Anyone with a dim view of the caring nature of Florida's leadership might have been in for a shock watching Tuesday's Florida Cabinet meeting and the stirring outcome of the effort to lawfully exhume remains at the Dozier School for Boys.
There wasn't a dry eye in the house, including among Cabinet members.
As former "Dozier boys" and their families, black and white, leaned on canes, pitched forward to hear every word and wiped away tears, one by one the three Cabinet members unleashed moving speeches to show their support.
Attorney General Pam Bondi introduced Leo Collier, who at 84 is the oldest former resident of the school. Dozier closed in 2011, pocked with a lurid history over 100 years of beatings, sexual abuse and suspected murder -- mostly committed in the years before 1960.
Among the speakers before the panel was Art Rocker, chief of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference -- an organization founded by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. His plea was, "Black boys and white boys, all of them, bring them all together for treatment. Find the funds to do it."
With Gov. Rick Scott presiding, the Cabinet gave its full permission and more for a University of South Florida archaeology team to proceed with the exhumation of bodies in dozens upon dozens of unmarked graves on the reformatory's Marianna site.
It was the culmination of months of negotiating the legal and constitutional maze that surrounds protection of unmarked graves in Florida.
"We have an obligation to the families and to our history to treat these remains with the dignity and respect they deserve," said Bondi. She said the Dozier boys are no longer "boys" in her mind. "I now call them Dozier gentlemen."
Said Adam Putnam, commissioner of agriculture and consumer services, "There is no shame in searching for the truth. These families deserve to know where their loved ones are buried."
Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater pledged more financial support when the time comes. "We have the responsibility as trustees in time ... we are accepting today with our vote, that wherever this takes us, we will need to provide additional (financial) support."
After the meeting Bondi released the following statement: From the beginning, I have supported efforts at the Dozier School for Boys in order to provide family members who lost loved ones with closure. I was proud to vote in favor of the land use agreement that authorizes the University of South Florida to continue their work to return the human remains to the families and provide them with proper burials.
Reach Nancy Smith at nsmith@sunshinestatenews.com or at 228-282-2423.
