In support of death row inmate, Stanley “Tookie” Williams’ request for clemency, Michael Franti attended a peaceful gathering which included Country Joe of Country Joe and the Fish, Wavy Gravy, fifty members of the Hell’s Angels and others on Sunday, December 4, 2005 in front of San Quentin, California State Prison.

In 1971 “Tookie” Williams founded the Crips gang in Los Angeles. During this violent time of his life, he was convicted of four murders, of which he claims his Innocence to this day, and was sentenced to death in 1981. In the last 13 years, he has been an outspoken opponent of gang life, drugs and all that was his past. As such, he has been nominated five times for a Nobel Peace Prize in addition to four times for the Nobel Prize for literature for a series of children’s books.

“If redemption is not possible for Tookie, then it’s not possible for any of us. Not for a soldier coming home from Iraq, not for the President who has ordered the deaths of tens of thousands of civilians, not for any of us who have ever wronged another”. Franti went on to say, “I just don’t believe the State should be in the business of killing people.” Michael sang “Oh My God!” which he wrote in 1991 in opposition to the death penalty.

Unless clemency by Gov. Arnold Swarzenegger is granted, an execution date is set for Dec.13, 2005

The case is California v. Williams, S004365