[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 102 (Wednesday, July 21, 2004)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1456]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          MAKING THE CASE FOR THE EXONERATION OF MARCUS GARVEY

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. CHARLES B. RANGEL

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, July 21, 2004

  Mr. RANGEL. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to ask again for the 
exoneration of one of our greatest civil rights leaders, Marcus Garvey. 
I have felt inspired by Marcus Garvey since I was a young boy. I grew 
up and still live in Harlem where Garvey founded the first branches of 
his Universal Negro Improvement Association. When I was born in 1930, 
the traces Garvey left in Harlem were still very fresh. I remember 
meeting Garveyists, ardent supporters of Marcus Garvey's ideas, in 
Harlem as a young man. They encouraged me to do my own reading and 
research on this great Jamaican hero and the more I read and heard, the 
more I became convinced of Garvey's innocence and the need to restore 
his reputation. The injustice done to him reminded me every day of the 
injustice done to all Black people, including myself, during that time.
  In the 1970s, I met Jamaica's energetic Prime Minister Michael Manley 
and became very close to him, professionally but also personally. He 
taught me more about Marcus Garvey and about his status as a hero in 
Jamaica. In 1987, the centenary of Marcus Garvey's birth, I introduced 
legislation asking for the exoneration of Marcus Garvey for the first 
time and have reintroduced the same bill into every following Congress 
since.
  The passage of this bill is long overdue. It is well-proven today 
that Marcus Garvey was innocent of all the charges brought forward 
against him. J. Edgar Hoover, who is today notoriously famous for his 
racism, his corruption and his misuse of powers, perceived Garvey as a 
threat to white supremacy. After years of harassing the black leader, 
he infiltrated the Garvey organization and had an agent fabricate 
evidence of mail fraud with which he charged Garvey in 1922. Garvey's 
trial was a mockery and he was imprisoned and deported back to Jamaica 
in 1927.
  But with Garvey's deportation, Hoover could only delay but not stop 
the civil rights movement. Garvey's teachings about the equality of all 
men and women remained firm and lively in the heads of the following 
generations. Garvey stood as a shining example on the horizon of those 
people who were longing for a better future. He inspired many of the 
leaders that were to come. Our American hero, Martin Luther King, 
called Garvey ``the first man, on a mass scale to give millions of 
Negroes a sense of dignity and destiny'' and Malcom X wrote that ``each 
time you see another independent nation on the African continent you 
know Marcus Garvey is alive.'' Garvey taught Black men and women to 
take pride in their race and to rely on themselves--economically, 
politically and religiously.
  But he did not only speak out for the rights of Black men and women 
all around the world, but for all those who were poor and 
disadvantaged. He is not only the hero of Black people, but of 
everybody who believes in equality and social justice.
  I commend the members of The International Foundation for the 
Exoneration of Marcus Garvey on their tireless efforts to achieve that 
the injustice done to Marcus Garvey is redeemed. I also congratulate 
the city councils of Hartford in Connecticut and Lauderhill in Florida 
on the recent passage of their resolutions supporting the exoneration 
of our great Jamaican hero.
  I will continue to work hard to ensure that my resolution, 
reaffirming Marcus Garvey's innocence and asking the President of the 
United States to exonerate him, will pass the United States Congress. 
It is high time that our country joins the many other nations that have 
already recognized Marcus Garvey as an extraordinary leader and thinker 
in the global struggle for human rights and as a person who gave hope 
and inspiration to millions of oppressed men and women all around the 
world.
  But it is in the hands of the President of the United States to 
finally clear Marcus Garvey's name. I hope that President Bush will 
consider taking this step. The Justice Department in the past advised 
Presidents not to exonerate posthumously. But President Clinton, in 
1999, granted the first posthumous Presidential pardon in our nation's 
history to Lt. Henry Ossian Flipper, the first Black graduate of West 
Point. He had been dismissed from service in 1882 for racial and unjust 
reasons. President Clinton set a strong and positive precedent and I 
hope that President Bush will perceive the Garvey conviction as an 
equally compelling case for justice to be done at this time.
  The exoneration would be another step towards healing the race 
divisions that are still existent in our country. It is high time that 
our country recognizes Marcus Garvey for his great leadership and 
bravery.

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