The National Lawyers Guild exhorts California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to grant clemency to Stan “Tookie” Williams, reformed gang leader, Nobel Peace Prize nominee, and acclaimed author, currently scheduled to be executed in the State of California at 12:01AM on Tuesday, December 13, 2005.

NEW YORK - December 7 - The Guild recognizes that, as co-founder of the Crips, Williams caused harm to communities throughout the nation. The Guild also recognizes that as a prisoner on death row, Williams publicly denounced his former gang lifestyle and sincerely apologized for the unnecessary death and destruction caused by the Crips. Williams has had an enormous and positive influence on American youth since then.

Williams has spent the past twenty years dedicating his life and devoting his time and energy to helping others and saving lives. Williams has helped countless young people avoid the pitfalls and dangers of the gang lifestyle through his highly acclaimed children’s book series educating young people about the avoidance of gangs, crime and incarceration. He has also worked effectively to reduce gang violence through his peace protocol and Internet Project for Street Peace, an international peer-mentoring program that has touched tens of thousands of youth and formed the basis for successful gang truces in several cities. In 2004 Williams helped broker peace agreements between Bloods and Crips in California and New Jersey, ending one of the deadliest gang wars in the country.

NLG President Michael Avery stated, “The voice that Stan “Tookie” Williams has developed in prison needs to be heard, not extinguished. This man speaks passionately and persuasively to turn people from violence toward peace. It is insane for society to silence someone who is struggling to help save it.”

The National Lawyers Guild condemns the racism endured by Williams during his questionable murder trial, which unfolded against the backdrop of anti-gang hysteria in the 1980’s. We find it offensive that the prosecutor likened Mr. Williams to "a Bengal tiger" and identified Williams’ South Central Los Angeles home as a “jungle.” Stan “Tookie” Williams was found guilty by an all-white jury after all prospective black jurors were removed from the pool. In the sentencing phase of his trial, Williams was forced to appear in shackles--a practice that the US Supreme Court ruled unconstitutional earlier this year.

Renee Sanchez, co-chair of The United People of Color Caucus within the Lawyers Guild, stated, “The NLG is actively working towards dismantling the institutional racism inherent in the criminal justice system. We oppose the death penalty on many grounds but in particular because of the glaringly disparate application of the death penalty on racial grounds.”

The NLG asserts that the death penalty in general, and the death sentence of Stan “Tookie” Williams in particular, have a devastating effect on all Americans and on communities of color in particular by perpetuating a cycle of violence.

Founded in 1937 as the first racially integrated national bar association, the National Lawyers Guild is the oldest and largest public interest/human rights bar organization in the United States, with more than 200 chapters. Over 5,000 volunteer lawyers, law students, legal workers and jailhouse lawyers work together “in the service of the people, to the end that human rights shall be regarded as more sacred than property interests,” as members of the National Lawyers Guild.