Martin Lee Anderson Rally this Friday
 

(Many members of FSU's Greek community have been working very hard to raise awareness for this cause. Students can be seen on campus wearing bandaids on their foreheads in Martin's name. By the way, Cindy is a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., and is a good friend of mine).

Rev. Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton among speakers scheduled to appear in Tallahassee

Lauren Walleser

April 17, 2006

A rally will be taking place in Tallahassee Friday, April 21 regarding the ongoing investigation into the death of 14-year-old Martin Lee Anderson. Anderson died Jan. 6 at a Panhandle boot camp after being kneed and punched by Bay County Sheriff's boot camp guards.

Students from Florida State University, Tallahassee Community College and Florida A&M University have been involved in the planning and organization of the event at which Rev. Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton will be making appearances.

Charlie and Martin Sheen, who donated $10,000 to the cause, are also reportedly planning to attend Friday, along with former TLC member Tionne "T-Boz" Watkins and Afeni Shakur, mother of the murdered rapper Tupac Shakur. According Samantha Greer, an FSU student and volunteer for the Coalition for Justice for Martin Lee Anderson, Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois may also make an appearance. Greer stressed that the Coalition is still looking for volunteers and that anyone is welcome to join the cause.

"There are law enforcement that are doing a good job, but the ones that aren't, they need to be reprimanded," Greer said. "The people who are going too far with the disciplinary actions, they need to be reprimanded. We do appreciate the police. We are appreciative of the services that they give and perform for our community and the huge sacrifices that they make, but it gets kind of lost when people abuse their power."

Greer said that she became involved with the cause after watching the news and attending a seminar on the issue along with many senators from the Student Government Association and student activists. She and other students have been wearing bandaids on their foreheads to show support of the cause and create awareness. She said she will help with crowd control at the rally and make sure that students follow safety precautions and laws while protesting, as well as assist elderly and disabled protestors.

"It's going to be a peaceful protest, but we want it to be powerful," Greer said.

Volunteers will also be carrying signs and banners and handing out informational pamphlets to rally attendees.

"We're not just protesting - we want reform,"Greer continued. "We want people to be reprimanded. We want juveniles to have rehabilitation centers as opposed to boot camps, and we also want our politicians to know that we are paying attention and that they do need to take care of us and our children."

Anderson entered the boot camp Jan. 5 after being caught taking his grandmother's Jeep for a joy ride. He collapsed while being ordered to run around the track at the boot camp, and video has been released of the guards kneeing and punching him. The first autopsy report on Anderson following his death, conducted by medical examiner Charles Siebert, said that he died of natural causes related to a sickle cell anemia trait. However, after state attorney Mark Ober ordered a second autopsy, reports now show that Anderson did not die of natural causes.

"A lot of people are mistaking this for a racial issue, when it's really a humanitarian issue," said Cindy Motta, second vice president of the Progressive Student Assembly, an FSU organization, and volunteer coordinator for the Coalition. "These people were supposed to be reprimanding him but not kill him. The fact that our government is trying to cover this up and lie to people is not right. We as a people need to hold the government accountable."

The event will be kicking off at 8 a.m. Friday, with FSU students meeting in front of the Westcott Building. TCC and FAMU students will gather on their respective campuses, and all students will make their way to the Donald L. Tucker Center, formerly the Civic Center, at 9 a.m. where they will march to the Capitol for the main event. The rally will be held downtown from 10 a.m. to noon.

A volunteer meeting will be held for FSU students at 8 p.m. Monday in the Senate Chambers on the third floor of the Oglesby Student Union. TCC and FAMU will be holding their own volunteer meetings.

"I want people to feel like, even if you don't know anybody, if you know the cause and you're a humanitarian and you love people issues, you're more than welcome to come out, even if you feel like no one knows your name," Greer said.

For more information on the rally and how to get involved as a volunteer, contact Motta at cem02e@fsu.edu.

Is this a racial event too?

-Rudey

read the article.

Florida's Panhandle--Proud to call it Home. :rolleyes:

I did. And evidently a lot of people are making it into one although a one line quote by one person says it's not. Hence why you have a boatload of worthless leaders who exploit race like Al Sharpton there. So I suppose you can attend the rally and here how it's about race. I've seen Ricky Lake and I know they take kids off to boot camp like that. Nobody said it's going to be easy or fun and that's how the whole program is designed I bet. To kick you around until you wisen up.

-Rudey

Re: Martin Lee Anderson Rally this Friday
 

Just for Rudey--in case you missed reading it.

BTW--What's a 'racial event'? LOL--is that when everyone from different races come together? Or is it when people dress up like someone else from another/their own race?

enigma_AKA

Re: Re: Martin Lee Anderson Rally this Friday
 

I thought it was when everyone got together and watched a Spike Lee movie.

-Rudey

Now that's just lame. You can do better than that. No--seriously.:) Or maybe not...:(

Since everyone except for the person who made the quote who said it wasn't a racial issue is going to make it into one--how does this become a racial event? Your words, not anyone else's.


BTW---"Can you here what I here...?" :p

enigma_AKA

I think it was funny. You wouldn't appreciate my humour. And I have no idea what you're hearing :(

And Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton will be there along with T-Boz (who cares), Afeni Shakur (who will be putting on a concert afterwards), and a junior senator may or may not make an appearance. What exactly attracted these men and women to pay attention to this case down in Florida? What made the Famu kids a little peeved?

-Rudey
--My words, that's true.

I appreciate most humor but not all people (read:Blacks) buy into Spike Lee and his films/rhetoric. So your humor was lost on me. Sorry. :( As long as it cracks you up, then I have nothing more to say on that. :)

At any rate, just because these FAMU students are a little "peeved" (once again, your words) and the above mentioned are coming down, why isn't this still a humanitarian issue? That you, presumably a White male, couldn't possibly be concerned with the rightful ongoing investigation of a child's death, because she happens to be Black? All I am saying is that it doesn't have to be "White Versus Black" or a racial event in this case (if I am reading correctly into what you're saying--). It could just be a community of people speaking out.

enigma_AKA

PS-How do you know what I do and do not appreciate?! :p

It doesn't have to be a humanitarian issue either, it could just be about the Iraq war.

Except it's not about the Iraq war.

If it's about a kid dying then leave it at that. But if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, then it's a duck and this duck very much looks like a racial issue given famu students, the guest list of the event, and even the quote by someone mentioning race (as opposed to baseball).

And I try to please you but I never know if you appreciate my funnies. It's OK if you don't :(

-Rudey
--I buy into Spike Lee's rhetoric and I'm not a black male :)

Anything that Jesse Jackson is involved in...I just can't take seriously.

Cosign! But add Al Sharpton for me too. :(

update
 

Students Protest Boot Camp Death in Fla. By ANDREA FANTA, Associated Press Writer
1 hour, 29 minutes ago



TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - About 1,500 students marched with the Revs. Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton on Friday to protest how the state has handled the death of a black teenager who was punched and kicked by guards at a juvenile detention boot camp.


Martin Lee Anderson, 14, was the third young black male to die in state custody in the past three years. His death in January came a day after black and white guards were videotaped kicking, dragging and kneeing him. A medical examiner found the death was caused by complications from sickle cell trait, a usually benign blood disorder.

Friday's protest came a day after the state's top law enforcement officer resigned amid criticism over his handling of the case and a joke that Gov. Jeb Bush called "inappropriate."

The Miami Herald reported that Guy Tunnell compared Sen. Barack Obama to al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden and Jackson to the outlaw Jesse James at a meeting of department heads. The newspaper cited one unnamed source who was at the meeting and another who had spoken to a department head who was there.

Bush said he couldn't confirm details of the joke because he wasn't at the meeting.

"He made a joke that was inappropriate," Bush said. "He apologized to Lt. Gov. (Toni) Jennings. I don't know exactly what he said. It's important that the agency which is a critically important agency for people to have confidence, move forward. I thought it was appropriate to move on."

Sharpton said the march was about the death of Martin Lee Anderson, "not because somebody called us names."

College students held pictures of Anderson and his funeral casket and sang "justice delayed is justice denied" and "this is what democracy looks like."

Sharpton and Jackson held hands with his parents, Gina Jones and Robert Anderson, as they silently walked toward the Capitol. Jones cried when she saw the pictures.

Anderson's parents, the student protesters and the Legislature's black caucus dispute the official autopsy findings and have called on Bush to revoke the examiner's license. The parents also are seeking the results of a second autopsy, conducted after they had the boy's body exhumed.

Tunnell, commissioner of the state Department of Law Enforcement, started the Panama City boot camp when he was Bay County's sheriff. His agency was investigating the death until it was taken off the case by a special prosecutor appointed by Bush.

During the investigation, Tunnell had forwarded e-mails to the present sheriff that criticized those who questioned the effectiveness of the boot camp concept.

Bush said he did not ask Tunnell to step down.

"I think it was probably a cumulative thing, to be honest with you," Bush said. "The e-mail question as it related in the matter of this young child was inappropriate. He recognized that, and it put the agency in a difficult situation."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060421/ap_on_re_us/boot_camp_death_protest_13

General question sorta... but do protests really accomplish anything? People are always protesting this and protesting that, but really, what does it accomplish? "Awareness"? But what is a blurb on the news really going to do to change the world?

People protest the local army recruiting centers around here all the time. But they end up breaking a window or blocking traffic and wind up arrested. I have yet to see a tangible or even attitudinal change result from their actions.

Involve Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, who will show up at any event where TV cameras will be... doesn't do much for credibility.