Biden asked to exonerate Marcus Garvey

WASHINGTON (CMC) – Incumbent US President Joe Biden is being urged to exonerate Jamaica’s first national hero, Marcus Mosiah Garvey, of a 1923 conviction for mail fraud.

Several US lawmakers, including Democratic Congresswoman Yvette D Clarke, have written to President Biden, who will leave office on January 20.

Clarke, the daughter of Jamaican immigrants, who represents the 9th Congressional District in Brooklyn, New York, is the chair-elect of the Congressional Black Caucus.

“Exactly 101 years ago, Mr. Garvey was convicted of mail fraud in a case that was marred by prosecutorial and government misconduct. The evidence paints a starkly clear narrative that the allegations against Mr. Garvey were not only fabricated, but intended to criminalize, discredit, and silence him as a civil rights leader,” according to the letter.

“In response to this gross injustice, President Calvin Coolidge commuted Mr. Garvey’s sentence to parole. Efforts to clear Garvey’s name have persisted for decades,” he added.

In 1987, under the leadership of Congressman John Conyers, the House Judiciary Committee held hearings on Garvey’s exoneration.

In 2004, Congressman Charles Rangel introduced a series of resolutions calling attention to the injustice, followed by. Clarke’s recent efforts to continue these steps.

“Despite these efforts, Garvey’s name has not yet been cleared,” the congressional representatives wrote, adding that “Mr. Garvey’s exoneration would honor his work for the black community, remove the shadow of a wrongful conviction, and continue this administration’s promise to promote race. justice.

“At a time when black history faces the existential threat of erasure by radical state legislatures, a presidential pardon for Mr. Garvey would set the record straight and restore the legacy of an American hero.

“As we approach the end of your administration, this moment offers a chance to leave an indelible mark on history.”

In May 2023, Clarke, along with 22 of his congressional colleagues, wrote a similar letter to Biden calling for Garvey’s exoneration.

“We are writing respectfully to express our strong support for your administration’s April 18, 2023 application for a posthumous pardon of Marcus Mosiah Garvey’s 1923 mail fraud conviction.

“The evidence present and available to us paints a starkly clear narrative that the charges brought against Marcus Mosiah Garvey were not only fraudulent but executed in bad faith.

“A presidential pardon for Mr. Garvey would correct the historical record and change the narrative at a time when African-American history faces the existential threat of erasure by radical state legislatures. More importantly, exoneration would reaffirm our commitment to a criminal justice system that guarantees de facto fairness under the rule of law.

“Marcus Garvey’s contributions and influence are woven into the fabric of American history. His works influenced leaders from Martin Luther King, Jr. to Nelson Mandela, inspiring generations of leaders and planting seeds for the civil rights movement.”

Congressmen wrote that as the founder of the Universal Negro Improvement Association and the League of African Communities, Garvey inspired nearly six million people in 40 countries with a message of social progress through economic prosperity.

In February 2023, Clarke and Georgia Congressman Hank Johnson introduced legislation in the United States House of Representatives calling for Garvey’s exoneration and identifying him as a champion for the liberation of people of African descent.

“The world deserves to know the truth about Marcus Mosiah Garvey and the truth about black history,” Clarke told the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC).

“I was raised under the teachings of Marcus Garvey. I was raised to believe that we must come together to do the work necessary to improve our communities. And I was raised with Garvey’s commitment to social service, including an abundance of faith in God.

“It is time to reclaim Garvey’s legacy and achievements as a human rights activist before Congress, America and the world,” Clarke added.

Garvey was a Jamaican-born black nationalist and leader of the Pan-Africanism movement, which sought to unify and connect people of African descent around the world. In the United States, he was a renowned civil rights activist who founded the Negro World newspaper, a shipping company called the Black Star Line, and the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA).

In 1964, Garvey’s remains were exhumed and taken back to Jamaica, where the government proclaimed him the country’s first national hero and reinterred him in a shrine at National Heroes Park.