UNIA’s Golding labels Garvey pardon as superficial, advocates for exoneration
Published:Tuesday | January 21, 2025 | 12:08 AMSashana Small/Staff Reporter
Steven Golding, president of the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League (UNIA-ACL), Jamaica, has criticised the United States’ move to pardon Marcus Garvey on Sunday as a mere “cosmetic” gesture lacking real substance.
However, he said that the action, taken by President Joe Biden on his final full day in office, can serve as a thrust for advocates to continue the push for the exoneration of Jamaica’s first National Hero.
“Nine-day wonder,” he commented to The Gleaner. “We are always excited when big headlines are made. We have to pay attention to what we’ve been fighting for for the last couple of decades; it’s not a pardon, it’s an exoneration.”
Garvey, whose advocacy for the economic and social progress of black people globally inspired millions, was convicted of mail fraud in 1923 in a case widely criticised for its racial and political biases.
On Sunday, he was among five people pardoned by Biden. His decision followed consistent advocacy from several US lawmakers, including Democratic Congresswoman and daughter of Jamaican immigrants Yvette D. Clarke, who chairs the Congressional Black Caucus.
Clarke had led multiple calls for Garvey’s exoneration, arguing that the conviction was a result of governmental misconduct aimed at discrediting the influential civil rights leader.
Stressing that a US president cannot exonerate Garvey, Golding is urging Clarke to be steadfast in her advocacy.
“Let’s use the momentum created by this to get the real job done. ... We need an act of Congress expunging his record and exonerating him, just as the Jamaican Parliament used an act of parliament to exonerate Garvey,” he said.
The Jamaican Parliament passed legislation in 2018 to posthumously exonerate Marcus Garvey of a 1929 contempt-of-court conviction, as well as to absolve National Heroes Sam Sharpe, Paul Bogle, and George William Gordon for their roles in the 1831-32 slave rebellion and the 1865 Morant Bay Rebellion, for which they were hanged. Additionally, many of Sam Sharpe’s supporters were also cleared of the crimes they were accused of.
“The fact that they got it done, they have created an example and [left] a blueprint that the US government must now follow,” he said.
Golding noted that Garvey’s legacy has influenced iconic figures such as Dr Martin Luther King Jr and Nelson Mandela, with his advocacy laying the foundation for the modern civil rights movement in the US and liberation movements in Africa.
Garvey served two years of a five-year prison term after his sentence was commuted in 1927 by US President Calvin Coolidge, with the caveat that he be deported.
Golding stated that since then, Garvey has been fighting to clear his name, not for a pardon but to be exonerated for a crime he did not commit.
Meanwhile, the UNIA-ACL president reiterated the importance of teaching Garvey’s philosophies of unity and pride in the African cultural heritage in schools; however, he said the introduction should begin in the teachers’ colleges.
“You cannot ask teachers to teach something they themselves have not been taught; that’s impossible. The argument about teaching Garvey now needs to be focused and channelled. The Government should act on making sure that there are Garveyism departments established at every teacher-training institution to begin with,” he said.
“We have been talking about teaching Garveyism in schools for a long time, and when it comes down to it, there is a confusion; the people don’t know the difference between pardon and exonerate,” he added.