Snoop Dogg and Reverend
Jesse Jackson gave eulogies at a funeral service for executed Crip co-founder
Stanley "Tookie" Williams today (Dec. 20) at a South Los Angeles Church.
Over 1500 supporters of the late San Quentin inmate-turned-peace
activist attended the funeral, which was held at Bethel African Methodist Episcopal
Church.
With police looking on, an overflow of people stood outside
and watched the service on a large TV set.
Snoop Dogg recited a poem titled “Until We Meet Again”
and Jackson labeled Williams as a reformed man as he spoke out against capital
punishment.
Bruce Gordon, head of the National Association for the Advancement
of Colored People, delivered a taped message, pledging to increase the fight
against "unjust application of the death penalty."
Williams himself left a tape recorded message, urging those
present to spread a positive message.
“Teach them how to avoid our destructive footsteps,”
Williams said on the tape. “Teach them to strive for higher education.
Teach them to promote peace and teach them to focus on rebuilding the neighborhoods
that you, others and I helped to destroy.”
Williams, 51, was convicted of murdering four people in 1979.
He was executed by lethal injection on Tuesday (Dec. 13), hours after Gov. Arnold
Schwarzenegger denied his petition for clemency.
His case drew international media attention, in part because
Williams had become an anti-gang activist and had been nominated for a Nobel
Peace Prize.
Williams’
ashes will be flown to South Africa and scattered, per his last wish.