Redemption: The Stan Tookie Williams Story, 2004
The same year that Jamie Foxx received the Oscar nomination for his role in the blockbuster film Ray, he also starred in another biopic that was just as impactful to a certain community of Hip-Hoppers from Los Angeles, Stan “Tookie” Williams. Based on Tookie, one of the founders of the Crip street gang, the movie was written by J.T. Allen and directed by Vondie Curtis Hall and showed the world a glimpse into the lifestyle that developed the culture of banging — and its downfall. It also showed how prison transformed his life.
What changed? Tookie started writing children’s books about anti-gang and violence earning five Nobel Peace Prize nominations and became an International Peace Mediator. Despite numerous appeals, he lost his life by lethal injection after over 20 years on death row.