Monthly Review says
At a conservative estimate, (Tookie Williams) has saved hundreds of lives over the past few years. Because of his extraordinary work, Stan was nominated for the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize by a group of Swiss parliamentarians, after his anti-gang message helped to defuse a violent gang conflict in that country.
From Blue Rage, Black Redemption a memoir by Tookie Williams
I was beginning to understand that my experiences with the dysfunctional status quo of the prison culture – as well as drug addiction, poverty, gangsterism, racism, and other roadblocks – had become the excuses that defined my life. But no longer would my life, my being, be dictated by blind ignorance. Nor would I ever again allow the excuse of circumstance to dictate who I should be. It was daily studying and questioning that prompted my soul searching. I began to develop a sense of critical reasoning from which sprang the first stirrings of conscience. This was the moment when redemption infused itself into my life.
Meanwhile, Williams’ attorneys try to stay execution
Attorneys for Stanley Tookie Williams, co-founder of the Crips gang, implored the California Supreme Court on Wednesday to grant them access to a broad array of trial evidence as part of an effort to show that his 1979 conviction for four Southern California murders was unconstitutional.