A 14- year old boy is assaulted, restrained, his breathing restricted, and ammonia capsules are plunged into his nostrils, as he struggles for breath.
Within moments, he falls limp, comatose.
Soon, Martin Lee Anderson is dead.
Martin met his death at a Florida boot camp, where a phalanx of so-called drill instructors beat the youth, held their hands over his mouth, and forced ammonia caps up his nose.
A predominantly white jury quickly acquitted all 8 staff members (including a nurse) from the boot-camp of all charges.
The state workers would've faced more punishment if they killed a dog.
Instead, he was a black boy. The jury barely had enough time for a good lunch.
Across the country, families are learning that boot camps, and other juvenile facilities, are little more than hell-holes for children.
Kids are beaten, brutalized, starved and caged by the state; paid by the state to administer legalized child abuse.
Just days ago, seven workers at a West Texas lockup (including so-called 'quality assurance monitors') were fired by the Texas Youth Commission.
The facility, known as the Coke County Juvenile Center, was the site of what state officials called "deplorable conditions", such as dirty sheets, feces-smeared cells, and cases of juveniles being placed in solitary confinement for five weeks (see New York Times, "National Briefing" (10/5/07), p.A19).
It's clear from the Martin Lee Anderson case, and from voluminous reports of violence and torture at boot camps nationwide, that America is at war with its youth.
The prosecutor deliberately lost the case and should be disbarred. First of all the defendants should have been charged with 2nd degree murder not manslaughter. Second the prosecutor should have argued that Anderson died because he was beaten. Instead he argued that Anderson died from the ammonia capsules which the evidence did not support. Third the prosecutor should have made an effort to get some black people on the jury.
by
Ty (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 821 comments)
on Sunday, October 21, 2007 at 10:31:07 AM
Another egregious example of "southern justice" which means no justice at all. It amazes me that anyone would even want to visit a place like Florida with all its perveristies. I for one won't even consider a Caribbean cruise because they all leave from that state. Yuck!
by
Archie (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 1138 comments)
on Sunday, October 21, 2007 at 3:29:45 PM
was in relation to his being on probation when charged with another crime (hence he 'violated' the terms of his probation) that resulted in his probation being withdrawn... it's a no brainer. It has happened to me before too, and I'm white.
As far as the 'predominately white' jury is concerned, why didn't any black members of the jury refuse to have a consensus with the verdict? Or is it, in this instance, that 'predominately white' means 'all white'? If it doesn't, then the complaint needs to be aimed at the black jurors -as they could have prevented such a verdict...
And, BTW... we've had the discussion before about the south and racism. Don't be so ignorant! Geez...
by
C.Bid (0 articles, 7 quicklinks, 7 diaries, 679 comments)
on Sunday, October 21, 2007 at 6:44:43 PM
I'd caution against playing the 'you're a racist' card here...
I'm not in complete disagreement about the underlying issues -I just think there are probably better examples to support the arguments you are trying to make!
by
C.Bid (0 articles, 7 quicklinks, 7 diaries, 679 comments)
on Sunday, October 21, 2007 at 7:59:27 PM
Rights+responsibility? Or MY rights are MY responsibility?
"As far as the 'predominately white' jury is concerned, why didn't any black members of the jury refuse to have a consensus with the verdict? Or is it, in this instance, that 'predominately white' means 'all white'? If it doesn't, then the complaint needs to be aimed at the black jurors -as they could have prevented such a verdict..."
Yes, it is the responsibility of Blacks to fight racism by ourselves, starting with making sure that we are the most Perfect Human Beings Imaginable. Otherwise, why would any white people or others stand up for us? Maybe that's why there weren't more of you in Jena -- afterall, I'm a Black single mom in Chicago but that shouldn't have stopped me from going -- and since i didn't go, why should any WHITE person have?
by
Mars Caulton (1 articles, 1 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 82 comments)
on Thursday, October 25, 2007 at 12:07:50 PM
Knocking someone unconcious and a group of people then proceeding to kick the @#$%# out of them is quite possibly attempted murder...
I was charged with as much (among other things) after blinding, with my thumbs, a skinhead who attacked me years ago because the bass player for a band I was in at the time was a black man and we had played a show at a (unbeknowst to us at the time) regular hangout for scum like that... I still have a great scar on my head from a Budweiser bottle. I intended to seriously hurt him -but not kill him... I was still charged though, and I acted in defense of myself and others (not that they needed it.... as our bass player broke another one's leg). So was that racism that I was charged? I don't recall anyone from the black community patting me on the back or offering their support. Nor did they after I was stabbed in another city by another white supremist during a street brawl... Admittedly, my friends and I often led a charge to drive out groups actively engaged in sowing hatred and therefore quite often had ourselves to blame... but I never blamed the absence of any black soldiers or single black mothers from Chicago for the situations I got into. I did what I thought was right.
I can understand your anger that nothing was done to the white culprits, but that doesn't mean that Bell and Co. should not have been charged. I care for justice as well -on both sides... and I feel that the true travesty is the failure of those involved to act on the obvious implications of hanging nooses and brandishing guns at the black students. Perhaps the fight would never have happened... The Jena Six also could have chose not to become violent as well.
I hope, now, you will understand my comments...
by
C.Bid (0 articles, 7 quicklinks, 7 diaries, 679 comments)
on Friday, October 26, 2007 at 3:08:16 PM
Unless the claim can be supported that the prosecutor in the Fla. case 'intentionally lost'... I don't understand your comment. Did he fail to sway the black jurors? Shouldn't some of the blame be directed also at them? How do they escape the responsibility to fairly try the case and if they didn't object to the verdict, why is it only the white people's fault? What were the Judge's instructions to the jury? Without the 'inside' info, I doubt we could reasonably come to the right conclusion... I honestly don't know that much about the case, but caution against claims that it's 'typical southern justice'. That's absolutely ignorant.
It IS different from the Jena case, though, in that the law was only enforced and active when it was blacks breaking the law and not when whites were making overt threats of violence and lynching -which, at least to me, deserves serious consequences that the law should have delivered... I would hope that the Jena Six's lawyers will be able to establish that these young students were 'in fear for their lives'... but the case does not look like it will go that way.
by
C.Bid (0 articles, 7 quicklinks, 7 diaries, 679 comments)
on Friday, October 26, 2007 at 3:57:13 PM
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