FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

January 19, 2025

MEDIA CONTACT: 

e: jessica.myers@mail.house.gov

c: 202.913.0126

Washington, D.C. — Today, Congresswoman Yvette D. Clarke (NY-09) issued the following statement on President Biden’s posthumous pardon of Marcus Mosiah Garvey for a 1923 conviction for the fraudulent use of the mail. Rep. Clarke and several of her colleagues wrote a letter to the administration urging the exoneration of Marcus Garvey:

“As we approach our nation’s observance of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, I’m extraordinarily grateful for President Biden’s action today to posthumously grant clemency to a true national hero of Jamaica, The Most Honorable Marcus Garvey. Garvey was a Jamaican-born Pan-Africanist leader who led one of the earliest Black Civil Rights movements in the Americas, founded one of America’s first Black-owned shipping companies in the Black Star Line, and established a legacy that has persisted to this day. His advocacy for civil rights and the economic advancement of the Black community built the foundation of our modern civil rights movement and influenced many of our civil rights leaders, including Dr. King, who described Garvey as ‘the first on a mass scale and level to…make the Negro feel he was somebody…the first man of color in the history of the United States to lead and develop a mass movement.’

“In 1923, President Calvin Coolidge commuted Garvey’s sentence for mail fraud. However, it is no secret that Black people in America have always been subjected to a different standard of justice. Although granting Mr. Garvey’s clemency will help remove the shadow of an unjust conviction and further the Biden Administration’s promise to advance racial justice, Mr. Garvey’s family, myself, and countless others across our nation and around the world will continue to push towards his full and unambiguous exoneration. We know that Mr. Garvey was falsely convicted of a crime he did not commit. We know the path forward must include Congressional action to completely exonerate the Hon. Marcus Garvey. And so, I will continue to take all necessary action to clear his name, and to deliver the justice and closure his descendants rightfully deserve. Today was a very significant step towards victory – but the fight for equity and justice goes on!”

“In the words of my grandfather, Marcus Garvey, ‘The ends you serve that are selfish will take you no further than yourself, but the ends you serve for all, in common, will take you to eternity’. These words are more than a call to action; they are a moral compass, pointing us toward the kind of justice that dignifies not just the individual, but a people, a nation and humanity itself. My grandfather’s conviction was not only a miscarriage of justice but a reminder of how the overreach of power can be weaponized to silence the voices that seek fairness, equity and accountability. Marcus Garvey’s life was dedicated to uplifting humanity, urging us all to embrace a vision of justice that is larger than any single race or nation. His wrongful conviction is not just a story of the past – it is a reflection of the work that remains before us. It underscores the deep need for a justice system that protects, not prosecutes, those who dare to inspire and empower. This posthumous pardon of Marcus Garvey is about more than his name. It is about reclaiming the soul of a nation that believes in fairness over fear, in dignity over division, in righting the wrongs of history so we can face the future with integrity. Let us prove that we are a nation not afraid to confront our past, because we believe so deeply in building a better future – for every one of us,” said Nzinga Garvey.

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