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As is his wish, let’s use the life story of Stan "Tookie" Williams to educate our young people about the realities and dangers of the street life. Williams, perhaps recent history’s most famous symbol of the debate on capital punishment, never had the opportunity to realize his full potential. Founder of the Crips street gang, Williams was convicted of killing four people and ended up on death row by the time he was in his mid-twenties. If he’d have been given the proper guidance as a young man when he first began to get in trouble with the law, Williams could have positively tapped into his natural abilities as a leader. Williams’s story has shed light on the criminal justice system’s unwillingness to rehabilitate offenders or recognize those who have reformed themselves.
This "lock them up and throw away the key" mentality has touched every area of the system; according to a report released by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, there are 2,225 child offenders serving life sentences in 42 states in this country. In most cases, the accused killed someone. However, about 25-percent of those locked away didn’t commit the murder they were charged with. They were participating in a robbery or burglary that turned violent, but someone else committed the actual murder. In many states across the country, being at the scene of the murder is comparable to committing one and sentences are handed out accordingly. The government would like us to believe that these offenders are not children, but "animals" that deserve to be put away for life. But about 60-percent of the juveniles serving life sentences are first time offenders.
To be fair, some crimes deserve a stiff sentence. But others involve special sets of circumstances that should be considered during sentencing.
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Many of these young people can be saved; letting them waste away in prison does very little to increase overall public safety, costs billions in tax dollars and destroys communities. The community hardest hit by these sentences is ours; about 55-percent of juvenile offenders doing life are Black males. Our young men and boys are sentenced to life in prison at alarming and disproportionate rates. If this disturbing trend continues, Black males will continue to dwindle in number and the African-American community will continue to suffer.
Williams has detailed his experiences in several books, among them Blue Rage, Black Redemption, Life in Prison, Gangs and the Abuse of Power. He also issued his "Protocol for Peace" in an attempt to put an end to senseless street gang violence. Williams’s books would make perfect holiday gifts for any at-risk young person--he has a street credibility that parents, teachers, and youth counselors just don’t often have. Because of this, his messages are much more likely to get through to troubled teens.
As a community, we need to take the interest our young people have demonstrated in Williams’s case and use it to fully engage them in the political process. With their passions ignited, we can then educate them on the pressing social and political issues of the day and encourage them to exercise their right to vote. The only way these ‘one size fits all" laws can be changed and the disparities in the justice system can be abolished is if all of our citizens raise their voices in protest.
Editor’s note: Judge Greg Mathis is Chairman of the Rainbow PUSH-Excel Board and a National Board Member of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. |
