Quote:
Originally posted by tp2005
It's great that he found God and realize the error of his ways, but that doesn't change what he did. He helped start one of the most negative forces in the nation's history, and even tho he changed his life, that did nothing for the many ppl that are still in the gang.
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Tookie didn't start "one of the most negative forces in the nation's history". Poverty, lack of protection (teenager) in low income community, police brutality, and governmental flooding of the ghettos with heroin, and high unemployment rate for minorities (black and hispanic), and a host of other reasons are what started these gangs. If Tookie didn't come along it would have been someone else. People join gangs as a means of coping with their everyday surroundings. When you have all these elements working against you what else can you do? Now many people from these areas didn't join gangs, so I am not making excuses. However, I don't feel that Tookie's initial intentions (when he co-founded the crips) was not the CRIP gang that we see today. I think his initial intention was focused on protection and survival, like any other gang. Now, you want to talk about a NEGATIVE FORCE. Take a look into the white house, law enforcement, supremacist groups, congressmen, and our own "people's champ" the media. Those are the real gangsters. They send (or contribute to the idea) young men and women to die everyday to get more power, kinda like Crips and Bloods. The only difference is Tookie led by example on the front lines. Bush's draft dodging azz has never put on a uniform, but he has no problem sending his soldiers to war.
Instead of blaming Tookie, lets take a look at the community, judicial system, law enforcement, and government that nurtured this gang. You can't blame the "NATIVE SON" for being violent, you blame the country that gave birth to him.
BTW, what about all the "ill gotten" evidence used to convict him in the first place. Ballistics from the shotgun didn't match the first time, but miraculously they matched the second time. Jailhouse snitch who testified that Tookie confessed to the murders later stated that the cops beat him to within and inch of his life to get his statement. Now these two shaky pieces of evidence were the only legs the prosecution had to stand on. Of course, no one cares, because the agenda was to get the co-founder of the crips behind bars, BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY.
As for the death penalty, I am all for it, once we get a fair judicial system that exercises the 200+ years constitutional rights for minorities as well as majorities. However, seeing as how we have a long time before that will happen, maybe we need to take a closer look at whom and why we sentence to death.
But that's just my $.02...