A pair of Black lawmakers want President Joe Biden to exonerate Black nationalist and leader of the Pan-Africanism movement, Marcus Garvey.
Democratic representatives Yvette Clarke of New York and Hank Johnson of Georgia are the latest in a growing chorus of Garvey supporters asking for the government to right a wrong for one of the nation’s most influential social justice activists. Their resolution was introduced on Feb. 17 and sits with the House Judiciary Committee.
“America must right these wrongs and restore Garvey’s legacy,” Rep. Clarke told the Jamaica Observer.
Garvey, born on Aug. 17, 1887, in St. Ann’s Bay, Jamaica was a Black nationalist leader and was world-renowned for the “Back to Africa” movement, which sought to establish a self-governing Black nation.
The campaign to exonerate Garvey of mail fraud charges to which he was ultimately convicted in 1923 has been ongoing for years.
“The utter lack of merit to the charges on which he was originally convicted combined with his profound legacy and contributions to Black history in our country – it’s time to right this fundamental wrong,” Rep. Johnson said.
One of the leading voices behind the effort to exonerate Garvey has been his son, Dr. Julius Garvey, 89. Julius Garvey is a cardiothoracic and vascular surgeon in New York. He often gives lectures on his father’s life and legacy.
“President Biden has an understanding of what we as a people have gone through,” Julius Garvey told The Washington Post.
“I think he owes something of his presidency to African-Americans. It is time for this to be righted with someone whose only crime was to help his people,” Julius Garvey added.
“Garvey’s life and contributions to the United States should be recognized and appropriate steps taken to restore his name and reputation in this country,” the resolution says.
“The world deserves to know the truth about Marcus Mosiah Garvey and the truth…
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