South Central, Los Angeles–Stanley “Tookie” Williams III, leader of the infamous CRIPS, was born December 29, 1953 in New Orleans, Louisiana. In 2005, Williams was executed by lethal injection in San Quentin State Prison. He was 51. Political commentator Marc Lamont Hill shared his thoughts recently on 27-year-old Dylan Roof’s death sentence being upheld for the 2017 murder of nine church goers in South Carolina. Hill shared that he did not believe roof should be executed because it allows the state to continue to kill Black and Brown bodies. I often wonder what kind of insight and leadership Tookie could offer today to a lost generation of gang members, especially in Los Angeles, had he not been murdered by the state.
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Tina Sampay, known as Slauson Girl, is a journalist, author and media founder from South Central Los Angeles. Her Bachelor of Arts in Critical Race and Gender Studies informs how she examines race, gender and power in her journalism. She founded Slauson Girl Media Group, a Black woman-owned news and media organization. Her reporting, podcast conversations and video interviews center local news, community voices, culture and the issues shaping Los Angeles.