The family of civil rights icon Marcus Garvey is urging President Biden to posthumously pardon him, highlighting the historical injustice of his conviction and drawing parallels to current cases of wrongful convictions.
The family of embattled civil rights icon Marcus Garvey is encouraging the Biden administration in its final days to pardon the man Martin Luther King, Jr. posthumously described as 'the first on a mass scale and level to...make the Negro feel he was somebody.'The Jamaican-born Garvey led one of the earliest Black civil rights movements in the Americas.
Aside from founding the Universal Negro Improvement Association to combat racial inequality, and starting the Negro World newspaper, he established one of the original Black-owned shipping companies, Black Star Line, in 1919 to boost African American entrepreneurial power nationwide.Three years later, he was arrested and convicted of mail fraud associated with Black Star Line's advertising of a stock sale for a ship not yet owned. Upon conviction in 1923, Garvey's sentence was commuted by President Calvin Coolidge. Garvey was ultimately deported to Jamaica in 1927. He later died in London in 1940 at age 52.'All of have taken place over time,' Garvey's son, Julius Garvey, age 91, told Newsweek. 'Now, Biden has pardoned his son , who is guilty of tax evasion and said he was guilty. So, this puts a whole new light on it.'If you're pardoning a family member, which he said he wouldn't do, why wouldn't you pardon a civil rights leader—a person who is the first national hero of Jamaica, who is also honored in terms of the organization of our American states? ... It's a no-brainer, so to speak. If you can pardon your son, who is guilty, why can't you pardon somebody who is meaningful to millions of African people around the world?'Nzinga Garvey, granddaughter of Marcus Garvey, told Newsweek that she has the following five initiatives to support her grandfather's exoneration: Framing the issue as a universal call for justice. Drawing parallels with current cases of wrongful convictions. Focus on family and community impact. Connecting to broader criminal justice reform efforts. Leveraging Marcus Garvey's vision for unity and empowerment A spokesperson for the Office of the Pardon Attorney within the Department of Justice declined to comment to Newsweek about whether a pardon for Garvey is being considered in Biden's waning days in office.Newsweek reached out to comment to the White House and Donald Trump's transition team. No response was received.A decades-long endeavorEfforts for a posthumous pardon go back decades, yet have been unsuccessful through multiple presidential administrations—including during the two terms of Barack Obama, the United States' first Black president. Biden, of course, was Obama's vice president.In 1987, Democratic Representative John Conyers of Michigan, through his leadership within the House Judiciary Committee, held hearings on Garvey's exoneration. In 2004, New York Representative Charles Rangel introduced a series of similar resolutions.On December 20, 2024, New York Representative Yvette Clarke—a member of the Congressional Black Caucus—and other lawmakers sent a letter to the Biden administration requesting exoneration, saying that doing so would 'remove the shadow of an unjust conviction, and further your administration's promise to advance racial justice.''What we're highlighting is really a universal call for justice,' Clarke told Newsweek. 'At the end of the day people of African descent, Black folks in America, have been subjected to a different standard of justice. And that standard has not been applied equally to all people.'We believe that the historical injustices rectifying this should transcend race, it should focus on universal values of fairness, equity and accountability in the justice system. We're going to continue because this is something that's bigger than all of us. I would like to see Marcus Garvey exonerated in the lifetime of his son and his descendants.'Clarke, who is close with the Garvey family, has pushed for Garvey's exoneration since she entered Congress in 2007.She noted that since presidents can only pardon but not exonerate, and considering Coolidge's commuting of Garvey's conviction, her goal and that of her congressional colleagues is 'solely seeking exoneration.'Garvey's story in the annals of U.S. history may not resonate as widely as other civil rights leaders, though Clarke said that his efforts paved the way for generations of Black Americans through organizing for common causes while putting into place a long-term economic and social framework that allowed individuals 'to see themselves as sort of a greater part of of the human family.'' emblematic of wrongful convictions and current cases,' said the congresswoman. 'In the United States, we have the Innocence Project and other organizations...to correct those injustices, and sentencing disparities and wrongful convictions disproportionately affect Black Americans. The exoneration of Marcus Garvey holds great weight and value in Black communities across this nation.'A conviction built on a 'lie'Anthony Pierce, a partner at Washington D.C
CIVIL RIGHTS MARCUS GARVEY PARDON WRONGFUL CONVICTION JUSTICE
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