JUSTICE?
It's a lot to ask when your Black in America isn't it? However, we're still far from it when cases like the Jena 6 and Martin Lee Anderson are floating out there. Martin who? That's the name of the kid who was killed in a Panama City, FL boot camp in January '06, but boot camp staff reported that he died of natural causes. Martin was in bootcamp for stealing his Grandma's car and joyriding in it. He was sentenced to probation but violated it, so he was sent to boot camp, which is used to "scare straight" kids that show signs of going down the wrong path. All this to say, Anderson wasn't a violent kid. Nonetheless, after the first 2 hours of his first day at boot camp, Anderson was forced to continue exercising after he collapsed during the exercise routine. Drill instructors applied numerous uses of force including pinning him by the arms, slamming him to the ground, applying pressure point applications, and forcing him to inhale ammonia tablets. After this 20 minute struggle, Anderson died. Of course the Anderson family demanded an investigation, so the useless Florida Department of Law Enforcement announced that his autopsy ruled out "trauma or injury". Instead they claimed Anderson died on natural causes related to sickle cell. Knowing that this was pure BS (because an otherwise healthy kid can't die of simply having the sickle cell trait) his parents ordered another autopsy from a reknowned forensic pathologist with the backing of the NAACP. They found:
1) Martin Anderson had sickle cell trait.
2) The repeated blows to Martin Anderson’s limbs and the gripping of his limbs left several bruises
but did not contribute to his death. In other words, he was not beaten to death.
3) Martin Anderson’s death was caused by suffocation due to actions of the guards at the boot camp.
The suffocation was caused by manual occlusion of the mouth, in concert with forced inhalation of
ammonia fumes that caused spasm of the vocal cords resulting in internal blockage of the upper airway.
Vernard I. Adams, M.D.
Chief Medical Examiner[9]
Basically, the camp employees killed him. 7 camp officials assaulted this boy while the nurse stood by watching. It's all on tape. The second autopsy was conducted in February. Martin, who was 15, died in January yet no arrests were made until November. All of them are out on bail. The case is going to trial, but will by all accounts, feature a majority white jury - as is the racial demographic of that region. On top of that, the family has faced an uphill battle to draw attention to this case, and get adequate representation as the governor (at the time) Jeb Bush has remained indifferent. If a white teenage girl was beaten by 7 boot camp employees and died right after it, she would be a household name.
I'm so tired of this. Why is it that these stories don't make headlines. Is this not worth discussing, or non-relatable because he's Black?
25 September 2007
JUSTICE?
It's a lot to ask when your Black in America isn't it? However, we're still far from it when cases like the Jena 6 and Martin Lee Anderson are floating out there. Martin who? That's the name of the kid who was killed in a Panama City, FL boot camp in January '06, but boot camp staff reported that he died of natural causes. Martin was in bootcamp for stealing his Grandma's car and joyriding in it. He was sentenced to probation but violated it, so he was sent to boot camp, which is used to "scare straight" kids that show signs of going down the wrong path. All this to say, Anderson wasn't a violent kid. Nonetheless, after the first 2 hours of his first day at boot camp, Anderson was forced to continue exercising after he collapsed during the exercise routine. Drill instructors applied numerous uses of force including pinning him by the arms, slamming him to the ground, applying pressure point applications, and forcing him to inhale ammonia tablets. After this 20 minute struggle, Anderson died. Of course the Anderson family demanded an investigation, so the useless Florida Department of Law Enforcement announced that his autopsy ruled out "trauma or injury". Instead they claimed Anderson died on natural causes related to sickle cell. Knowing that this was pure BS (because an otherwise healthy kid can't die of simply having the sickle cell trait) his parents ordered another autopsy from a reknowned forensic pathologist with the backing of the NAACP. They found:
1) Martin Anderson had sickle cell trait.
2) The repeated blows to Martin Anderson’s limbs and the gripping of his limbs left several bruises
but did not contribute to his death. In other words, he was not beaten to death.
3) Martin Anderson’s death was caused by suffocation due to actions of the guards at the boot camp.
The suffocation was caused by manual occlusion of the mouth, in concert with forced inhalation of
ammonia fumes that caused spasm of the vocal cords resulting in internal blockage of the upper airway.
Vernard I. Adams, M.D.
Chief Medical Examiner[9]
Basically, the camp employees killed him. 7 camp officials assaulted this boy while the nurse stood by watching. It's all on tape. The second autopsy was conducted in February. Martin, who was 15, died in January yet no arrests were made until November. All of them are out on bail. The case is going to trial, but will by all accounts, feature a majority white jury - as is the racial demographic of that region. On top of that, the family has faced an uphill battle to draw attention to this case, and get adequate representation as the governor (at the time) Jeb Bush has remained indifferent. If a white teenage girl was beaten by 7 boot camp employees and died right after it, she would be a household name.
I'm so tired of this. Why is it that these stories don't make headlines. Is this not worth discussing, or non-relatable because he's Black?
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2 comments:
Wow, I remember that...you see more about that little white girl who was "Abducted", and Michael Vick and them damn dogs, than this.
Wow this is my first time hearing about the case in Florida but my heart goes out to the family and hopefully one day Justice will Prevail (fingers, toes, noes, and eyes crossed for that). My supervisor attended the Jena 6 march in LA and said that is was an experience that she will never forget. Did you guys know they blocked the phone service in the town so they no one could call in or out. (Where they do that itsh at?) We as blacks need to start praying and sticking together not just when things like this come about because others are seeing how we are acting now towards each other and are taking advantage of every moment.
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