Another Case of American Hypocrisy: Tookie Lives...

Read About Stan Tookie Williams

American Hypocrisy is that misunderstood monster. Americans are told citizenship participation means volunteerism and community service; and here was Stan "Tookie" Williams, infamous for co-founding the "Crips" gang in LA in 1971, volunteering with schools, prisons, communities. Although he wasn't a full citizen, he participated as a citizen and perhaps more meaningfully than the rest of us ever could. He wrote books about Life in Prison, and a series of children's books on gangs and how they affect different aspect of our lives.

Tookie is One of Many

Read Putting Tookie into Context

(a very balanced article by Julianne Malveaux)

There are 3415 people on death row in the United States. About 650 men on death row are in the State of California alone. Over 40% of them are black even though blacks are only 13% of the population. Black men are more likely to be convicted and executed if they kill white/asian people than if they kill other blacks. There is a disturbing amount of false accusations, although one is too many. For this reason the state of Illinois has put off the death penalty for an indefinate period of time.

The devaluation of human life in the U.S. criminal justice system, particularly black human life, is disgusting.

It's obvious what the American Dream really is;

or what it is not to too many,

but the monster refuses to come out of the closet.