A group of US lawmakers led by Congresswoman Yvette Clarke is urging President Joe Biden to pardon black civil rights activist Marcus Garvey for a 1923 mail fraud conviction, according to a letter shared by Clarke's office on Monday
WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 22nd May, 2023) A group of US lawmakers led by Congresswoman Yvette Clarke is urging President Joe Biden to pardon black civil rights activist Marcus Garvey for a 1923 mail fraud conviction, according to a letter shared by Clarke's office on Monday.
"We write with due respect to express our strong support for the April 18, 2023, request for a posthumous pardon of Marcus Mosiah Garvey's 1923 conviction for fraudulent use of the mail, submitted to your administration," the lawmakers said in the letter to Biden.
Garvey, born in Jamaica, founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League. Garvey's works have influenced civil rights leaders including Martin Luther King, Jr. and Nelson Mandela, the letter said.
Garvey's mail fraud case was marred by prosecutorial and governmental misconduct, leading former US President Calvin Coolidge to commute Garvey's sentence, the letter said. However, Garvey was then deported to Jamaica and barred from returning to the United States.
"In light of Marcus Garvey's sustained efforts to uplift and empower peoples of African descent, his determination to build communities through economic independence, and his lasting impact on society, we find it imperative that Mr. Garvey be exonerated by way of a posthumous pardon," the letter said.
The pardon request offers the Biden administration an opportunity to deliver on its inaugural promise of delivering racial justice, the letter added.
The letter was signed by 23 members of Congress, including Clarke, Eleanor Holmes Norton, Barbara Lee, James McGovern, Sheila Jackson Lee and Cori Bush.
