Garvey’s son happy for renewed effort to exonerate national hero, tag day with his name

Dr Julius Garvey, the son of Jamaica’s first national hero, Marcus Garvey, has welcomed the recently tabled resolutions in the United States Congress seeking exoneration of his father and to make August 17 his day.

Brooklyn Congresswoman Yvette Clarke introduced what she calls the Marcus Garvey Legacy Package in the United States’ Congress, calling for his exoneration and to make August 17 Marcus Garvey Day.

She said the two pieces of legislation would honour history’s most influential leaders in the global struggle for black self-determination, human rights and economic empowerment.

Dr Garvey told The Gleaner that while he had not read the resolutions at the time of speaking, he believed they were a continuation of the efforts to have his father’s name cleared.

“That is wonderful that Congresswoman Clarke has introduced the resolutions. It is a continuation of the push to exonerate Marcus Garvey,” he said.

On making August 17 Marcus Garvey Day, Garvey said this would be a step in recognising the work of his father.

The Marcus Garvey Exoneration Resolution wants Congress to declare that Marcus Garvey was innocent of the politically motivated charges brought against him and calls for the US president to take all appropriate measures to fully exonerate him and clear his name.

The second resolution, known as the Marcus Garvey Recognition Day Resolution, would designate August 17, 2025, as ‘Marcus Garvey Recognition Day’ and calls for the president to issue a proclamation encouraging national observance through ceremonies, educational programmes, and cultural events.

Clarke, who is the daughter of Jamaican immigrants and represents the ninth congressional district in Brooklyn, said the package was introduced in Congress this week.

“Like every daughter of Jamaican immigrants, the singular and inspiring story of the Most Honourable Marcus Garvey has been with me since my earliest memories. As a Pan-Africanist leader who led one of the earliest black civil rights movements in the Americas, founded one of America’s earliest black-owned shipping companies in the Black Star Line, and established a legacy that has persisted to this day, Garvey’s advocacy for civil rights and the economic advancement of the black community is known to all who celebrate his name.

However, the stain of a false, racially motivated conviction has influenced the opinions of detractors and critics for far too long. While President [Joe] Biden’s pardon of Garvey represented tremendous progress towards righting this wrong, we cannot rest until this injustice is expunged in its entirety. 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,” said Clarke.

PROPOSAL WELCOMED

Dr Karren Dunkley, who bills herself as a Garveyite, said she welcomed with great pride and urgency Clarke’s proposal to exonerate Garvey.

“For too long, the manufactured charges of mail fraud in 1923 – engineered by the US government to silence his movement – have cast an unjust shadow over a man whose vision, philosophy, and organisational genius transformed black consciousness worldwide. Garvey was not a criminal. He was a liberator, a visionary who called us to “redeem Africa for the Africans, at home and abroad”. His Universal Negro Improvement Association galvanised millions across continents, instilling pride, discipline, and a sense of destiny in a people who had been told for centuries they were less than human. His imprisonment was not justice; it was political persecution designed to dismantle the most significant Pan-African movement the world had ever seen,” she said.

Dunkley, an international educator and former Jamaica Global Diaspora Council member for the US Northeast, said to exonerate Garvey is to affirm truth over propaganda and would restore dignity to his legacy and the millions who followed his call to self-reliance, nationhood, and unity.

“It is to signal, at long last, that history will not continue to bear false witness against one of the greatest sons of Jamaica, Africa, and the world. Congresswoman Clarke’s proposal deserves the full support of all freedom-loving people. Let us ensure that the name Marcus Garvey stands cleansed in the record of history – where it belongs – as a symbol of black pride, a prophet of Pan-Africanism, and a champion of universal human dignity,” she said.

According to Clarke, it is well known that Garvey was falsely convicted of a crime he did not commit.

“We know the path forward must include congressional action to completely exonerate the Honourable Marcus Garvey. And so, I will continue to take all necessary action to clear his name, restore and protect his rightful place in history, celebrate his lasting impact on African-American and Caribbean communities, secure long overdue recognition from Congress, and deliver the closure his descendants rightfully deserve. Our battle for truth and justice has taken a remarkable step forward with the introduction of the Marcus Garvey Legacy Package. I look forward to seeing both these bills become law, so all Americans might celebrate Marcus Garvey as the hero that he is,” she said

On the last day of his presidency in January this year, Biden granted posthumous clemency to Garvey.

However, while the Jamaican community welcomed the move, the general feeling was that it did not go far enough to clear Garvey’s name, as a pardon does not remove the record of the national hero committing a crime.

editorial@gleanerjm.com