“Puerto Rico: A Colony By Any Name.”
On Christopher Columbus’s second voyage to what was called the West Indies, he visited Puerto Rico, called Borinquen by the Arawak natives of the island. Columbus docked in November 1493, and with him came the force and greed of the Spanish empire.
For four centuries, Spain brought imperial exploitation, slavery, repression, and death to the Arawaks, and in its place arose a new people, the mixture of Southern Europe, Spain, the remnants of Indians and Africans.
After the U.S. pushed a weakened Spain out of Cuba, it seized Puerto Rico as well. From that seizure of 1898 by the U.S. until today, Puerto Rico has been an American property under the U.S. government’s thumb.
Did you know that Puerto Ricans can’t vote for president, that they on the island can’t vote in general elections? They fight in every American war and die in every conflict. When U.S. businesses open up shop in PR, they are exempt from taxes, money that could aid the island in its health and educational needs.
And just days ago, after being lashed by nature’s fury as Hurricane Maria, when they dared complained about slow American response, the moronic U.S. president called Puerto Ricans ingrates. Ingrates!
Now weeks later, they are still suffering: no water, no food, no power. They are Americans in name, but in fact, they are colonial subjects of the U.S. empire used by America and then forgotten.
From imprisoned nation, this is Mumia Abu-Jamal.
These commentaries are recorded by Noelle Hanrahan of Prison Radio.
![Prison Radio is sharing an abbreviated version of a press release covering recent racist incidents at SCI Rockview in PA and the organizing to demand accountability. We are reaching out to people incarcerated at Rockview as well as recently transferred folks, inviting them to call, in hopes of hearing commentaries from them.
Benner Township, PA.-
On November 24th, 2023, imprisoned people at SCI Rockview found two nooses hanging in the CO’s office, displayed visibly for many prisoners to see. When the prisoners asked the staff why the nooses were hung, they were told it was a joke.
By December 4th, prisoners filed a grievance to document what they saw, noting that the hanging of the nooses was “unethical, racially motivated, hateful, [a] deliberate debasement of black inmates" and “unsafe for inmates, staff, [and] the whole prison in general.” In the grievance, they demanded that Sgt. Mosser and CO Richard be fired and investigated for a hate crime, and for CO Kirchner to get therapy. Captain Andrews, the head of security, denied the grievance.
The sergeant and COs are still working in the prison to this day, with no repercussions...
As of March 10th, prisoners have reached out to Pennsylvania officials at the Dept. of Corrections in a letter campaign, sending 100 copies of the grievance. Copies of the letter also were mailed to Governor Shapiro, Senator Fetterman, Senator Street, and various advocacy groups. The demands for relief in the original grievance have now become the platform of demands for this campaign. About 20 of the 100 letters were withheld by the prison.
Activists on the outside are joining forces with prisoners to elevate their demands, flooding the phone lines of DOC offices, assisting with outreach to media, and circulating the stories of prisoners who have found unity in opposition to the facility's virulent institutional racism.
In any other workplace, hanging a noose would be grounds for immediate termination. However, Nicki Paul, the superintendent's assistant and "grievance coordinator" informed the public that they self-investigated their staff and found they did nothing wrong.
Read the full article at i
https://conta.cc/4ayDxlB](https://www.prisonradio.org/wp-content/plugins/instagram-feed/img/placeholder.png)