From The Dissident Voice
By Lizz Brown

The entire horrific crime was captured on tape, and a (second) autopsy showed 14-year-old Martin Lee Anderson died of suffocation after being gang-muscled by guards on his very first day at a Florida boot camp. Despite the medical and video evidence, an all-white jury took only 90 minutes to find the guards innocent of all wrongdoing — a miscarriage of justice so blatant it recalls the worst days of official Jim Crow lawlessness. The guards — who were careful to keep their hats sitting jauntily on their heads throughout the fatal assault on Anderson — enjoyed the impunity that flows from a society in which Black life has no value.

It has nearly all of the makings of a snuff film — exploitation, cruelty, violence and of course murder — a 60-minute video (view it by clicking, below) that captures the first moments at Panama City, Florida, boot camp and the last few minutes of life for 14-year-old Martin Lee Anderson. Most of us met lanky Martin only through the lens of that video camera. We were not there to introduce ourselves as Martin’s poor unconscious, adolescent body was slapped against the concrete time and time again.

We were not there as guards walked away from Martin, dusting off their hands as if it were the little bits of dirt picked up from his last thrashings of life that deserved prompt and immediate attention. We were not there to meet him — we could only get to know him after.

An introduction in absentia: how dreadful for us and how deadly for Martin.

As we watch this video of men brutalizing a child, it is striking how unmoved they appear. No one seemed touched by Martin Lee’s urgent and desperate actions. This child tried to explain, he begged, he pleaded and not one of these super-sized men seemed interested.

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