Marianna
A CONSPIRACY OF SILENCE OR A NEW DAY?
by Robert Straley, a White House Boy Who Survived
White House Boy Robert Straley in Front of the White House Torture Chamber
I woke up this morning to a news story that the Marianna Police Department was investigating the permit used to conduct recent research at the former Dozier School for Boys in Jackson County. Kevin Wood, of the Bay Community News was on this story before I could get down a cup of coffee and read the news. It seems Dale Cox, self described historian and self published writer, reported to the Marianna Police Chief Hayes Baggett that he felt USF over stepped the boundary of their archaeological permit and may have violated Florida Statutes.
However, that turned out to not be the case: the Police Chief was just looking into the matter.
Florida State Archaeologist Mary Glowacki – Authorized and Signed Off of Dozier Exploration Permit
Chief Baggett did obtain a copy of the permit and had spoken with the Bureau of Archeological Research (BAR). Baggett says BAR representatives tell him there was nothing done that was out of the scope of the permit.
Marianna, Florida Chief of Police Hayes Baggett
Now I can see where Dale Cox, who seems to be the voice of Marianna, at least sanctioned by the county commissioners, probably used Statute 872.02 of the Florida Statutes to make his case. http://www.flsenate.gov/Laws/Statutes/2011/872.02
However, I fail to see how he could have missed: sub-section (3) This section shall not apply to any person acting under the direction or authority of the Division of Historical Resources of the Department of State, to cemeteries operating under chapter 497, or to any person otherwise authorized by law to remove or disturb a tomb, monument, gravestone, burial mound, or similar structure, or its contents, as described in subsection (1).
If Mr Cox is the voice of Marianna, then he is taking the town down the wrong path, the same path of obstruction to the truth and the very path that eventually caused Marianna to lose Dozier. I notice in the news that people in Marianna are finally speaking out about Professor Kimmerle’s work and agree it is the right way to get to the bottom of Dozier’s brutal past, even if it is a painful journey.
Florida NAACP 4th Vice President Dale Landry with Florida NAACP President Adora Obe Nweze
Marianna wants a new chapter to begin, closing once and for all the evil deeds of a few that caused so much pain for so many. Sixty eight years of the flogging of boys and surrounding the facility in a veil of secrecy has probably topped any institution’s record for abuse. Towns people, as well as some employees that wanted to speak out, were silenced by fear of those in power.
I did not find Mr. Landry’s remark about Dachau out of order at all. Mr. Landry stated: “I’ve only been to one other place in my life that was like that building- the White House- and that was when I went to Germany and went to Dachau” Landry said.
The WhiteHouse building’s interior looks like a dungeon, complete with corroded and stained walls, small and cramped cells. It has a overpowering sense of claustrophobia. You do not run across a room that looks like that everyday. He made no mention of the Jewish Holocaust.
Cox jumped on that stating:”Six million people died in the Holocaust” Cox said. “And I think comparing anything we know about today to that I think is insulting. It’s insulting to [Jackson County residents], its insulting to the Jewish community and it’s a travesty to history.”
Dauchaeu Germany Concentration Camp Memorial Sign Saying “Never Again”
I think Cox took the comment out of context, Mr. Landry was comparing a room to a room of similar appearance. However, since Dale Cox was so fast to bring the Holocaust up, let’s go there:
The comparison is that this was a very small holocaust, in a very small town, as the same type of situation occurred. At the school we were in fear each and every day of receiving a flogging for the slightest infraction or at their whim. Boys went missing, suggesting in our minds murder. Some ran from the fear of the floggings and the fear that they might be killed. Medical experimentation on the boys by Dr. Souza is a known fact. His self made (highly illegal) medical concoction was a specially prepared mixture of concentrated protein prepared from red bone marrow. Each child under treatment receives eight ounces a day. Of 2,200 boys tested, he said, 1,800 showed the problem…..and 70 percent improved with treatment. http://tinyurl.com/bvwwxv6 Reported by Joy Reese Shaw, during an interview with him.
Prisoners at Dachau feared they would be sent to the crematorium or gallows or simply shot. German physicians performed medical experiments on prisoners as well, resulting in many hideous deaths. Internal organs were switched between prisoners. Experimental injections of various drugs were inflicted. If a towns person objected, who would they complain to, the SS Officers? Unlikely.
Dauchaeu Germany Concentration Camp Crematorium – Hitler’s “Boot Hill”
In each case the facilities were near a town that hid the brutality and deaths from outsiders. As one elderly lady that had lived in Marianna told me: “If you talked about the boys and what was happening to them your barn could be burnt, your cattle poisoned or you might just pick up a stray bullet from a hunter’s rifle. That was the word back then and that is the word now.” I got this same story from three ladies that were all at least in their late seventies or eighties. Those that didn’t agree with the beatings weren’t going to the Police, not in the town of Marianna with a heavy KKK presence. One policeman stated: “This town is sewed up tight. You’re not going to find out anything here.”
Fox13 Tanya Arja: Elmore Bryant who grew up in Marianna, remembers the threats he heard as a child: : “Dozier meant fear to me. Most of the older people remember that threat: if you don’t behave we’ll send you to that boy’s school.” He was never sent to Marianna as a boy, but did teach there for eleven years. He said there were many secrets of boys abused by guards in this building (the white house) He stated: “It was more like a fraternal togetherness, ain’t nobody going to tell on anybody.”
The lawyers don’t need any more stories from the men, they don’t need any more historical information from us, they have all the evidence they need. The Senators and Representatives of Florida know about it, Attorney General Pam Bondi, Senator Bill Neslon, Wansley Walters DJJ, Glenn Hess State Attorney, are all aware of the situation and want justice and closure. For anyone to take the part of an obstructionist seems insane when the cat has been out of the bag this long. http://tinyurl.com/cy4ksqa Historical Witnesses
It puzzles me due to the fact that I am not exactly sure what it is Dale Cox and the Jackson County Commissioners are afraid they might find should the exhumations take place. If he truly believes that there was no wrong doing at the school then why doesn’t he keep quiet until the results come in; then the truth will be known. Up to this point the facts support the allegations brought forth by the White House Boys and that is why the state of Florida has agreed to look into the matter. Mr. Cox seems to go from one personal complaint to another. When one does not work to his benefit he moves on to another. It has now been stated by state officials that Jackson County will not have to bear the cost of any work done by the University of South Florida. Now that he has lost that battle what does he have planned next? By trying to discredit USF and Professor Kimmerle he is only making a fool of himself. Let him show his Curriculum Vitae as Professor Kimmerle’s is posted: http://anthropology.usf.edu/faculty/data/kimmerle_cv.pdf
As head of DJJ, Secretary Wansley Walters launched her “Roadmap to System Excellence” a comprehensive initiative to strategically reform juvenile justice in Florida which is designed to give juveniles the proper service and help at the right time and place, sending younger and less serious offenders to group homes or situations other than straight to a jail or juvenile hall. It seems to be a wonderful success. http://www.djj.state.fl.us/roadmap-to-system-excellence
Senator Bill Nelson (center), Department of Juvenile Justice Secretary Wansley Walters (left), and USF Anthropologist Erin Kimmerle Walk Up to “Boot Hill”
The days of “Sweeping it under the rug” or “That’s Florida for you” is nearing an end. The “good old boys” had their time and blew it. Teenagers dying in juvenile halls are not being over-looked as they once were. Guards that commit cruelty are being fired or charged with a crime. Accountability has arrived.
We will probably never see a single person charged with a crime from our time period, but at least the boys that died in silence and fear are being found at last. I think that was the intention in the first place. http://tinyurl.com/cq5mrqp “Please Remember Me”
This is the story that started itself, that put together a million to one chance encounter of a few individuals, a hand that picked several of the “worst of the worst,” to do the work, men that would not falter nor tire, reporters that believed us, God bless them all, and those in power who have made a stand. It only takes a few candles to extinguish the darkness. Let those lost boys be found and accounted for, even those without a name remembered in some fashion as they were but Florida’s wayward sons.
r.straley