If I’ve seemed flippant about Tookie’s execution, a few points:
First, I don’t take the death penalty lightly, which is why I’ve been on this Cory Maye issue. I haven’t been following the Tookie saga, because 1) I don’t have time to sit and watch hours and hours and hours of cable news, and B) I’m pretty sure, even if he wasn’t executed for ONE murder, he definitely killed other people in his lifetime, or HAD them killed. Karma rolls around, and it rolled up to his door.
Second, this is about justice. Tookie had 25 years to make his case, and in the meantime celebrities and activists have latched on to him like they have other high-profile murderers; also, Tookie had all those years of appeals and chances. So far, Maye has only had a few years, and has a much less “TV-pretty” case: He defended himself from what he thought was an intruder - with a gun. There’s nothing the media hates worse, when guns are involved, than someone defending their loved ones or property with firearms; it chaps the Brady Bill-huggers and anti-gun people in general.
I hope the media won’t turn this into a “racism” thing, which would mean that our ol’ friends Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton won’t be on CNN saying this is because Whitey is evil and Maye is black; it’s not that simple, no matter how many times they say it. I just want the story to get out, but the media WILL sensationalize and racialize it, and Maye will be ill-served in the process.