Justice for Marcus Garvey 100,000 Signatures Needed by SEPTEMBER 28, 2016

Justice for Marcus Garvey 100,000 Signatures Needed by SEPTEMBER 28, 2016
Author

Institute for Caribbean Studies

Release Date

Saturday, July 9, 2016

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On June 24, 2016, Julius W. Garvey, M.D.; Harvard University Law Professor Charles Ogletree, Harvard University Democracy Project Fellow Justin Hansford, Esq; and Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, LLP, submitted a petition requesting a presidential pardon be granted to Marcus Mosiah Garvey to exonerate his 1923 mail fraud charge.

A pardon is being called for on the grounds that Marcus Garvey was targeted by the US government and J. Edgar Hoover for his political activity as a leader of the Pan-African movement. His charges and conviction effectively ended his political movement and eventually led to his deportation back to Jamaica. The family, 93 years later is now seeking justice for Marcus Garvey with their campaign to have his charges exonerated.

"Justice can be delayed but cannot be denied," says Marcus Garvey's son Julius Garvey. In 1927, President Coolidge commuted Marcus Garvey's sentence, an act that was supported by 9 of the 12 jurors who voted to convict, however the commutation still left Marcus Garvey's conviction in place.

Previously there have been two presidential posthumous pardons including Bill Clinton's pardon of Lt. Henry Ossian Flipper and George W. Bush's pardon of Charles Winters, both of whom were pardoned because their wrongful convictions were racially and politically motivated. Similarly, Garvey's legal team is asserting his conviction was:
  • Motivated by a desire on the part of the federal government to discredit, disrupt and destroy Garvey's civil rights movement.
  • Executed through court surveillance and deception, with undercover agents posting as Garvey supporters.
  • Aided by judicial proceedings that have been condemned as factually unsound and politically and racially motivated.
For more information, visit www.justice4garvey.org

SIGN THE PETITION...

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