When I first read the news article about the pending trial of eight guards of a “Boot Camp” for young offenders, on manslaughter charges after beating a fourteen year old boy who had collapsed during physical training, I figured it was an open and shut case. The guards used excessive force with the child that ended in his death. How much of a fool I am after hearing the verdict given by the all white jury. They have set free the eight killers without any explanation. I am amazed and shocked that this has happened but I guess that is what happens in the South. I guess we can start seeing Florida returning to the time of Jim Crow laws where blacks don’t get the same rights as the whites. I know for a fact had all the guards been black and the child was white every one would have been found guilty and spent 30 years in prison.
One of the things that gets me is that when I went through Army basic training, the Drill Sergeants were not allowed to lay hands on us. However, they could pressure us to do what we had to do without threat of physical contact, and we were adults. What makes people think it is right to physically beat a child to get them to perform.
