Tookie Williams Executed at 12:01 AM Today
I wasn’t able to make it to San Quentin for the protest/vigil. Yesterday was a revisitation of that nightmarish feeling of guilt by impotence — the same feeling I felt during the lead-up to the war in Iraq: You know that you’re about to be party to something truly horrific, and there’s nothing you can do to stop it.
Sometimes, those in power seek to silence. Most of the time, silencing is simply a side effect of the various practices that sustain and glorify power. I believe it’s important to reject these silences. So, a reminder of the anti-violence work that was the focus of Tookie’s last years — the final note from his 2004 Protocol for Peace:
…As you move in this direction, you will learn to construct a peace policy that will meet the necessities for peace in your neighborhood, in your city, in your nation. There is much serious work ahead, and the entire community will depend upon each and every one of you. Keep in mind that even the warring souls of gang members yearn for peace but are blind to its path. Your faith, wisdom, concern, and guidance can help show them the way. Never allow yourself to be distracted or discouraged by detractors and dissenters whose views are counterproductive.
…I call upon the pure energy of human beings and institutions gangs, criminals, ex-cons, parents, churches or mosques, schools and universities, youth centers, think tanks, university professors and other educators, entrepreneurs, entertainers, human rights agencies, social organizations, politicians, newspapers, media broadcast outlets, the employed and unemployed, the wealthy and the poor, the young and the elderly, and anyone else who is interested in promoting street peace – to help create a new community of safety and well-being.
This peace protocol is not the solution. Look in the mirror. There is the solution!
Amani (Peace),
Stanley “Tookie” Williams