June 4, 2006
Rally seeks justice
in boy's death
Vowing not to rest
until someone is arrested for the death of Martin
Lee Anderson, more than 400 people joined a protest
march Saturday.
BY GARY FINEOUT
PANAMA CITY
- On a hot, steamy day, roughly 400
people, most of them from other cities and towns
across Florida, quietly walked past the place where
14-year-old Martin Lee Anderson spent some of his
final hours.
The moment of silence
was the one bit of quiet during a three-hour march
and rally in this North Florida town that was
designed to keep pressure on politicians, as well as
media interest, in the case of the young man who
died just a day after entering the now-shuttered Bay
County boot camp.
''We won't rest until
the people who murdered Martin Lee Anderson are
convicted,'' vowed Bruce Gordon, national president
and CEO of the NAACP, which helped organize the
rally, as he led a group chant of ``No Justice, No
Peace.''
Martin died Jan. 6, a
day after he was repeatedly hit, punched and kneed
by guards employed by the Bay County Sheriff's
Office in a scene that was captured on videotape. He
had been sent to the boot camp after being arrested
for joyriding in his grandmother's car. Boot camps
in Florida are no longer legal under a measure
signed into law this past week by Gov. Jeb Bush.
An initial autopsy,
performed by Bay County Medical Examiner Charles
Siebert, said Martin died of natural causes because
of sickle cell trait, a genetic blood disorder
primarily affecting African Americans. But a second
autopsy concluded Martin suffocated when a group of
guards used ammonia capsules on him after he
collapsed from running laps. So far no one has been
charged in connection with Martin's death. After his
speech, Gordon said that he has talked directly with
U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales about the
need to have federal authorities step into the
investigation if state authorities misstep. The
state investigation is being led by Hillsborough
County State Attorney Mark Ober.
Gordon said his group
help sponsored the march because he and others are
worried that without continued pressure from the
NAACP and other groups, the case will be settled
quietly. Even state Sen. Tony Hill, a Jacksonville
Democrat who joined the march, said some black
officials in Panama City have urged black
legislators to tone down their criticism, noting
that one of the guards involved is black.
The rally at Tommy
Oliver Stadium, home to Bay County's high school
football teams, and the one-mile march featured a
large contingent from Tallahassee, including
students from Florida A&M University, Florida State
University and Tallahassee Community College.
Chanting slogans such
as ''We're Fired Up,'' the crowd walked slowly
through a neighborhood near the stadium, then
marched down the road that houses the Bay County
Juvenile Justice Courthouse, the state Department of
Juvenile Justice offices and the county detention
center, where the boot camp was located. The
chanting stopped, however, when the crowd filed past
the boot camp where Martin's picture stood on an
easel on the sidewalk.
Even though Gina
Jones and Robert Anderson, the parents of Martin Lee
Anderson, helped lead the march, most of those
participating were not from Bay County. And the
march itself attracted only a handful of onlookers.
Wayne Johnson, who
spent his childhood in Panama City and returned 14
years ago, said he remains undecided about Martin's
death but he said the case has divided people in his
hometown.
''The white folks
don't really understand the rage black folks have
toward this event,'' said Johnson, who watched the
march while sitting on his maroon Harley-Davidson
motorcycle. ``It seems the black community is pretty
much united. I always thought Bay County had really
good race relations. I'm just disappointed this
happened.''
Bill Stevenson, a
70-year-old native of Panama City, gave the marchers
a thumbs down when they filed past. Panama City
Police officers then asked him to leave.
''I think they are
full of malarkey,'' said Stevenson, who said Martin
was a ''juvenile delinquent'' and ''incorrigible''
and that no one should reach any conclusions before
the investigation ends. ``They are trying to try
this whole episode in the news media.''
Rufus Woods, pastor
of Love Center Missionary Baptist Church and second
vice president of the NAACP chapter in Bay County,
could not explain why more local residents did not
participate in the rally, although others noted that
hundreds packed a Panama City church in February to
protest Martin's death.
But Woods said more
white pastors and white churches should join in the
protest.
''It seems that many
whites loves to deal with moral issues such as
homosexuality and abortion,'' he said.
``I'd say Martin Lee
Anderson losing his life is a moral issue. This
issue is not about black or white. This issue is
about right and wrong.''
