On Jan. 6, 14-year-old Martin Lee Anderson died after being beaten by seven guards at the Bay County Boot Camp in Panama City in northern Florida. The second autopsy report demanded by the outraged community was released on May 5. It confirmed that Anderson had been suffocated by guards and forced to inhale ammonia.
The teen’s murder focused attention on the Florida boot camp system, originally set up by Governor Jeb Bush. Anderson is the third Black youth to die in the custody of such a boot camp in the past three years.
 Community activists and students protest racist boot camp in Panama City, Florida, April 21, 2006. Photo: Reuters/Mark Wallheiser |
The first autopsy claimed that Anderson died of “natural causes” related to sickle-cell anemia. But a video surfaced showing the brutal beating. His family, the African American community and supporters in nearby Tallahassee were outraged by the first autopsy. Protests led to the performance of a second autopsy.
Anderson had no criminal record. He was remanded by a judge to the camp after taking his grandmother’s car on a joy ride.
The killing took place just hours after the teen arrived at the camp on Jan. 5. He had been unable to continue running laps.
In April, Bay County sheriff Frank McKeithen was forced to close down Bay County Boot Camp as the racist criminalization of youth became a top news story. Other similar camps around the state are expected to close. Legislators are drawing up a bill to shut them down.
The seven guards and the nurse involved in the beating are now facing criminal charges and dismissal. The Florida Legislative Black Caucus is calling for Dr. Charles Siebert, who performed the first autopsy, to be fired.
Protests force politicians to retreat
Pressure began to mount on April 20, when 35 students took over Gov. Jeb Bush’s office for 20 hours upon his returning from a tour in Afghanistan, Iraq and Kuwait. They demanded that Gov. Bush meet with Anderson’s parents and make public results of the first autopsy.
House speaker Alan Bense claimed that the situation was “out of the governor’s hands.” But one of the student protestors, Florida A&M University student government president Ramon Alexander, said, “The governor has used his bully pulpit on many issues.”
The next day, over 1,500 people protested at the state’s capitol, including civil rights leaders Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson. Sharpton and Jackson also met with Gov. Bush to press for the demands to be met.
The politicians and bureaucrats like Gus Barreiro, who heads Florida’s House committee on juvenile justice, and Governor Jeb Bush are lining up to condemn Anderson’s killing—now that the truth could no longer be concealed.
In the meantime, the actual perpetrators of this crime are still walking free, months after Martin Anderson’s killing. Jailing the killers still remains the top priority of his family and community supporters.
“I’m just glad the truth is out. But I already knew what the truth was. Now that the truth is out, […] I want justice. I want the guards and the nurse to be arrested,” said Gina Jones, Martin’s mother.
Articles may be reprinted with credit to Socialism and Liberation magazine.
