Nickel Academy, a reform school for troubled Florida boys, is not a place of learning—it’s a prison camp. The wards perform manual labor for no pay, can be killed if they try to flee, and receive vicious beatings from staff for minor infractions or no reason at all. Some absorb the malice of the institution, hardening into bullies. Others cozy up to power, finding tenuous security in obsequience. No one knows how many of the kids have died, or how many crimes the staffers have committed. But it’s the Black boys who get it the worst. Unlike their white peers, they are subject to the horrors of Jim Crow on top of the default debasement.
Read Full Article »
