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Tallahassee Students Hold Sit-In at Florida Capitol

Photo credit: The Famuan Tallahassee students and other citizens sit in Florida Gov. Jeb Bush's outer office, protesting what they called a cover-up in a teenager's death.

By Herneshia Spurlock
Black College Wire

Students from Florida A&M University, Florida State University and Tallahassee Community College staged a sit-in at the governor's office at the state Capitol to protest a suspected cover-up in the death of a 14-year-old boy at a state boot camp.

Martin Lee Anderson died on Jan. 6 at a Bay County Department of Juvenile Justice boot camp after being beaten, kicked and kneed by boot camp guards.

On April 19, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and a number of senators met privately with four of the student leaders, including FAMU Student Government Association President Ramon Alexander and Gabriel Pendas, Florida State's senate president. But the governor's responses to the student protesters' demands were unsatisfactory, said Kaycee Brock, chief of staff of the SGA at Florida State.

Alexander and Pendas helped facilitate preparations for the sit-in.

"Enough effort has not been committed to this case," Alexander said. "We aren't going anywhere until appropriate attention is brought to this case."

Bush met April 20 with Anderson's parents. Details of that meeting were not released.

More than 30 students congregated in the lobby of the governor's office April 19 to demand justice. They requested to speak with Bush, while 70 additional protesters rallied outside.

The student protesters wore Band-Aids on their foreheads to signify that Anderson was on their minds.

"Justice delayed is justice denied," Pendas said.

The student protesters said they intended to remain at the governor's office until their demands were met.

According to Florida State student Joshua Moore, 21, a senior biology student, the seven demands include: release of a second autopsy report; filing of a civil suit against the Bay County Sheriff's Office and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement; the arrest of the seven guards and nurse involved; removal of the medical examiner and revocation of his medical license; a change of location for the court hearing; and a public apology to the Anderson family from Bush and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

The initial autopsy report said that Anderson died of complications from sickle-cell trait. Results of a second autopsy are pending, and a noted pathologist who observed it said the boy did not die of natural causes and more than likely asphyxiated while being restrained, the Tallahassee Democrat reported.

In addition, "Bush wrote the special prosecutor he assigned to the case and asked him to broaden the investigation's scope to include the deletion of all January and February e-mails from the Bay County prosecutor's files. The e-mails are public records, and State Attorney Steve Meadows has said the erasures were accidental," the newspaper said.

"We plan to stay in the governor's office until our demands are met," Moore said. "If it means rescheduling my semester exams, then that's what I will have to do."

Each hour, all of the protesters stood. Someone read an inspirational quote and recited the list of demands.

Some state representatives brought the protesters food, said Brock, 21, a junior sociology student.

She said some also volunteered to stay with them.

On April 20, the student protesters met with members of the Tallahassee Democratic Party.

The organization volunteered to donate items for the march, including water bottles and portable restrooms.

Moore said some politicians commented that the students were courteous or orderly. No force has been used.

Herneshia Spurlock, a student at Florida A&M University, writes for the Famuan. She can be contacted at [email protected]

Posted April 21, 2006