Hambil said:
What a stupid emotional statement full of nonsense.
These kids don't expect to live past their teens anyway, they aren't afraid of the death penalty. It's not going to 'teach' them anything but more hate.
For some, perhaps. For others, it will show them that the gangsta life isn't all bling and hoes, and that there are real, permanent consequences to making the choice to join a gang.
Let's say that Tookie's execution causes one kid to rethink the gang life, before he's made the choice to join. What sort of trickle down effect will this have? How many people will this kid now
not assault,
not rape or sexually abuse,
not murder? How many kids will this kid convince not to join a gang? How many innocent lives will be saved if one kid decides not to join a gang because Tookie paid the price his actions demand be paid?
You see, we need to execute people like Tookie. We need to counter the images of gangsta life that are being presented to these kids by idiots like Snoop and 50 Cent and all the rest of those fuckbags. Too many of these blights on society have gotten away with their shit for ridiculous reasons. That needs to stop.
All the liberal programs in the world aren't going to help the ghetto if we don't combat the mindset.
I taught in "The LBC," Hambil. I dealt with bangers on a regular basis. They were given federal and state funds to attend community college, and the checks for aid were issued at the end of week six. Guess how long the bangers stayed in my class before dropping.
I lived in The LBC. I lived across the street from a crack house, and in an apartment building inhabited primarily by black families. I observed the culture first hand, watched the generation gap between parents and children increase to a gulf as the children became old enough to feel the pull of the streets and the pull of a lifestyle that seemed better to them than the 9-5 their parents put up with. I listened to parents trying to convince their children not to join gangs, to knock-down, drag-out fights in which parents argued for the bankruptcy of gang life while kids cited successful media figures who were keepin' it real and pulling down $10M. And I subsequently watched these kids getting hauled off at 6AM by the cops.
So take your platitudes and shove them, Hambil. Tookie Williams murdered two families in cold blood. He was happy to watch those "Buddha-heads" beg for mercy and to watch them die. And God only knows what all else Tookie Williams is guilty of.
He's reformed. He's sorry. He wants to teach children not to follow the same path he did. Fine. Then he needs to accept the penalty that has been handed down and he needs to make the ultimate sacrifice to really show the children what it means to be a gangsta.