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December 12, 2005

Have you heard of ...

Albert Owens?
Yen-I Yang?
Thsai-Shaic Yang?
Yee Chen Lin?

or,

Wesley Baker?
Kenneth Lee Boyd?
Shawn Humphries?

or,

Donald Beardslee?

Have you heard of Stanley "Tookie" Williams?

My guess is that only that last name will be known to most people. If you follow the news, you can't help but have heard about Tookie Williams' impending execution. Why? Why has this execution received so much coverage? I guess the fact that Williams was a founder of the Crips plays a part, but that fact really seems overshadowed by the celebrity support Williams is receiving, thus becoming a celebrity himself. Regardless of one's stance on capital punishment, I don't see why Williams is a big deal, but the other names go unnoticed.

Albert Owens, Yen-I Yang, Thsai-Shaic Yang, and Yee Chen Lin were Tookie Williams' victims. They go unmentioned by name in most of the coverage of this execution. Reuters most recent story on Yahoo! about the execution curiosly only uses Owens' name.

Wesley Baker, Kenneth Lee Boyd, and Shawn Humphries have all already been executed this month. They didn't get the kind of coverage and support of Tookie. Only Humphries made much of a blip and that was only for a number - 1000. His name, if ever known, has already been forgotten.

Donald Beardslee was the last person executed in California, back in January. I don't remember all this outpouring of support for stopping his execution.

I come back to the question of why? Why do the media tend to ignore the real victims and instead portray the killers as the victims? Why do the media largely ignore most executions? Why do Hollywood types, black celebrities, and so-called black leaders support saving Tookie Williams life, but ignore others like Donald Beardslee?

Posted by Brian at December 12, 2005 11:11 PM

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Comments

And then there are John William King and Lawrence Russell Brewer, who are facing the death penalty in Texas. Everyone has heard of their crime and victim. but most people are unaware of the sentence they got for dragging James Byrd to death behind a pickup truck.

Posted by: triticale [TypeKey Profile Page] at December 18, 2005 4:17 PM