Capital Punishment - A Black Penalty & Prisons are Big Business in America

By Donna J. Warren

Stanley "Tookie" Williams - America's Strange Fruit

Neither does America.

In a CNN poll, 65% of the respondents said Stanley "Tookie" Williams, co-founder of the Crips street gang and convicted murderer, must die. Why do they want Williams executed? Is it because he was convicted of murdering 4 people by a lily white, kangaroo court? Or is it because he has spent the last 15 years of his life fighting gangs, reducing crime, and saving black lives?

If the former, then why aren't more white serial killers sentenced to death? Was Williams' lily white jury incensed that the names of the victims were Albert Owens, Yen-I Yang, Tsai-Shai Yang and Ye Chen Lin? Maybe "Albert Owens," but America has no problem with the deaths of Asians. If so, America would show remorse over killing 2,000,000 Vietnamese during the war, and dropping the A Bomb on hundreds of thousands at Nagasaki and Hiroshima. They said Williams should pay for the crimes of his old street gang. But Williams did not make the Crips. Thomas Jefferson did. Slums and tenements unfit for human beings did; rat-infested schools did; nonexistent health care did. America needs the Crips as much as it needs Al Qaida, to maintain the moloch of the prison industrial complex. Prison guards, judges, police, lawyers, and counselors all need to get paid like an East Hollywood whore.

They said Williams is not remorseful for the killings. What kind of fool is remorseful for killings he didn't do? San Quentin prison spokesman Vernell Crittendon wanted Williams to inform on former gang members. But informing on gang members would "rip my dignity out of my chest," Williams said, and I agree. Only a liar admits remorse for something he did not do; only unprincipled cowards like Crittendon snitch.

Crittendon said he suspects that Williams "firmly entrenched himself as the leader of the Crips at San Quentin, wielding power as his lieutenants and other minions were dispatched to carry out his objectives". From deep within recesses forged of steel, hidden from the outside world, this man of power conducts operations, sending his soldiers far and wide to commit crimes against innocents, reaping the pecuniary benefits all the while. No wonder so many people around the world fear him and the organization he leads. No wonder so many people want him tried for his crimes. But this essay isn't about Dick Cheney. Daniel Vasquez, warden at San Quentin from 1983 to 1993, said the criticism of Williams was "like corrections trying to drum up business for death row". Crittendon's allegations were removed from the corrections department website one day later.

Stanley "Tookie" Williams had an amazing intellect, a voice so strong that he did what our government failed to do+make a difference in the lives of children left to rot, without healthcare, a decent education, or even parents to raise them, from the streets of LA to the waterways of La. (where black babies float in putrid water and thousands of people are still unaccounted for).

We pretend we want to save these children from gang life, but putting Williams to death exposed our pretensions for the lies they really are. Murdering Williams condemned thousands of ghetto blacks to the death pit of gang life. Citing his contempt for "Nelson Mandela, Angela Davis, Malcolm X, Assata Shakur, Geronimo ji jaga Pratt, Ramona Africa, John Africa, Leonard Peltier, Dhoruba Al-Mujahid, George Jackson, Mumia Abu-Jamal, and the countless other men, women, and youths who have to endure the hellish oppression of living behind bars", the governor refused to stay the execution of Tookie in San Quentin's death chamber.

When Tookie died, we lost a voice that spoke to our children in ways we could not. When the prison system kills, we all kill and no amount of money, friends or position will be able to save our immortal souls.

If you think prisons are not big business in America, check out CORRECTIONS CORPORATION OF AMERICA's position on "competition" where inmates are inventory.

Competition The correctional and detention facilities we operate and manage, as well as those facilities we own but are managed by other operators, are subject to competition for inmates from other private prison managers. We compete primarily on the basis of cost, the quality and range of services offered, our experience in the operation and management of correctional and detention facilities and our reputation. We compete with government agencies that are responsible for correctional facilities and a number of privatized correctional service companies, including, but not limited to, the GEO Group, Inc., Cornell Companies, Inc, and Management and Training Corporation. We also compete in some markets with small local companies that may have a better knowledge of the local conditions and may be better able to gain political and public acceptance. Other potential competitors may in the future enter into businesses competitive with us without a substantial capital investment or prior experience. Competition by other companies may adversely affect the number of inmates at our facilities, which could have a material adverse effect on the operating revenue of our facilities. In addition, revenue derived from our facilities will be affected by a number of factors, including the demand for inmate beds, general economic conditions, and the age of the general population.

Source: http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1070985/000095014406001892/g99938e10vk.htm

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