Missing the point on the Stanley Williams execution

Missing the point on the Stanley Williams execution (from Soho.net)
by Jake Nyberg
SojoMail 12-15-2005

Stanley "Tookie" Williams, 51, was executed just after midnight Tuesday. Many who were arguing against Williams' execution were taking the approach that Williams was a changed man - a man who had devoted his life behind bars to ending the cycle of gang violence - and that a changed person should not be executed. While I certainly cannot argue with the observation that the Williams who was killed today was not the same man who entered prison a quarter-century ago, I believe even Williams' supporters were missing the point.

Killing Stanley Williams was wrong because killing is wrong. Whether a death row inmate has a change of heart, shows remorse, or is exonerated by DNA evidence is irrelevant. Even if Williams had remained the same, his death would still have accomplished nothing. All of us - from victims' families to kids who turn to gangs for a sense of community - were denied a glimpse at the healing, redemptive power of grace.

Am I saying that Williams should have been allowed to walk free? No. What I am saying is that we missed a teachable moment - a moment in which we could have come together to show that revenge solves nothing.

We could have spared Tookie Williams, but we didn't. We can, however, still spare others (even those who haven't changed their ways), thereby demonstrating that the old way of "an eye for an eye" is no longer relevant. Perhaps we didn't hear Jesus the first time when he turned that teaching on its head, telling us to give our enemies what they really deserve - not bullets, injections, or a noose, but love -reckless and relentless love.

Jake Nyberg is a Minnesota-based writer and speaker.