it comes in pints?

A little bit of sanity at the LA Times?

Somehow, and I really don't know how, I got on an email list from the LA Times so I periodically get emails with excerpts from various items in the paper. Today's edition has a whole lotta stuff about Tookie Williams, and it seems that the Times is at least trying to show some balance with op-eds on both sides of the issue (there's even one from Eugene Volokh, but it requires registration, as do a few of the others).

Anyway, I found this one to be particularly interesting, and it doesn't require registration. I'm sure the legal issues involved would prevent it, but it's nonetheless a fascinating idea:

MODEST PROPOSAL
Let black Los Angeles decide Williams' fate
By Ted Hayes, Ted Hayes is the founder and executive director of Dome Village, a residential program that helps homeless people find employment.

I'll confess right here that I prejudged this from the headline and the fact that it's written by the head of what sounds like a social program, and almost didn't continue. I'm glad I read on.

I PROPOSE that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, rather than unequivocally deciding to save Stanley Tookie Williams or send the convicted murderer to his death next week, instead conditionally postpone his execution.

The governor should then immediately convene a summit, including not only clergy, grass-roots leaders and elected representatives such as Maxine Waters and Diane Watson, but also current and former Bloods and Crips. The deal: He will spare Williams' life, but only as long as these leaders can keep young black men from killing each other.

In other words, for every 30 days of peace, Tookie receives a stay of execution. Should there be any gang-related killings in L.A., Tookie's fate will be sealed — not by the governor but by the young men who have been clamoring that Williams be spared and the leaders who say they are determined to save black lives. (And those leaders should be the ones to set the murder-acceptability level — at zero tolerance or massacre levels; let it be up to them.)

This is an opportunity to (1) empower young blacks to play a role in saving one of their own; (2) educate them on the role of nonviolent solutions to societal problems; (3) let African American leaders step up and do what they're always talking about — saving children and healing the brokenness in our community.

I will apologize right now to Mr. Hayes and the Times for excerpting his entire opinion piece, but it was too short and pithy to do otherwise. I especially love the part where the loudmouth lefty politicians and "leaders" get to choose the exact level of violence acceptable to save the Tookster. Irony can be so delicious.

I would make one small change: to "keep young black men from killing each other", I would add "or anyone else".

Posted by Ken S at December 12, 2005 11:01 AM | TrackBack (0) |