Barbara Becnel

Barbara Cottman Becnel (b. May 30, 1950) is an author, journalist, and film producer. Becnel was a close friend of and advocate for executed Crips co-founder Stanley Williams (a convicted murderer and former gang leader who would later become an anti-gang activist and writer), and editor of Williams's series of children's books, which spoke out against gang violence. She was co-producer of the Golden Globe nominated film Redemption: The Stan Tookie Williams Story which starred award winning actress Lynn Whitfield playing the role of Becnel.

Becnel was in attendance at Williams' execution as one of his chosen witnesses. After he was pronounced dead, she, along with two of his friends, television executive Shirley Neal and movie producer Rudy Langlais, stood up and yelled that California had executed an innocent man. After the execution, she said "We are going to prove his innocence, and when we do, we are going to show that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is, in fact, himself a cold blooded murderer." Williams directed Becnel to make the arrangements for his funeral, which was held at Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church on December 20, 2005. Becnel had stated that the funeral would be "on the scale of Rosa Parks' recent funeral". Over 3,000 people attended Williams' memorial service, including international as well as national human rights and civil rights leaders. On Sunday, June 25, 2006, Becnel and Neal released Williams' ashes into a lake in Thokoza Park, located in Soweto, South Africa.

Becnel ran for the Democratic Party's nomination for Governor of California in 2006, and came in third (out of eight Democrats) behind Phil Angelides and Steve Westly. She made history because Becnel was the first black female Democrat to ever run for Governor of California. Her campaign was very grassroots, though it received some media attention. She finished with 66,544 votes overall, 2.7 percent of ballots cast. Becnel also raised enough money in the last week of the campaign to run television and radio commercials about her candidacy. She has publicly denounced Democratic Gubernatorial candidates Phil Angelides and Steve Westly for supporting the death penalty. She is also outspoken on other social issues, such as the environment and immigration. Barbara's outspoken criticism of Angelides and Westly resulted in her not being invited to a number of key Democratic Party events during the general election season. This, coupled with differences over issues such as the death penalty, led Barbara to leave the Democratic Party. In the first weeks of 2007 Barbara left the Democratic Party and joined the Green Party of California, the state affiliate of the Green Party (GPUS). When asked as to the reason for her conversion to the Green Party, Barbara responded, "The Green Party is right on the issues--no ifs, ands, or buts ."

Selected works

 * "Parents Who Help Their Children Overcome Drugs" (1990), Compcare Pubns. ISBN 0-89638-218-4.
 * "The Co-Dependent Parent: Free Yourself by Freeing Your Child" (1991), Harper San Francisco. ISBN 0-06-250126-7.
 * "Life in Prison" (2001), Seastar Books. ISBN 1-58717-093-0. (co-author)
 * "Gangs and the Abuse of Power" (1997), Hazelden Publishing & Educational Services. ISBN 1-56838-130-1. (co-author)
 * "Gangs and Drugs" (1997), Hazelden Publishing & Educational Services. ISBN 1-56838-135-2. (co-author)
 * "Gangs and Self-Esteem" (1997), PowerKids Press. ISBN 0-8239-2344-4. (co-author)
 * "Gangs and Violence" (1997), Hazelden Publishing & Educational Services. ISBN 1-56838-134-4. (co-author)
 * "Gangs and Your Friends" (1997), PowerKids Press. ISBN 0-8239-2341-X.  (co-author)
 * "Gangs and Your Neighborhood" (1997), Hazelden Information & Educational Services. ISBN 1-56838-137-9.  (co-author)