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| Photo Credit: Katy Hennig: USF |
Friday, January 31, 2014
Video Report: White House Boys update, Erin Kimmerle talks exhumations at Dozier School for Boys, Boot Hill
The following video report is from January 28, 2014, and contains the latest information regarding USF's exhumation at the now defunct Arthur G. Dozier School for Boys located in Marianna, Florida. Researchers
have uncovered 55 children's bodies (some were found in places such as under trees and roads and not in the "cemetery" located at Boot Hill) 24 more than the State of Florida previously accounted for.
Live Twitter Updates: White House Boys, Dozier School for Boys and USF Exhumations
The following Tweets are in regards to the Dozier School for Boys and recent exhumations by USF's anthropological team led by Erin Kimmerle.
Tweets by @katyusfnews Not all of these tweets for "White House Boys" are related to Dozier Tweets about "white house boys"
Tweets by @katyusfnews Not all of these tweets for "White House Boys" are related to Dozier Tweets about "white house boys"
Thursday, September 5, 2013
Video: Possible second cemetery located at Dozier
I'm not clear why civil rights activists aren't over the Dozier School for Boys abuse case like white on rice. Seriously, the practice of segregation permeated much of the school's history due to Jim Crow and it wasn't until late 60s, possibly 70s that the school became integrated.
There were separate buildings, facilities, even the "White House" where children
were beaten and tortured was segregated. So, it seems only logical that children who had every function in their life segregated were also buried in separate locations.
Researchers from the University of South Florida are currently exhuming bodies from the "Boot Hill Cemetery" but this was widely known as the "colored" cemetery for the school's history.
So, where are the white boys buried?
It is absolutely illogical to assume that only black boys died and were buried at the school; the scanty records the school has shows that multiple white students died. Will there be white bodies in Boot Hill? Most likely, but those may be the remains of those who died after the school integrated.
There is no doubt in my mind that there are bodies buried in another location (if not haphazardly buried throughout the property).
USF addressed the possibility of a second cemetery in this news report below.
There were separate buildings, facilities, even the "White House" where children
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| Click to magnify: USF suspects second cemetery |
Researchers from the University of South Florida are currently exhuming bodies from the "Boot Hill Cemetery" but this was widely known as the "colored" cemetery for the school's history.
So, where are the white boys buried?
It is absolutely illogical to assume that only black boys died and were buried at the school; the scanty records the school has shows that multiple white students died. Will there be white bodies in Boot Hill? Most likely, but those may be the remains of those who died after the school integrated.
There is no doubt in my mind that there are bodies buried in another location (if not haphazardly buried throughout the property).
USF addressed the possibility of a second cemetery in this news report below.
Dozier victims' family members submit DNA (Videos)
This video is from June 2013, before excavation at the Dozier School for Boys in Marianna, Florida began at the end of August. The video shows family members who have lost loved ones once they were committed to the Dozier School for Boys (Florida School for Boys) submitting DNA in hopes of identifying remains.
USF located an additional 50 graves at the Dozier's Boot Hill Cemetery. Records
from the school are incomplete and it is impossible to determine exactly how many students passed through the school in its 111 years of operation. It is also impossible to know exactly how many children died while in the state-run reform school.
USF has one year to locate, exhume and perform forensic autopsies on the remains in hopes of reconnecting loved ones to victims and providing scientific evidence to substantiate victim's allegations of abuse, torture and murder while at the school.
USF located an additional 50 graves at the Dozier's Boot Hill Cemetery. Records
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| Death certificate lists "crushed skull" as cause |
USF has one year to locate, exhume and perform forensic autopsies on the remains in hopes of reconnecting loved ones to victims and providing scientific evidence to substantiate victim's allegations of abuse, torture and murder while at the school.
Video: Quest for justice makes grown men cry (White House Boys)
If you've read the stories of abuse regarding the "White House Boys" and the torture they endured while attending the "Florida School for Boys" or as it was later renamed the "Dozier School for Boys," you might have a sense of anger towards the state of Florida for allowing such abuse to continue.
There is only one truth: Either the stories are fictitious, or Florida state-sanctioned abuse, rape, and murder of some of the state's most needy children. While it is true that many children were sentenced to the school after committing extremely violent crimes, it is also true that some of the children were guilty of things such as
truancy, were wards of the state, or needed direction. While many may disagree with the methods used to transform children on the road to becoming hardened criminals, many will readily agree that murder, rape, and physical torture are not effective methods of rehabilitation.
They are also illegal.
The children who endured torment while wards of the Dozier School for Boys, have been treated with disdain by the state of Florida, and until Florida Governor Rick Scott overturned a judge and state committees decision to leave the deaths, graves and truth of what transpired at Dozier alone, there nightmares would have continued indefinitely.
There is simply no way that survivors of this brutality can even begin to heal until the truth is told and justice is served.
What might be most infuriating to me, is that up until August 2013, when Florida Governor Rick Scott approved USF's request to unearth graves on the school site and search for the truth, the "White House Boys" were treated as if their stories were mere allegations, fictitious truths conjured by troubled youth.
I don't know about you, but when I see a group of senior citizens, (some who continued to live a life of hardened crime) break down in tears when speaking about what they endured at Dozier...
Well, I'm convinced.
How could anyone listen to these survivors and not believe them...
Isn't the public aware of how many men simply do not cry? To see a group of men crying...
well, for me, that's all the proof I need.
Now, thankfully, the researchers at USF will uncover real, tangible, scientific proof that will finally give voices to those who were told to "hold the bars, bite the mattress and not move...lest the floggings start over again."
No matter how long Florida covered up the atrocities, there were those who continued to believe you, who never gave up the pursuit of justice...and who a century later, still grieve for the senseless brutality endured by those who were in need of the most help, and suffered greatly.
Can every juvenile offender be rehabilitated, reformed and safely integrated back into society? Of course not; but does that give state officials the right to abuse, rape, and murder child offenders because they are deemed to have the least amount of rights? Absolutely not.
There is no rehabilitation in rape, murder and abuse. The very people who were authorized by the state to be a troubled child's and their family member's "last chance at a decent life" were brutalized, in my opinion; it's a miracle any child who passed through Dozier not only made it out alive, but went on to live a productive life.
There is only one truth: Either the stories are fictitious, or Florida state-sanctioned abuse, rape, and murder of some of the state's most needy children. While it is true that many children were sentenced to the school after committing extremely violent crimes, it is also true that some of the children were guilty of things such as
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| Flags represent anomalies in the ground (USF) |
They are also illegal.
The children who endured torment while wards of the Dozier School for Boys, have been treated with disdain by the state of Florida, and until Florida Governor Rick Scott overturned a judge and state committees decision to leave the deaths, graves and truth of what transpired at Dozier alone, there nightmares would have continued indefinitely.
There is simply no way that survivors of this brutality can even begin to heal until the truth is told and justice is served.
What might be most infuriating to me, is that up until August 2013, when Florida Governor Rick Scott approved USF's request to unearth graves on the school site and search for the truth, the "White House Boys" were treated as if their stories were mere allegations, fictitious truths conjured by troubled youth.
I don't know about you, but when I see a group of senior citizens, (some who continued to live a life of hardened crime) break down in tears when speaking about what they endured at Dozier...
Well, I'm convinced.
How could anyone listen to these survivors and not believe them...
Isn't the public aware of how many men simply do not cry? To see a group of men crying...
well, for me, that's all the proof I need.
Now, thankfully, the researchers at USF will uncover real, tangible, scientific proof that will finally give voices to those who were told to "hold the bars, bite the mattress and not move...lest the floggings start over again."
No matter how long Florida covered up the atrocities, there were those who continued to believe you, who never gave up the pursuit of justice...and who a century later, still grieve for the senseless brutality endured by those who were in need of the most help, and suffered greatly.
Can every juvenile offender be rehabilitated, reformed and safely integrated back into society? Of course not; but does that give state officials the right to abuse, rape, and murder child offenders because they are deemed to have the least amount of rights? Absolutely not.
There is no rehabilitation in rape, murder and abuse. The very people who were authorized by the state to be a troubled child's and their family member's "last chance at a decent life" were brutalized, in my opinion; it's a miracle any child who passed through Dozier not only made it out alive, but went on to live a productive life.
Video: A look at unmarked graves at Dozier School for Boys
Though this news report is from March 2013, before Florida Governor Rick Scott overruled the decisions by a Jackson County Judge and a state committee not to exhume graves on the sprawling, Marianna, Florida property where the Dozier School for Boys stood. The University of Florida has found an additional 50
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| Boot Hill Cemetery (photo credit USF) |
This news report takes a good look at the now defunct school's grounds and the area where the unmarked graves were located.
USF researchers will resume excavations at a later date.
Video: News crew goes inside Dozier School for Boys
This video was filmed in March 2013, but it gives an inside look into the now closed Dozier School for Boys. The school opened in Marianna, Florida on Jan. 1, 1900, and was at one point one of the largest reform schools in the United States. Today, forensic analysis is being performed on bones excavated from the grounds
to determine if the nearly 100 bodies located on the property died due to violence; making the area a crime scene.
The battle to dig on the state-owned property has been long, but thanks to Florida Governor Rick Scott and Attorney General Pam Bondi, the way has been paved and Associate Professor of Anthropology Erin Kimmerle at the University of South Florida (USF) is leading a team on a year-long, project to exhume and examine bodies on the property.
While the first bones were removed from an area known as the "Boot Hill Cemetery", many survivors believe it is likely and highly possible that there are bodies buried throughout the grounds. The Dozier School for Boys encompasses a wide area of 1400 acres.
Here is a look inside the now defunct Dozier School for Boys from ABC Action News
Families who have been waiting decades may soon get the answers they demand. The Dozier School for Boys in Florida's panhandle is days away from being designated a massive crime scene.
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| State Archives of Florida, Florida Memory |
The battle to dig on the state-owned property has been long, but thanks to Florida Governor Rick Scott and Attorney General Pam Bondi, the way has been paved and Associate Professor of Anthropology Erin Kimmerle at the University of South Florida (USF) is leading a team on a year-long, project to exhume and examine bodies on the property.
While the first bones were removed from an area known as the "Boot Hill Cemetery", many survivors believe it is likely and highly possible that there are bodies buried throughout the grounds. The Dozier School for Boys encompasses a wide area of 1400 acres.
Here is a look inside the now defunct Dozier School for Boys from ABC Action News
Families who have been waiting decades may soon get the answers they demand. The Dozier School for Boys in Florida's panhandle is days away from being designated a massive crime scene.
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