant front, I was renewed even in my own spirit. To know that one of the most significant outlaw figures in modern American history went from criminal minded to spiritual minded gives all of us (especially those on the frontlines of ministry work, counseling, mentoring and rehabilitation work) hope in the transformation of the human heart. That our work is not done in vain.
I was totally impressed with the organization and security of the F.O.I. Hundreds of people was jammed in the Church with even more people outside trying to get in. Yet the Church and the whole block itself (Western Ave) was at peace. It was beautiful.But as beautiful as it was, the Church was still teeming with suspicion as to why a completely rehabilitated man could not be offered at least life in prison? How was Tookie (the co-founder of the famous street gang the Crips) who spent 24 years in prison, wrote nine anti-violence, anti-gang, anti-drug childrens books, received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from St. Moses the Black Theological Seminary, was nominated six times for the Nobel Peace Prize, and received the Presidential Call to Service Award from President George W. Bush for his volunteer efforts to help steer youth away from gang lifenot rehabilitated? Theres even an award winning movie starring Jamie Foxx entitled; Redemption: the Stan Tookie Williams Story that teaches the path of rehabilitation and forgiveness.
All of this, in addition to his website and phone mentoring of young people from prison, and let us not forget his plea of innocence, could not have granted this man a stay of execution. He had to die? He was that dangerous to society? Well, no one at the funeral thought so.Tookie is dead, said Rev. Jesse Jackson. We must kill the idea of killing to stop killing. Remembering his own prayer time with Tookie, Rev. Jackson quoted Tookie saying; I admit I was a predator upon my people. We were programmed to attack Black people. Whites were safe around us; I will not be killed for what I did do, but for what I didnt do. Id rather die than lie to get clemency. And the whole Church erupted in applause and cheering! It was like they were ALL used to this process of having to lie along with the police and the District Attorney in hopes of achieving lighter sentences or no jail time at all and Tookie represented that person that never snitched or sold out to the corruption of the Judicial system. Id rather die than lie for clemency seemed to resonate with everyone there dealing with an already proven to be corrupt California corrections/prison system.
As Rev. Jesse Jackson brought to mind the fact that Charles Manson who is responsible for killing pregnant Sharon Tate and seven others is still alive in California on death row and that President John F. Kennedys assassin is also still alive, I was reading some of Tookies own words of transformation in a booklet that was being handed out throughout the Church. One paragraph read; Its impossible for a discriminable mind to fathom the miraculous transition of a redeemed soul. Contrary to the popular misconception, redemption is not a biblical ethos, exclusive to saints, prophets, elitists or the holier-than-thou.
It is of earthly accessibility through human initiative. I aver that the process of being redeemed is available to any individual regardless of gender, race, color, creed, social stratum or background. Yes, even a wretched Black man, akin to the former me, can transform and be redeemed. As I read this, I couldnt help asking myself over and over again, did Tookie have to die? Did Tookie have to die? Did Stan Tookie Williams really have to die? Son, husband, father of two, grandfather of three, minister, changed man. Was there no other way to pay that debt back to society other than the execution of a transformed man who held on to his claim of innocence all the way to the end? Tookie had to die? I dont think so. However, I find myself at a peculiar cross road in American history.
First of all it should be clear to all that the title Department of Corrections is false. No one entering the prison industrial complex is being rehabilitated or rather corrected. With Tookies death it seems that no matter what you do to correct your past errors, the American justice system will still show you no mercy. Once a criminal, always a criminal.
Secondly, the idea of an Austrian born White man using the American legal system to murder a Louisiana born Black man just doesnt sit well with me. And I am not being selective or even prejudice here. But does Governor Schwarzenegger really know enough about American history, even African American history to have made a just decision on Stanley Tookie Williams life? Does Governor Schwarzeneggar care anything about the message he is sending throughout the African American community; especially to African American youths? Stanley Tookie Williams murder by the State also proves the powerlessness of the African American community and its leadership. But I wont get into that here.
Finally. In a time when Americas State and Federal agencies are being severely criticized for their seeming lack of care for the suffering of African Americans in wake of Hurricane Katrina, Governor Schwarzeneggar missed an important opportunity to restore African American hope in the Department of Corrections and America as a whole. While African Americans are dying by the dozen in Iraq, Tookies execution by the same regime African Americans are defending seems a little hypocriticaljustice wise. In a time of so much racial disunity and mass American despair due to mass unemployment, now might not be a good time for Americans to be murdering Americans legally or illegally.
Governor Schwarzeneggar could have set a new precedent for our time as Americans by turning away from violence and granting Stanley Tookie Williams clemency. But thats all over now. Violence wins again! Or did it? Tookie admitted his wrongs and paid the price of total transformation.
Before his execution he talked a lot about being redeemed meaning to recover ownership of something by paying a specified sum for it. In a spiritual sense; meaning to restore to wholeness, to be saved from a sinful state of being, to return to honor and self-worth, to be free from guilt. In his last moments on earth Tookie wrote; Here and now, I bear witness that Gods bequest of redemption has replenished me with a mission and revealed that the impossible is possible. This is a strong affirmation for us today. Stan Tookie Williams was murdered by the State of California on December 13th, 2005. We will miss you, teacher.KRS ONE...
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I am going to put this on the fanclub.........R.I.P to Tookie Williams 8) :'(
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KRS -One is a idiot.
He also has a humongous nose.
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eh..glorified criminal
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Great article. Krs-one is a very good writer. He had alot of great points. Can't see how anyone can refute what krs-one said in this article. I agree completely wit this...Propz.
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Another interesting thread, I'll post some comments later... props to WS4LN
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KRS -One is a idiot.
He also has a humongous nose.
You can't even write correctly in your own language and call KRS AN idiot? who's being idiot? at least you took your time to read the article?
Anyway, KRS got point. The thing is Tookie was judged for those 4 murders, not for his redemption. When you're being judged they never let your qualities to come out, because that can influence the verdict...Tookie was one of the very few criminals who found God and reached for forgiveness, he fought against his old ego, his old bad habbits because he knew how destructive his actions were... I mean, is like this-show me the disorder before I put my self in order- I can't do good, If I don't know the meaning of bad...(that doesn't include the fact that you have to do wrong half of life, and after do right..)
Let's hope people will learn more from the Crips founder...more from his 2nd half of life !
R.I.P
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He also has a humongous nose.
and your polish ass likes it when your father packs your shit but that´s not what this article is about.....
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Why doesn't KRS One talk about the 37 white men executed this year. A 77 year old man was executed just after Tookie was. Some of these men had better cases than Tookie but no one rallied for them. One man, Shawn Humphries, took a shot at an armed man in haste and left others to live and repented on his death bed. Another man even gave up his partners in crime but was still executed. Fuck KRS ONE for claiming to fight racism when infact he fights for racism.
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Why doesn't KRS One talk about the 37 white men executed this year. A 77 year old man was executed just after Tookie was. Some of these men had better cases than Tookie but no one rallied for them. One man, Shawn Humphries, took a shot at an armed man in haste and left others to live and repented on his death bed. Another man even gave up his partners in crime but was still executed. Fuck KRS ONE for claiming to fight racism when infact he fights for racism.
Because it is not politically correct. No one cares when a white man is executed.
Do you honestly think any of those protestors at the Tookie execution would show up to protest the death of a white criminal? Of course not.
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The ones that actually do care about the death penalty would protest. The ones that were there promoting their radical ideas were just there knowing that they would get some sort of attention.
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Fuck KRS ONE for claiming to fight racism when infact he fights for racism.
That's an awesome sentence
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what some people fail to undertsand is that tookie was not enitely reformed, he was still commanding toops inside prison, and in fact had been involved in skirmishes over gang shit. he still up to the point of his death would not admit nor apologize for his crimes, and in the end had simply gone thru the motions of a reformed man. Whether people don't realize this, or simply choose to ignore it is beyond me, I dont know. What I do know, is the man is dead, and he was not a hero or a martyr, and morally uperior liberals can contest my viewpoint all day long, but the facts remain.
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The ones that actually do care about the death penalty would protest. The ones that were there promoting their radical ideas were just there knowing that they would get some sort of attention.
That is the thing. It is one thing to protest if you don't agree with the death penalty. I can respect that.
What I can't respect is people who treat Tookie Williams like he was Mother Theresa.
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The ones that actually do care about the death penalty would protest. The ones that were there promoting their radical ideas were just there knowing that they would get some sort of attention.
That is the thing. It is one thing to protest if you don't agree with the death penalty. I can respect that.
What I can't respect is people who treat Tookie Williams like he was Mother Theresa.
Yeah when it gets to that point its annoying.
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KRS -One is a idiot.
He also has a humongous nose.
CWalker, I know you're from Poland and all... but in the English language we use "an" before a noun that begins with a vowel. Either learn our language, or get the fuck out of our country, you fucking Polack.
Also, weren't you complaining about porn with black guys in it because you don't measure up? Does talking about his "big nose" make you feel better about your own insecurities?
And before you ask... yes, we're all obsessed with you.
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Why doesn't KRS One talk about the 37 white men executed this year. A 77 year old man was executed just after Tookie was. Some of these men had better cases than Tookie but no one rallied for them. One man, Shawn Humphries, took a shot at an armed man in haste and left others to live and repented on his death bed. Another man even gave up his partners in crime but was still executed. Fuck KRS ONE for claiming to fight racism when infact he fights for racism.
First of all Tookie was a High profile case in Los Angeles The 2nd largest city in America, 2nd of all Tookie was a former leader in the Crip Gang one of the largest Gangs in America, 3rd off Tookie renounced his Crip affilation, and was more than likely set up by the LAPD one of the MOST CORRUPT police departments in America, 4th off Tookie had a motion picture made about his turn around in prison which made this even more high profile. THIS IS WHY PEOPLE RALLIED FOR TOOKIE. I say FUCK THE DEATH PENALTY FOR WHITE/BLACK/LATINO/WHATEVER! Yall white boys kill me always crying reverse racism to hide your own racism.
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Racism in Amerika :o thanks KRS-1.
Stop killing people and you having nothing to worry about it.
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Why doesn't KRS One talk about the 37 white men executed this year. A 77 year old man was executed just after Tookie was. Some of these men had better cases than Tookie but no one rallied for them. One man, Shawn Humphries, took a shot at an armed man in haste and left others to live and repented on his death bed. Another man even gave up his partners in crime but was still executed. Fuck KRS ONE for claiming to fight racism when infact he fights for racism.
First of all Tookie was a High profile case in Los Angeles The 2nd largest city in America, 2nd of all Tookie was a former leader in the Crip Gang one of the largest Gangs in America, 3rd off Tookie renounced his Crip affilation, and was more than likely set up by the LAPD one of the MOST CORRUPT police departments in America, 4th off Tookie had a motion picture made about his turn around in prison which made this even more high profile. THIS IS WHY PEOPLE RALLIED FOR TOOKIE. I say FUCK THE DEATH PENALTY FOR WHITE/BLACK/LATINO/WHATEVER! Yall white boys kill me always crying reverse racism to hide your own racism.
I'm not crying reverse racism. I'm stating blatant racism. I agree that most people jumped on bandwagon after the case was brought to light, but for a self proclaimed educated man like KRS to completely ignore the whole picture makes him no better than those he is standing against.
And don't give me that white boy shit. My ancestory was enslaved for more years than any black in america. You calling me a racist is also with out any merit. I called KRS on it because I expect more from him and I had just cause to call him on it because what he was saying was ignorant. You painted your own picture of me as some aryan anglo american who's trying to turn things around to make himself feel better. I am not racist and I also feel no guilt what so ever for what happened top any black in American history because I have no ties to it at all. You have no evidence to support otherwise and you're acting out of your own stupidity, and racism. You see because saying something like "Yall white boys kill me always crying reverse racism to hide your own racism" is no different than anything that comes out of Cwalker's posts.
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Why doesn't KRS One talk about the 37 white men executed this year. A 77 year old man was executed just after Tookie was. Some of these men had better cases than Tookie but no one rallied for them. One man, Shawn Humphries, took a shot at an armed man in haste and left others to live and repented on his death bed. Another man even gave up his partners in crime but was still executed. Fuck KRS ONE for claiming to fight racism when infact he fights for racism.
First of all Tookie was a High profile case in Los Angeles The 2nd largest city in America, 2nd of all Tookie was a former leader in the Crip Gang one of the largest Gangs in America, 3rd off Tookie renounced his Crip affilation, and was more than likely set up by the LAPD one of the MOST CORRUPT police departments in America, 4th off Tookie had a motion picture made about his turn around in prison which made this even more high profile. THIS IS WHY PEOPLE RALLIED FOR TOOKIE. I say FUCK THE DEATH PENALTY FOR WHITE/BLACK/LATINO/WHATEVER! Yall white boys kill me always crying reverse racism to hide your own racism.
I'm not crying reverse racism. I'm stating blatant racism. I agree that most people jumped on bandwagon after the case was brought to light, but for a self proclaimed educated man like KRS to completely ignore the whole picture makes him no better than those he is standing against.
And don't give me that white boy shit. My ancestory was enslaved for more years than any black in america. You calling me a racist is also with out any merit. I called KRS on it because I expect more from him and I had just cause to call him on it because what he was saying was ignorant. You painted your own picture of me as some aryan anglo american who's trying to turn things around to make himself feel better. I am not racist and I also feel no guilt what so ever for what happened top any black in American history because I have no ties to it at all. You have no evidence to support otherwise and you're acting out of your own stupidity, and racism. You see because saying something like "Yall white boys kill me always crying reverse racism to hide your own racism" is no different than anything that comes out of Cwalker's posts.
First off Racism is not JUST an American thing. Most of Europe benifited from the slave trade and even Canada had slavery at one point. One of the main reasons for racism is ECONOMIC and AFRICA has more natural resources than any other continenant, so in order for the Rich (not all white) to continue to exploit the diamonds, gold, copper, cobalt steel, oil, YELLOW CAKE needed to make nuclear weapons, rubber, platinum, chromium, ferroalloy, coal and petroleum, the RICH have to scapegoat and subjugate blacks to deflect the fact that they are still getting paid off of Africas back.
All people have been enslaved at one time which is wrong, but Blacks were enslaved by another race of people whos leaders fooled the common folk into believing that blacks were not even human beings, and who were not even fully free until 1967
Im not stupid and racist. the only reson Isaid what I said is because KRS 1 didnt say shit racist about white people in his post, You just went off for no reason (which made you sound racist to me). If some white man was on death row and some people white OR black was helping him I appaud that I aint no HATER of any kind dude. Im not even replying to that CWalker buulllshiit!
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I know all the facts of the slave and who benefitted off it. What I said was it has nothing to do with me or my ancestory. During the years that Portugal started enslaving blacks, my ancestors in Greece were being taken over and enslaved by Turkish Muslims. Greece was taken over from the mid 1400s to the early 1800s. That's 400 years. And even then there was a large part of Greece that was never taken back. So you see, when blacks were slaves, so were my ancestors. Any greek that wasn't a slave wasa second class peasant, unless they wanted to convert to Islam. Most didn't, but the religion and language was still forced on them.
KRS was racist when he ignored the white criminals sentenced to death. When you ignore a race you are being racist. And when you generalized "white boys" and how they think, you were being racist.
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I know all the facts of the slave and who benefitted off it. What I said was it has nothing to do with me or my ancestory. During the years that Portugal started enslaving blacks, my ancestors in Greece were being taken over and enslaved by Turkish Muslims. Greece was taken over from the mid 1400s to the early 1800s. That's 400 years. And even then there was a large part of Greece that was never taken back. So you see, when blacks were slaves, so were my ancestors. Any greek that wasn't a slave wasa second class peasant, unless they wanted to convert to Islam. Most didn't, but the religion and language was still forced on them.
KRS was racist when he ignored the white criminals sentenced to death. When you ignore a race you are being racist. And when you generalized "white boys" and how they think, you were being racist.
HE WAS WRITING AN ARTICLE BASED ON TOOKIE NOT ON EVERYONE ON DEATH ROW!
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I know all the facts of the slave and who benefitted off it. What I said was it has nothing to do with me or my ancestory. During the years that Portugal started enslaving blacks, my ancestors in Greece were being taken over and enslaved by Turkish Muslims. Greece was taken over from the mid 1400s to the early 1800s. That's 400 years. And even then there was a large part of Greece that was never taken back. So you see, when blacks were slaves, so were my ancestors. Any greek that wasn't a slave wasa second class peasant, unless they wanted to convert to Islam. Most didn't, but the religion and language was still forced on them.
KRS was racist when he ignored the white criminals sentenced to death. When you ignore a race you are being racist. And when you generalized "white boys" and how they think, you were being racist.
HE WAS WRITING AN ARTICLE BASED ON TOOKIE NOT ON EVERYONE ON DEATH ROW!
That response makes no sense. Because you are writing about one thing and the factors around it you have the right to ignore other similar that prove those factors to be false. Where was Kris all this year when the other 50 or so men that were executed were getting killed. I find it all too convenient that KRS just so happens to show up now when a high profile black man is being executed and use examples of whites beating the system, but failing to mention the 36 white men that were executed this year. It's like writing about how great it was in the 50s with the low crime rate, family friendly media, and neighbourly attitudes, and failing to mention that blacks were second class citzens. It's your job as a writer to get your point across, but it's your duty as a human being to tell the whole story. Unfortunately this rarely happens and most don't follow that rule but just because people get away with it doesn't make it right for someone else to do it, because it was never right in the first place.
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fuck krs-one
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KRS -One is a idiot.
He also has a humongous nose.
SHUT THE FUCK UP MAN . Knowledge reign supreme over nearly everybody, includding you FAGGOT
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I personally believe in the death penalty, some crimes are so horrendous that they warrant a death. In defence of the Governator: when considering William's philanthropic work and his impact on American society and along with the scope of his crimes, it is a very hard morale decision to make whether he lives or dies.
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fuck krs-one
soccer is gay
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Well, to me, KRS-One is one of those semi-intellectual people who believe they have access to the deepest pits and most secret passages in the mines of wisdom,while they've only been in the first tunnel.