Golding leads the way in hailing Biden’s exoneration of Marcus Garvey

People’s National Party (PNP) President and Opposition Leader, Mark Golding, was early in lauding the decision of outgoing United States President Joe Biden to exonerate Jamaican National Hero Marcus Garvey.

In a statement on Sunday morning labelled a ‘Triumphant Acknowledgment of a Legacy Restored’, Golding said: “I acknowledge with pleasure, President Biden’s exoneration of Jamaican National Hero and Pan Africanist, the Right Excellent Marcus Mosiah Garvey, who was arrested and imprisoned in 1923 when he was convicted of mail fraud and sentenced to five years in prison. Appeals followed and Mr Garvey was imprisoned from 1925-1927 as US President Calvin Coolidge commuted the sentence and had him deported.”

Golding said Garvey’s exoneration “corrects a grave historical miscarriage of justice that resulted from an illegal, intelligence-led operation (that was) designed to disable the influential 19th century Pan Africanist movement, the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA), that had captured the imagination of hundreds of thousands of people of African descent.”

He added that “President Biden’s action acknowledges the profound impact that Garvey had in shaping the narratives of freedom, equality and justice. Garvey’s principles of unity and self-determination served to solidify and embolden the mandate of social justice movements in Africa and its diaspora; and will also encourage a new generation of Pan Africanist advocates to assume a mantle of leadership with a renewed sense of purpose. The decision is a call to action to African peoples to advance the agenda that Mr Garvey was promoting over a century ago. It is a vindication of the principles for which Garvey stood.”  

After further highlighting the global impact of Garvey’s work, Golding concluded that, “The willingness to right historical wrongs not only restores honour to Marcus Garvey, but also paves the way for future dialogues on race, equality and justice. Let us honour this legacy by working together towards a more equitable and inclusive world.”marcus garvey