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12/13/2005:

"If a Black Man Dies in America, Does It Make a Sound?"

Williams was executed by lethal injection at 12:35am today.

...Most of those who support his state sponsored murder do not live in war torn regions of the Golden State of California. Thus it is difficult for these privileged people to understand the benefits of Stan's contributions on behalf of non-violence. However, because blacks are sentenced to death twice as frequently as whites who've been convicted of the same crime it appears that this may be more than a misunderstanding.

If a young black man is shot in South Central does it make a sound in Thousand Oaks?
counterpunch.org

Mumia Abu Jamal--Tookie: From Chaos to Consciousness

..."My detractors in the media and elsewhere have questioned my redemption. Their doubt is driven largely by my open apology (....at http://www.tookie.com) to Black folks and others who might have been offended by the fact that I helped create the Crips youth gang in Los Angeles 34 years ago. My detractors argue that I could not be redeemed because I have not apologized to the family members of the victims that I was convicted of killing.

"But please allow me to clarify. I will never apologize for capital crimes that I did not commit -- not even to save my life. And I did not commit the crimes for which I was sentenced to be executed by the State of California.

"Being a condemned prisoner, I am viewed among the least able to qualify as a promoter of redemption and of peace. But the most wretched among society can be redeemed, find peace and reach out to others to lift them up. Redemption cannot be faked or intellectualized. It must be subjective, experienced, and shared. In the past redemption was an alien concept to me. But from 1988 to 1994, while I lived in solitary confinement, I embarked on a transitional path toward redemption. I underwent years of education, soul-searching, edification, spiritual cultivation, and fighting to transcend my inner demons.

"Subsequently, the redeeming process for me symbolized the end of a bad beginning--and a new start.” [From: *The New Abolitionist*, Aug. '05, p. 2]