Jamaican American congresswoman Yvette D Clarke and Georgia congressman Hank Johnson on Friday introduced legislation in the United States House of Representatives calling for the exoneration of Jamaica’s first national hero, Marcus Garvey 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,” said Clarke, the daughter of Jamaican immigrants who represents the 9th Congressional District in Brooklyn, New York.
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“I was raised under the teachings of Marcus Garvey,” added the first vice-chair of the Congressional Black Caucus. “I was raised to believe that we must come together to do the necessary work to improve our communities. And I was raised with the Garvey commitment to social service, including an abundance of faith in God.
“It’s time to reclaim Garvey’s legacy and accomplishments as a human rights activist before Congress, America, and the world,” Clarke continued.
She said the resolution “exonerates Garvey of his unfounded charges and calls upon President Biden to recognize and denounce the racist smears against him and his legacy.
“America must right these wrongs and restore Garvey’s legacy,” the congresswoman urged. “And the time to do it is now.”
Johnson, who represents Georgia’s 4th Congressional District, said the exoneration of Garvey is “an idea whose time has come.
“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,” he said.
“I’m honored to cosponsor this important resolution with my esteemed colleague, Congresswoman Yvette Clarke, particularly during Black History Month,” Johnson added. “And, as the campaign to exonerate Marcus Garvey has been steadily growing, it’s time to correct this injustice.”
Garvey was a Jamaican-born Black nationalist and leader of the Pan-Africanism movement, which sought to unify and connect people of African descent worldwide.
In the United States, he was a noted civil rights activist, who founded the Negro World newspaper, a shipping company called Black Star Line, and the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA).
Hailing Garvey as a human rights activist, the resolution seeks to preserve Garvey’s legacy by exonerating him of unfounded charges brought against him by the US Government and calls for the US President to take necessary action towards clearing his name.
Marcus Garvey (1887-1940) was a civil rights activist for the Black Nationalism and Pan-Africanism movements, to which end he founded UNIA and African Communities League, according to biography.com.
It said that Garvey, who was born on August 17, 1887, in St. Ann’s Bay, Jamaica, advanced a Pan-African philosophy, “which inspired a global mass movement, known as ‘Garveyism.’”
In 1922, Garvey and three other UNIA officials were charged with mail fraud involving the Black Star Line, biography.com said.
It said that, on June 23, 1923, Garvey was convicted and sentenced to prison for five years.
He appealed his conviction, claiming to be a victim of a politically-motivated miscarriage of justice, but it was denied, biography.com said.
It said that, in 1927, Garvey was released from prison and deported back to Jamaica, where he continued his political activism.
Eight years later, he moved to London, where he died, in 1940, after several strokes, biography.com said.
It said Garvey’s body was interred in London in view of travel restrictions imposed during World War II.
However, in 1964, his remains were exhumed and taken to Jamaica, where the government proclaimed him Jamaica’s first national hero and re-interred him at a shrine in the National Heroes Park. (CMC)
