A year ago, on Oct. 19, 2006, protesters placed pictures of Martin Lee Anderson on the doors of the Florida Capitol in Tallahassee, complaining about the slow pace of the investigation into his boot camp murder. Now protesters are condemning the acquittal of boot camp staff by an all-white jury on Oct. 12, 2007. Photo: Phil Coale, AP

Martin met his death at a Florida boot camp, where a phalanx of so-called drill instructors beat the youth, held their hands over his mouth and forced ammonia caps up his nose. A predominantly white jury quickly acquitted all eight staff members - including a nurse - from the boot camp of all charges.

The state workers would've faced more punishment if they'd killed a dog. Instead, he was a Black boy. The jury barely had enough time for a good lunch.

Across the country, families are learning that boot camps and other juvenile facilities are little more than hell-holes for children. Kids are beaten, brutalized, starved and caged by the state in institutions paid by the state to administer legalized child abuse.

Just days ago, seven workers at a West Texas lockup - including so-called "quality assurance monitors" - were fired by the Texas Youth Commission.

On March 14, 2006, the beating death of Martin Lee Anderson, 14, by seven boot camp guards was caught on video.

It's clear from the Martin Lee Anderson case and from voluminous reports of violence and torture at boot camps nationwide that America is at war with its youth.

Schools are but training camps for prisons. Schools, especially in Black and Latina neighborhoods, are increasingly training grounds for failure.

Also, with the popular pollution of culture, there is the spread of the worst, most anti-life and misogynist ideas imaginable, usually through music. Cut off from the academic life of the nation, this cultural pollution seeks to justify various forms of street-hustling as the only way of survival.

Again, we see evidence of the war against youth. It's almost as if the generation of elders is envious of the very quality of youth and is utilizing state power to destroy them.

De-industrialization, state militarization, the failure of education and cultural pollution are stages in this pervasive war. The re-incarceration of Mychal Bell, the recently released member of the Jena 6, is a part of this ongoing war.

Children aren't children; they are merely young combatants, who should be terrorized, just like their elders. Unfortunately, I predicted the outcome in Florida to other guys here on Death Row.

I'm sorry that I was right.

© Copyright 2007 Mumia Abu-Jamal. Read Mumia's latest book, "We Want Freedom: A Life in the Black Panther Party," winner of the 2005 People's Choice Award, available from South End Press, www.southendpress.org or (800) 533-8478. Keep updated by reading Action Alerts at www.mumia.org and www.moveorg.net. To download Mp3s of Mumia's commentaries, visit www.prisonradio.org or www.fsrn.org. Encourage the media to publish and broadcast Mumia's commentaries to inspire progressive movement and help call attention to his case. Send our brotha some love and light at: Mumia Abu-Jamal, AM 8335, SCI-Greene, 175 Progress Dr., Waynesburg PA 15370.

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