Group considers aggressive approach to exonerate Garvey

Marcus Garvey

by Ann-Marie Adams
Caribbean Net News Correspondent

Tuesday,  November 28, 2005

HARTFORD, USA: Every year since 1987, New York Congressman Charles Rangel has introduced a bill before Congress to exonerate Marcus Garvey. Every year, the bill has received a tepid response.

About two years ago, a group in Connecticut joined Rangel’s quest, and they lobbied representatives and signed petitions. That, according to one of Rangel’s aide, spurred “movement” but no result.

Restless, the group vowed recently to pursue an aggressive approach to exonerate Garvey, Jamaica’s hero and the U.S. Civil Rights movement’s forefather. The group has also raised the question: Is Rangel using this bill for political leverage to endear himself to the large Caribbean constituency in New York?

O’Neil Hamilton, information attaché at the Jamaican Embassy in Washington, D.C., balked at that idea, saying Rangel has rallied to Jamaica and the Caribbean’s aid on several occasions. Exoneration is no easy feat, he said, adding: “Let’s not fool ourselves; this will be an arduous task.”

Claire Nelson, founder and president of the Institute of Caribbean Studies, agreed with Hamilton and said Congress is facing more pressing issues. ICS and Congresswoman Barbara Lee, D-Oakland spearheaded the push for Caribbean Heritage Month, which passed the House this summer.

George Dalley, Rangel’s chief of staff, said Rangel appreciates the group’s hard work, which unlike the heritage month failed to get a hearing. He attributed this inactivity to the Republicans’ tight control of the Presidency, the Senate and the House. Instead of getting frustrated at Rangel, Dalley said, the group should aim its frustration at House Judiciary Committee Chairman, James Sensenbrenner, R-Wisconsin.

When asked about Rangel’s efforts while Clinton was in office, Dalley said he wasn’t working with Rangel’s office then. He said if Rangel had circumvented Congress and approached former President Bill Clinton, a Democrat and Rangel’s close ally, Rangel might have had better results. 

“There might have been diminishing efforts [by Rangel’s office] in the 90s,” Dalley said. “It was an opportunity we missed.”

The U.S. president has power to give pardons, and Clinton in 2002 issued 140 pardons and 34 commutations. Both acts connote guilt. Exoneration, however, would declare Garvey’s innocence. Exoneration would also require the U.S. government to acknowledge wrongdoing, and Congress, Dalley said, is unprepared to do that.

Asked about his effort to exonerate Garvey during Clinton’s administration, Rangel didn’t answer. Pressed, he kept repeating the same line: “tell them to call their congressman.”

They did that and realized Rangel’s approach, though appreciated and valued, is ineffective without the community’s full force behind it, said the group’s spokesperson, Dermoth Brown.

Professor Emory Tolbert, chair of Howard University’s history department, said to move the effort forward, the group should obtain lawyers to make a case.

The Hartford group is considering that and other strategies, including plans to form a coalition with others across the nation. 

To join the coalition to exonerate Marcus Garvey, call 860-560-0050.

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