Pardon granted

THE EFFORTS to exonerate Marcus Garvey did not die after his death, however, as over the years, many people and groups have been pressing the US government to clear his name, but they were mainly unsuccessful.

In 1987, under Congressman John Conyers’ leadership, the House Judiciary Committee held hearings on Garvey’s exoneration. And in 2004, Congressman Charles Rangel introduced a series of resolutions calling attention to the injustice.

The strongest hope for a pardon was put on the shoulders of African American President Barack Obama, 2009 to 2017, but there was much heartbreak when the pardon/exoneration did not come from America’s first black president after a June 2016 application was signed and sent by Dr Julius Garvey, on behalf of the descendants of Marcus Garvey, Professor Charles Ogletree, Professor Justin Hansford, Anthony Pierce, Melissa Chastang, and the law firm, Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP.

In his 2022 documentary, African Redemption – The Life and Legacy of Marcus Garvey, Roy T. Anderson broached the subject of Garvey’s posthumous exoneration. Julius Garvey commented that Obama did not exonerate and or say why he didn’t. Historian David Brown says, inter alia, “Let that conviction forever be a monument … Let it shame those who did it … .” Exoneration would imply that Garvey did something wrong. UWI Vice Chancellor Hilary Beckles is maintaining that injustices must be confronted, and what was done to Garvey must be.

In February 2023, Democratic Congresswoman Yvette D. Clarke and Georgia Congressman Hank Johnson introduced legislation in the United States House of Representative calling for Garvey’s exoneration and identifying him as a champion for the liberation of people of African descent. In May of the same year, Clarke, along with 22 of her Congressional colleagues, wrote a letter to Biden, calling for Garvey’s exoneration.

In late December 2024, several US legislators, including Congresswoman Clarke, wrote a similar letter to President Joe Biden. Clarke, the daughter of Jamaican immigrants, who represents the 9th Congressional District in Brooklyn, New York, is 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 governmental misconduct. The evidence paints an abundantly clear narrative that the charges against Mr Garvey were not only fabricated, but also targeted to criminalise, discredit, and silence him as a civil rights leader,” according to the December 2024 letter.

But Garvey cannot be silenced - even in death. And so on Sunday, January 19, the last day as president of the US, Biden pardoned Garvey. The clemency was welcomed the world over, with many international media and non-media organisations commenting on this historic action by President Biden.

“Marcus Mosiah Garvey (1887-1940) was a renowned civil rights and human rights leader who was convicted of mail fraud in 1923, and sentenced to five years’ imprisonment. President Calvin Coolidge commuted his sentence in 1927.

“Notably, Mr Garvey created the Black Star Line, the first black-owned shipping line and method of international travel, and founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association, which celebrated African history and culture.

“Dr Martin Luther King, Jr. described Mr Garvey as “the first man of colour in the history of the United States to lead and develop a mass movement”. Advocates and lawmakers praise his global advocacy and impact and highlight the injustice underlying his criminal conviction,” Biden’s statement says about Garvey.

Anthony Pierce, the lawyer for the Garvey family who filed petitions to pardon Garvey during President Barack Obama’s administration, and again during Biden’s, said in an interview with The New York Times that Biden’s decision “reflected that the country has finally done the right thing (to) Marcus Garvey”.

“There were a lot of legal infirmities in what the country did to convict him,” Pierce is reported to have said. “And so it also shows that the country knows how to fix a wrong, and I think that’s good, both from a legal and moral standpoint.”

On January 22, in an online article, Akin says its “ pro bono efforts help secure posthumous pardon for civil rights activist Marcus Garvey”. It is a leading international law firm with more than 900 lawyers in offices throughout the United States, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East.

“Working with Garvey’s family, an Akin team engaged in more than a decade of advocacy to right this historical wrong … Tony Pierce, the partner in charge of the firm’s Washington, DC, office, led the pro bono representation of the Garvey family, spearheading the process of filing petitions for a presidential pardon with the US Department of Justice under the Obama, Trump, and Biden administrations,” Akin also said.

In addition to Pierce, the Akin team included lobbying and public policy senior advisor Virgil Miller, senior counsel Reggie Babin, and litigation counsel Miranda Dore. Since 2008, Akin said, it has devoted in excess of 1500 hours to this matter, involving more than 35 members of the firm.

Locally, a Tuesday, January 21 Gleaner online article headlined, Political leaders hail Garvey pardon as historic, says, “Jamaican leaders, including Prime Minister Andrew Holness and Opposition Leader Mark Golding, have praised the posthumous pardon of Marcus Garvey by US President Joe Biden as a landmark moment in addressing historical injustices. Holness called the move a ‘significant first step’ towards restoring Garvey’s dignity, while Golding emphasised its importance in correcting a grave miscarriage of justice.”