News & Reviews

WORD: Film screenings, rallies scheduled for author Stan "Tookie" Williams

With an execution date looming on Dec. 13 for Stan "Tookie" Williams at San Quentin prison, anti-death penalty advocates scheduled several events including film screenings and a rally Dec. 8 the State Capitol Building in Sacramento, the site of his clemency hearing. Williams, co-founder of the notorious Crips gang in Los Angeles, was convicted in 1981 of killing four people. He has since authored nine books de-glamorizing gangs and prison life geared to children and young adults.

On Sunday, Dec. 4, actor Danny Glover, Williams’ co-author Barbara Becnel and Kevin Epps, director of Straight Outta Hunter’s Point will host a screening of Redemption: The Stan Tookie Williams Story at the Victoria Theatre, located at 2961 16th Street in San Francisco. The event is a fund-raiser for the San Francisco Save Tookie Committee.

On Saturday, Dec. 10, another screening of the Jamie Foxx-starred film is slated at The Long Haul in Berkeley, located at 3124 Shattuck Avenue. This 7 pm screening is free, though organizers said they would accept donations. Both shows will include art displays and speakers, who will explain the status of Williams’ case and let people know how to get involved in the movement to stop the execution, organizers said.

Williams, co-founder of the notorious Crips gang in Los Angeles, was convicted in 1981 of killing four people during two robberies. He has since authored nine novels and nonfiction books de-glamorizing gangs and prison life geared to children and young adults. Because of this work, he has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize five times.

His best known book is probably Life In Prison, for which Williams’s royalties were donated to the Institute for the Prevention of Youth Violence. His most recent book is an autobiography co-written by Becnel Blue Rage Black Redemption, which was released earlier this year by Damamli Publishing.

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