Prison Radio
Kerry “Shakaboona” Marshall

“Constitutional Amendment for Marsy and Not Native American and African American Crime Victim’s Rights.”

The Pennsylvania legislature are attempting to enshrine special rights for Marsy’s Law crime victims within the Pennsylvania Constitution through a ballot initiative. Yet in 253 years, Pennsylvania’s legislature has not introduced a bill, let alone unanimously referred a ballot initiative, for Native American and African-American crime victim’s rights amendment to the Pennsylvania Constitution.

Native Americans are the first crime victims. Native Americans are crime victims of Caucasian colonial governments and militia, the U.S. government and military, and U.S. corporations and Caucasian settlers. Native Americans are victims of the crimes of theft of land, rape, murder, genocide, forced removals, germ warfare, kidnapping of their children, the destruction and robbery of their natural resources, ghettoization on reservations, and daily crimes of defamation with the naming of sports teams: Redskins. These crimes have never stopped and are ongoing against our Native American relatives. The Native Americans have been victimized by 500 years of the crime of white supremacy.

African-Americans, victims of America’s Founding Fathers’ original sinful crimes of kidnapping of African people, chattel slavery, rape, murder, penal and sharecropping slavery systems, terrorism, lynchings, massive theft of land, racial caste system, assassination of leaders, and white supremacy under the thirteen colonies and the U.S. government. African Americans continue to be victimized by the U.S. government’s institutional racism.

Where’s the cry and push by Pennsylvania’s Democratic and Republican parties for a Native American, African-American crime victim’s rights amendment to the Pennsylvania Constitution ballot initiative for those victims? Where’s their constitutional amendment right to be restored, repaired, and provided reparations for their entry from crimes perpetrated against them by the biggest criminals on this planet? If there are any rights of crime victims that need to be amended to the Pennsylvania Constitution, it is the human rights of Native American and African-American peoples.

From the belly of the beast at prison radio, I am Shakaboona. Thank you for listening.

(Sound of a cell door closing.) These commentaries are recorded by Noelle Hanrahan of Prison Radio.