Dozier: Reform School For Boys

Death Sentence For Orphans/foster kids

By Vonia Martin

After watching the latest news about this horrible true life nightmare of a place; Dozier reform school for boys, I just want to throw up. How horrific that this place was operational until 2011 yet no one remains to hold accountable for the crimes committed against these children. That doesn't seam reasonable but who am I to question wether or not people get away with what seams to me mass murder. Mass murdering of children, adult supervisers letting if not encouraging children to kill each other or suffer worse then death consequences. What is worse then death; being raped and sodimized when your just a boy. Being raped and sodimized in front of everyone then being made fun of naked and beaten. You are told if you don't kill you will suffer the same fate day after day night after night until you do kill so you may as well just get it over with. So broken are you that you don't even notice until its too late that its your own brother they made you kill and what's worse still, you are made to dig and bury your own brother so you can get out of there alive. Now you have to live with what you've done and the fact you can't tell anyone what they are doing for fear you will be imprisoned for killing your own brother if your family doesn't kill you first. To have to live with this secret the rest of your life must have weighed heavy an many of these young boys. I wonder how many of them ended up taking their own life. What are the statistics on this horrible place or have they buried them in other statistics to hide the real truth which is always in the numbers.

There needs to be some way for these kids, who are now adults, to get some justice! The statute of limitations on violent crime, especially committed against a child, should no longer be! When we deny justice because too much time has gone by we are just as guilty of that crime as the one who committed it. If we need to write or rewrite the laws then so be it! As long as these men live they have to endure the memories of what was done to them. No amount of time is going to erase, from their minds, the abuse they suffered. The scars are still there so why do the ones who put them there get to get away with it? No crime against a child should have a statute of limitations. The state of Florida should be held accountable for allowing these crimes against children to go on and to go on and on and on. 110 years! WTF?

All I keep seeing in my minds eye are these little orphan/foster boys being hunted like animals and killed then put in an unmarked grave. No one noticed that a lot of deaths were occurring because they were no body's children. The perfect victim; orphans/foster kids.

If there is one thing I know in this world and that is people. Hell, I'm one myself. Having grown up in the foster care system I know a little bit about what I'm saying. After being victimized my whole childhood, I know something about survival and how predators turn their victims into the monster for the sake of them getting away with it. When confronted with the choice don't become the monster! If you end up dead its better then living with what you are about to do, trust me.  No, I never became the monster but I know how tempting it is just to end the pain. There is no end to it for me because I will never know justice. 

I feel those orphan/foster kid's pain as if it were my own. It just hits me at some point in my day I am seeing boys running, running through trees and shrubs over logs and stumps. Running for their lives. The fear was so great that some froze where they stood only to be cut down like an animal. They would leave them there, where they were killed, to be picked apart by the animals, their remains will never be recovered. When they were segregated, the whites from the blacks, they would get the black kids to hunt the white orphan/foster kid and visa versa. The people that ran the place would pit them against each other then throw an orphan/foster kid in the middle and make them kill them if they wanted to get out. The ones that wouldn't participate ended up dead, those are the remains of the ones that are identified because they had family. Orphans/foster kids don't. Dozier's employees used these kids for their own amusement and experiments. The state of Florida used Dozier to rid itself of what it deemed to be high risk children, potentially costing the state a lot more when they enter the prison system. Hundreds of children just went missing from this place, more then we will ever know because their remains will never be found since aligators and cracodiles inhabit the everglades where Dozier is convienantly located. 

It's shit like this school that keeps prejudice alive and well. It's shit like this that makes my point about prejudice that it isn't going to go away until we admit our prejudice against orphans/foster kids. Collectively as a whole society subconsciously and systematically set out to rid ourselves of them. God knows we don't really give them a chance.

After hearing about this horrific true life nightmare about this reform school for boys in Florida my first reaction was thank god I'm not a boy and second how in the hell did this go on for over a hundred years? It took a few days for it to sink in, there were orphans there that did nothing wrong but had no where else to go. These are the bodies in the unmarked graves. Not only did no one miss them no one even bothered to know their names, the others buried there that are missed and have names wouldn't kill the orphans so they were killed. That is how they got away with it all these years, by making murderers out of the boys with something to lose. Some how the boy that they killed in 'the White House' wasn't an orphan so they had to turn the guilty ones over to the authorities other wise they may still be in business. 

It's one of the tricks the pedophile/predators play on their victims; they turn them into their worse night mare. They get them to commit horrific acts with them in exchange for their freedom that in the end they won't want because now they are the monster.  It does insure their silence since now they are one of them. Most victims don't become the monster, no, most kill themselves. For some, it's to escape the nightmare for others is to not become the nightmare. These children were hunted like animals and killed where they were caught. 

If you think I don't know what I'm talking about, why have they stopped idintifying the unmarked graves there? Why aren't they trying to identify the boys in the woods? Why is it whenever orphans are mentioned it's like this collective unspoken understanding passes through everyone and the conversation is changed. Well, I will tell you why; because no one cares, so no one knows who they are. They truely are the lost boys.

How do we know that one of those boys isn't the decendent of someone great? An illegitimate child, perhaps? We will never know if we don't dig them up and at least give them a number and put them in the DNA data base. Which can use as much as we can throw at it.

My other question is; do we think this is the only place like this?

Please, don't kill the messenger.  

My heart and thanks goes out to the scientist that took it upon herself(themselves) to at least identify some of the unmarked graves.  By comparing DNA of some of the surviving family members they identified 14 of the 51 bodies they exhumed. The rest are probably orphans, who's names we will never know. What else do we do with these boys, that will become men, that have nothing to lose? I know, we put them in tents under a bridge some where and hope they stay out of sight. Then when we can't ignore the stench or sight any more we get out the fire hoses and hose them out of the gutter and down the storm drain to the next tent city they will set up only to start the process all over again.

These people probably don't have any identification so going to get aid is difficult because the government wants to track these people and they have had enough of the system. A lot of them are mentally ill and trying to self medicate and it's hard to get drugs in in institution, except the kind that makes them feel like some one other then themselves. Besides people like to feel like they are in control of themselves and part of that is self medicating.  Most have come to not trust the system or the people that say they want to help you.     

This story won't let go of me. Its like all the orphans buried there want to be found, they want us to know their stories. Orphans have no one to request their bodies be exhumed so I will. Please, please dig up all the bodies at Dozier and give them a proper burial or cremate them but don't leave them in their unmarked graves. I have a feeling these are the kids they hunted and killed where they found them. The other boys were made to do most of the killing of these orphans, that way they where less likely to tell anyone what was happening there.  

What went on in the 50s and 60s that children were hunted like animals and murdered by one of their own. What goes on in a persons head to do something like this to children? They say that there are very few survivors of this reform school, on both sides; staff and children. Why? They just closed it in 2011? So why is everyone dead already? Suicide? I wonder.   

To My Sisters and Brothers in Foster Care(the People Pound)

More From The People Pound

by Vonia Martin

My fellow foster care kids, that can at least read. I realize the state tries to keep you all separated from one another but I believe this is a mistake. Who better can understand these kids then other foster children? In the past this was cause for concern thinking you all would be a bad influence on one another and in part that might be true. Under a structured and loosely supervised group meetings for at risk youth around the community might actually help everyone. You should be involved in your community, where ever you are, the more involved you get the more they will want to keep you around. Make yourself necessary, volunteer to help people around you, if they won't let you be an opportunist and help where ever you see the need. Very few people will reject your aid if in that moment they have no choice, that does not mean go about creating the need so don't go there. If no one needs your help immediately maybe find a shelter or soup kitchen, what ever it is find something that you can give back to the communities you are staying in. There is nothing more empowering, other then quitting something your addicted to, then helping others less fortunate then you. Yes, you are headed to being the person in need that is why you're putting in the time while you still have a place to live. Any way meet more people like you, start a network of foster kids, for foster kids. It sucks that you don't have a cell phone but I'm hoping to change that but first you all need to make sure you know how to read because it's all about the texting.

If you are a foster kid that has committed crimes and still are; stop. If you are under age come clean on the crimes you've committed to your case worker. If you listened to me you are already doing community service so you may not have to spend time in juvie but if you do you do. Do your time but help others while your there always look to help other no matter what fucked up situation you find yourself in. Not only will it give you purpose it will help the time pass faster and you may get out early, if you want to. Try not to get institutionalized no matter how long your in and helping others is a good way to pass time. Exercise, no matter what find a way to work out, run, walk, jog just do something, spend your time wisely. Have the greatest positive impacted on those around you.

Remember, you are better then everyone else so act like it. Don't let others drag you down and don't let the fact that you have no family strip you of all self worth. Family isn't always the one you are born to, sometimes we have to piece it together from what others tossed aside. Help one another not just other foster kids but everyone. First other foster kids because like you they have only you, show them the way, lead by example. Always be the example not the exception. You are already exceptional you have survived what most could not. We are not meant to be sacrificed we are meant for greatness so it's time to act like it. No one is as strong, no one is as flexible, no one is as tough; mentally and emotionally then some one who's been through life with no one. With the exception of veterans. We should not be the go to pool for suspects in crimes, we should be the ones out there stopping our bothers and sisters from going over the edge and giving in to what everyone believes about us. It is our duty to break free of t prejudices about whom they deem disposable. Be your brother’s keeper, we need to reach out to one another and find strength, not in our numbers because we are the minority but that's only because we die before we reach 21. A lot of us by our own hands. Stop with the suicide and the false confessions no matter how much society deserves it for falsely accusing you and badgering you into a confession, don't. Turn around and offer to help them find the one who did it, if they would care to do so but under no circumstance do you admit to something you didn't do. It's hard to do when you've been conditioned your whole people pound life to do just that. It's so much easier to just confess and give them what they want and the fact that the real criminal is still out there only makes you sleep better at night. The reason why the kids in the people pound are the go to suspect pool is because cops know they can get a confession out of them. Case closed. You get a place to live three meals, structure, security, and finally you can meet all your brothers or sisters. 

You may wonder why I'm telling you all this, it is for your own good, first of all. Second of all I'm tired of society using us to clean up their messes and then practically putting the gun in our hands so we blow our own head off before we get to being to big of a burden on society. If you're in prison now for something you didn't do you better start making some noise because no one cares but me and I am the same as you, no one. I do know one thing, silence is not the answer. I have a big mouth and it only gets louder the more people tell me to shut up because I hit a nerve. Society is ashamed of the piss poor job they are doing at turning us into productive citizens. They want you to believe that other people in your situation has come out alright so what's your problem? The people that they refer to are adopted babies, they actually stand a chance, older kids, not so much. Don't let them make you feel bad if you haven't been able to put all this night mare has to offer in perspective, you are not alone. All I can tell you is that you are better so act it, don't let them take that away from you, be proud of who you are, be the better person. Show everyone just what you are made of; survival is the key. Stay alive long enough for me to figure this out. I have a few demons of my own that I'm putting to bed so I can put myself in a position to help you. You are the reason I've made it this far, against all odds, you are the reason I live now, you are all my children and I love you so much it hurts. If I only had a wider arm span, I would gather you all to me and even if you fight me, I would take it, knowing it's just your fear. You can let that go, they can only hurt you if you let them. Be your own person, you need no one to teach you how to be a better person so start practicing. Hold your head high and no matter what don't let them take your pride because it is the one thing you have that will drive them crazy. Never let them see your vulnerabilities always act like you don't need them no matter how badly you do. Build the biggest baddest wall around yourself you can and only let those that are like you in. Believe me the best revenge is the one they don't see coming. Take from them their precious suspect pool stop letting them entrap you into being the scape goat. They will use your desperate need to fit in against you if you let them, don't, nine out of ten times they are setting you up to take the fall for something they did. They can only do this if they think you need them, don't. If there are adults abusing you in any way, suck it up because the next situation will only be worse. Soon they will move you any way. Times are changing, our world is changing and only the strong will survive, people that are preconditioned for what's to come is you and me. They may not realize it but we are the ones that will inherit the earth once no one else can survive on it. 

We may appear weak now but that is about to change and we won't ever treat anyone the way we've been treated, we will come up with a better way to honor our most fortunate people without the confines of a family. Family is just another way to keep us from fully reaching our potential. Give me all the people I can to form myself by, the more people you have to pick and choose from the better. From experience, there is't a whole lot that people show you that you will want to take on for yourself. Be patient find those whom you can admire and respect, study them and take on for yourself those qualities you deem valuable, the ones that will make you an even better human being than you already are. 

Please, what ever you do, don't let them win, don't become a statistic. Don't let them win you are better then that and I need you. Each and everyone has value beyond what you see and feel and way beyond what you are told. That's not enough, it will never be enough. As a disposable person you will have to prove your worth each and everyday, you will have to walk the line like no one else because they will be watching and waiting for you to fall. Don't let them fool you, they have no intentions of catching you. Just like all the other lies you've been told they have no intentions of catching you as soon as you let go they will step aside letting you hit the ground. Not to worry, if you follow my instructions you'll just fall through the trap door you installed when you got there. Honesty drives people crazy, they don't expect you to throw their words back in their face when you catch them in a lie. As you know people feel obligated to lie to you, like you don't know the truth when you hear it, it's because you do that you feel there is no reason to go on if all you are going to get is lied to. My first rule is no foster child should be lying, it's beneath you. Your honesty will piss people off because they think how dare you, a disposable person be better then them. Fuck them you are better that's why you dare. They need you more then you do them. It's only through making you feel bad and reminding you that you have no one and nothing that they can feel good about themselves, that is not the kind of person you are. You help people, you lift them up when they are down and at great sacrifice to yourself. Always be for the under dog the weaker, less fortunate. I know you will feel like that is you but it's not if you are to survive because they will try to take you down, get you to kill yourself before you can become a greater burden on society.  Don't let their prejudice end you. 

When the shit hits the fan, as our world changes, it is going to the strong ones to bring order to chaos. It's going to take those that have already been through and survived the worse the "best" of us has to throw at us. Please hang in there, I'm taking the steps I need to for you. All of you are my priority, you are whom I'm living for, working for. With any luck and a lot of hard work, I will always be there for you with a home you will always be welcome because it will be your home, one no one can take from you but one you have to leave it to kids like you.