Death penalty opponents gathered on Library Mall Monday night for a candlelit vigil in support of Stanley 'Tookie' Williams, a co-founder of the Crips gang in California.
Williams was convicted of murder and sentenced to death in 1981. Speakers at the vigil said his trial was based largely on inconclusive evidence and the testimony of informants facing imprisonment. His struggle has come to represent racial inequality for death row inmates.
While on death row, Williams published nine children's books about the evils of gang life. He received the President's Call to Service Award and has been nominated five times for the Nobel Peace Prize. Williams' execution date is set for Dec. 13, 2005. Coalition Against Legal Lynching, a UW-Madison student organization, hosted the vigil to support his cause.
'What kind of message is that sending to people that are trying to change their life around'? asked CALL member Cory Sims. 'It says no matter how hard you try to turn your life around, you will never be able to change what you've done in the past.'
CALL plans to host meetings, movie screenings and a benefit concert to raise awareness of Williams' struggle. Their next meeting is posted on the Today in the Union schedule.
CALL is collecting signatures for a petition asking California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to grant Williams clemency. Mayor Dave Cieslewicz was the first to sign this petition.
'Wisconsin hasn't had the death penalty in over 150 years, and our murder rate is lower than every state enforcing it,' Cieslewicz said. 'I don't just think that it doesn't work, I actually think the death penalty leads to more violence. It says that we're going to sanction violence on behalf of everyone in that state.'
CALL member Laura Nelson said she blamed the racism in today's legal system for Williams' death sentence. Nelson said that crack possession has harsher consequences than cocaine because it is associated with African-Americans.
'We are shoving black men into prison,' Nelson said. 'If you are black, you are more likely to go to prison than you are to go to college.'
