General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThe boot camp death of Martin Lee Anderson, Florida, 2006. No one found guilty.
I noticed in kpete's post about a sign being held by France Francois that she had been among the protestors when Martin Lee Anderson was killed on his first day at boot camp in Florida.
He was killed by the guards who were to protect him with a trained nurse standing by.
Through the years he has been forgotten mostly, so good for Ms Francois for protesting his death.
Francois said the sentiment behind the sign is rooted to her days as a student at Florida State University when she protested the death of Martin Lee Anderson, a 14-year-old boy who died after being beaten by boot camp personnel. After months of silence from authorities over his death, Francois, along with other students from Tallahassee Community College, Florida A&M University and Florida State University staged a 34-hour sit-in at then- governor Jeb Bush's office, in Tallahassee, Fla.
More about his death at the hands of guards while a nurse watched.
The boot camp guards and nurse who killed Martin Lee Anderson will have to live with their actions.
.."A state court jury acquitted the guards and nurse of manslaughter on Oct. 12, 2007. Federal authorities then began investigating whether the boys civil rights were violated.
The Justice Department said in a news release that investigators did not have enough evidence to pursue criminal charges. Prosecutors would have had to prove that the boot camp employees intent was willful the highest standard imposed by the law, the release said.
The video showed the seven men punching Anderson and using knee strikes against him. It also showed them pushing ammonia capsules into his nose and dragging his limp body around the camps yard. The nurse did not appear to intervene during the incident.
The sequence of events was quick.
At 6:30 in the morning on June 5, 2006, Martin Lee Anderson is admitted to boot camp.
At 9:06 am the use of force begins.
At 9:45 am the paramedics take Martin Lee Anderson
At 1:00 pm he was transported by air to Pensacola to the hospital where he died the next day.
The guards who beat him were just acquitted as was the nurse who stood by.
When he was buried the St. Pete Times noted that both sides wore crosses around their necks.
Anderson trial tells two tales of a town
The jurors, the accused, the courtroom so divided you could label one side "guilty" and the other "not guilty" like guests at a wedding - all went still when the video played.
....Folks on both sides wore crosses around their necks - God was on their side, maybe, or they just needed him to get through this.
The guards - Dickens, McFadden, Helms, Enfinger, Garrett, Hauck and Walsh - each stood to look into the faces of the jury as their attorneys introduced them. They are husbands, fathers, retired military, working stiffs. They did not look like evil men who set out one morning to kill a boy. Which makes the jury's job that much more complicated.
How small a town is Panama City? Just across the street from the courthouse where the guards and nurse are being tried sits the camp. Shut down like the rest in Florida after the video made national news, it sits abandoned, razor-wire gates rusty.
A few blocks over is the cemetery, the grass too high, fence sagging. He is there, flanked by stone angels, not a hero, not a monster, just gone.
What will the jury call what happened to Martin Lee Anderson? Sad comes to mind. And sorry. And wrong.
Cali_Democrat
(30,439 posts)valuable.
Black people have been trying to tell white people this for years, but most never listen and most never will.
So mostly white juries allow the killing of blacks.
madfloridian
(88,117 posts)I am white, and I listen. And I care. Many do.
Cali_Democrat
(30,439 posts)in fact, it appears that most whites want to see blacks wither away in prison...
http://www.democraticunderground.com/11878084
tblue37
(65,403 posts)Cali_Democrat
(30,439 posts)tblue37
(65,403 posts)"The boot camp guards and nurse who killed Martin Lee Anderson will have to live with their actions."
Whenever I see a statement like that, my immediate reaction is, "Yeah, but at last they get to live."
My second reaction is to think that the kind of person who would treat another human being the way this kid was treated is probably not the kind of person who is much troubled by an active conscience. IOW, I bet they have no trouble living with their actions.
Does anyone, for example, think that Michael Dunn (who shot at a car full of black teens, killing one, because he hated their loud music) feels bad about the kid he killed?
I am quite certain that his only regret is that he was caught and convicted. His letters from jail whined that he was being blamed instead of being hailed as a hero for teaching those guys a much needed lesson. (He used a nastier term than "guys," of course).
madfloridian
(88,117 posts)I really sincerely tried to phrase things right and not to offend.
tblue37
(65,403 posts)I assumed you were using the words on the page you were linking to.
I am not "offended" by the phrasing at all. I just thought it useful to point out that we are often too optimistic and hopeful when we assume that most of the killers feel much remorse over what they have done. If they cared about the humanity of person they killed, they would not have abused or killed the person in the first place.
ON EDIT: I assumed the link was to a newspaper article or some other blog. I didn't realize it went to your journal. I didn't follow the link before my first reply because I read a lot about that case when it happened, so I didn't feel the need to read another news article about its details.
I still think, though, that few of those who brutalize others feel much discomfort over what they have done, *unless* they are penalized by the legal system.
madfloridian
(88,117 posts)From what I remember from that time the nurse really had troubles over it, and maybe one of the guards. In this present situation in Ferguson there don't seem to be too many consciences showing from the authorities....not at all. It's tragic.
madfloridian
(88,117 posts)More about the student sit in in Jeb's office here.
http://oreaddaily.blogspot.com/2006/04/students-occupying-jeb-bushs-office.html
madfloridian
(88,117 posts)The sit-ins at Jeb's office in which she participated made a difference. All the outcries pushed the state to close all the state run boot camps. Too late for Martin.