Tuesday, December 13, 2005
On the Execution of Tookie Williams
My feeling is that the nature of Williams' crimes deserved the strongest penalty under state law.
I do believe it's in the state's jurisdiction to protect the citizens from predatory peeople who do heinous activities as best as the state sees fit. I do have problems with the vengeance factor, because I don't believe it corrects any balance there (how do you make restitution for the lives screwed up by acts of violence? Impossible. These things have happened in my family, and I am here dealing with the results, so I know what I am talking about - it's not a matter of mere idealism on my part.) I believe wholeheartedly in the protective factor.
But I have some iffy feelings about the death penalty per se, as it is used in America, especially when there are adequate lockup facilities, because, in part, I have heard of too many cases of people convicted wrongly. This is based somewhat on my respect for life, and a point that I have come to in my Christian walk.
I certainly think the gloating and glorying over the death of any person, no matter what they've done, is a spiritual sadness. The need to protect society is the state's job. The need to glory in the death of others, even when they're people like Ted Bundy, still doesn't cure anything, restore anything, heal anything. The death may mark a sense of justice served, a marker in the sand that these events are now concluded, and in that way, might let the injured parties get on with their life, but none of this will ever fill the pain, make restitution for the loss, heal the emptiness.
Mr. Williams has left us a bad legacy. The grief caused by the presense of the Crips in the country is still here. The people who want to use his execution as a martyrdom of how the white establishment keeps poor and black people down have an easy image to manipulate for the future. The gaps in people's lives caused by what he did and what he started are still there and will not go away.
I am reminded of a line from Zorba the Greek, that went something like: If it's always an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, the whole world would go around blind and toothless. I get the feeling that although the State of California has put the threat of Williams doing any more damage with his life to rest, that the threat of what he will be able to accomplish after his death is still there. The devil is winning both ways.
Sigh. The best we can do is say, "Look at his victims. Why should we tolerate living with people who cause so much pain? What can we do to make it not happen? What can we do that will have the real effect of stopping it?"
I don't think the answer is in more welfare-state programs, or playing the race card, or preaching vengeance or hatred or saying us vs. them. I suspect that the answer lies in each of us who believe walking the Christian walk the way we are called to, taking responsibility for what is ours, and taking our stance against moral relativism. How important it is for each and every one to work hard at doing the right thing, the just thing, the fair thing, the merciful thing as often as possible, and not putting up with the darkness as much as we do in the name of tolerance, or fear or indifference.
My thoughts today run in a dirge for the series of cause and effect connections that lead to the moment of maximum penalty, and its afteraffects, often in a crescendoing spiral of misery.
Lord have mercy,
Christ have mercy,
Lord have mercy.
My feeling is that the nature of Williams' crimes deserved the strongest penalty under state law.
I do believe it's in the state's jurisdiction to protect the citizens from predatory peeople who do heinous activities as best as the state sees fit. I do have problems with the vengeance factor, because I don't believe it corrects any balance there (how do you make restitution for the lives screwed up by acts of violence? Impossible. These things have happened in my family, and I am here dealing with the results, so I know what I am talking about - it's not a matter of mere idealism on my part.) I believe wholeheartedly in the protective factor.
But I have some iffy feelings about the death penalty per se, as it is used in America, especially when there are adequate lockup facilities, because, in part, I have heard of too many cases of people convicted wrongly. This is based somewhat on my respect for life, and a point that I have come to in my Christian walk.
I certainly think the gloating and glorying over the death of any person, no matter what they've done, is a spiritual sadness. The need to protect society is the state's job. The need to glory in the death of others, even when they're people like Ted Bundy, still doesn't cure anything, restore anything, heal anything. The death may mark a sense of justice served, a marker in the sand that these events are now concluded, and in that way, might let the injured parties get on with their life, but none of this will ever fill the pain, make restitution for the loss, heal the emptiness.
Mr. Williams has left us a bad legacy. The grief caused by the presense of the Crips in the country is still here. The people who want to use his execution as a martyrdom of how the white establishment keeps poor and black people down have an easy image to manipulate for the future. The gaps in people's lives caused by what he did and what he started are still there and will not go away.
I am reminded of a line from Zorba the Greek, that went something like: If it's always an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, the whole world would go around blind and toothless. I get the feeling that although the State of California has put the threat of Williams doing any more damage with his life to rest, that the threat of what he will be able to accomplish after his death is still there. The devil is winning both ways.
Sigh. The best we can do is say, "Look at his victims. Why should we tolerate living with people who cause so much pain? What can we do to make it not happen? What can we do that will have the real effect of stopping it?"
I don't think the answer is in more welfare-state programs, or playing the race card, or preaching vengeance or hatred or saying us vs. them. I suspect that the answer lies in each of us who believe walking the Christian walk the way we are called to, taking responsibility for what is ours, and taking our stance against moral relativism. How important it is for each and every one to work hard at doing the right thing, the just thing, the fair thing, the merciful thing as often as possible, and not putting up with the darkness as much as we do in the name of tolerance, or fear or indifference.
My thoughts today run in a dirge for the series of cause and effect connections that lead to the moment of maximum penalty, and its afteraffects, often in a crescendoing spiral of misery.
Lord have mercy,
Christ have mercy,
Lord have mercy.
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