Guilt or Innocence and the Deception of Tookie Williams

I'm not looking to get into a discussion about the death penalty itself. At the moment it is legal in California and many other states. Whether or not Tookie Williams is guilty or innocent of killing those four people is also irrelevant at this point in time. What is relevant is the argument that after becoming incarcerated, Tookie Williams became a changed man. I for one, am not going to dispute that the work he has done has no doubt helped many children avoid joining a street gang and that work is admirable. What I question is the motive behind doing this work. Did Tookie Williams undertake this mission solely to make amends for past mistakes and to help prevent others from making similar mistakes? Or was he in fact a cold, calculating gangster who knew that with a death sentence hanging over his head he needed to find some way to work the system and avoid being put to death?

I've watched and read many an interview that Tookie has given, and it does seem that he has a very hard time accepting any genuine responsibility for any of his past criminal actions. There is never really any sense of remorse eminating from him when he does offer up a token apology or explanation when it comes to his past. He claims that he is innocent of the four murders he was convicted of, and gives a lot of jailhouse lawyer/philosopher doublespeak when he tries to tell us that he can't very well show remorse or apologize for crimes he did not commit. And even if he is innocent you can tell that he has no sympathy for those victims. All he can do is go on and on about how he is innocent, but he seldom has said anything to lead us to believe that he has any sorrow in his heart over that loss of life.

His gangster code of honor has prevented him from assisting law enforcement when it comes to dealing with the gang menace that he helped to create. Again, a changed man would not have any problems in this area as he would know that there is no honor in what these people do and assisting in destroying them would be beneficial to the masses, not a dishonorable act. But he sees the betrayal of fellow gangsters as a bad thing. Tookie, oh Tookie, your misguided loyalty and contaminated morals have killed you. Had you really been sincere and had genuinely wanted to renounce your past life, I have no doubt that the Governor would have granted you clemency, but as he saw for himself, your actions have been a ruse all along. Merely a hustle to try and keep you from your date with the gas chamber. You had all these years to genuinely change yourself and you opted to put up a facade instead of having integrity and doing the really hard thing, which would have been to come clean about having been a murdering thug. And perhaps it would have helped to have had the courage to do all this regardless of the outcome. How much more nobler would you have been had you done charitable work and not asked for a reprieve? How much honorable would you have been if you had helped children and helped to bring down gangs in this country and never ask anything in return other than just the opportunity to right your past wrongs.

But time has now run out.