reflections on the death of tookie williams

i had a long conversation with a student, yesterday, about the execution of tookie williams. this student is an african-american man, and found himself even more painfully in the minority than usual at UW (university of whiteness...er...washington), as he was sitting around with a bunch of fellow dorm-dwellers watching the news. a huge argument apparently erupted over whether or not gov. schwarzenegger should grant clemency to williams, and this student found himself alone in a sea of self-righteous death-penalty pitbulls. i can't even imagine what it was like for him. in my office, this young man was visibly upset about tookie williams' death, shaken, afraid, outraged, and he talked about how alienated he feels, both from his peers and from american society in general. he asked, "if they would kill tookie williams, this man who was dedicated to non-violence, and who wrote all these children's books, what's going to stop them from killing me?"

i didn't know how to console my student, and i struggled for words that might offer him reassurance or optimism, but i couldn't find any. i was shaken and outraged by tookie williams' execution too. ( Read more... )