WASHINGTON — Black nationalist Marcus Garvey, who was convicted of mail fraud in the 1920s and influenced Malcolm X and other civil rights leaders, was posthumously pardoned by President Joe Biden on Sunday. A prominent Virginia politician who supports criminal justice reform, gun violence prevention, and immigration rights was also pardoned.
Supporters of Garvey’s conviction contended that it was politically motivated and an attempt to suppress the risingly popular leader who talked of racial pride, and congressional leaders had campaigned for Biden to pardon Garvey. Garvey was deported to his birthplace of Jamaica following his conviction. In 1940, he passed away.
Garvey was the first guy to give millions of Black people a feeling of dignity and destiny on a large scale and level, according to the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
It’s unclear if Biden, who steps down on Monday, will grant pardons to anyone who have been threatened or chastised by President-elect Donald Trump.
Preemptive pardons for real or perceived crimes committed by Trump’s detractors that the next government could look into or prosecute would be an unproven use of presidential authority.
Biden has awarded more individual pardons and commutations than any other president. On Friday, he declared his intention to commute the sentences of nearly 2,500 individuals found guilty of mild drug charges. In addition, he pardoned his son Hunter, who had been charged with tax and firearm offenses.
Just as Trump, a vocal supporter of the death penalty’s expansion, takes office, the president said he was commuting the sentences of 37 of the 40 inmates on federal death row, changing their punishments to life in prison. During the lengthy coronavirus outbreak, Trump oversaw a record 13 executions during his first term in office.
A pardon absolves a person of punishment and guilt. A commutation lessens or does away with the penalty, but it does not absolve the offender of responsibility.
Those who were pardoned on Sunday included:
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Don Scott, who is the speaker of the
Virginia House of Delegates in a chamber narrowly controlled by Democrats. He was convicted of a drug offense in 1994 and served eight years in prison. He was elected to the Virginia legislature in 2019, and later became the first Black speaker.
In a statement, Scott stated, “I am extremely honored to announce that President Joe Biden has granted me a Presidential Pardon for a 1994 error that profoundly altered my life and taught me the true power of redemption.”
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Immigrant rights activist
Ravi Ragbir, who was convicted of a nonviolent offence in 2001
and was sentenced to two years in prison and was facing deportation to Trinidad and Tobago.
- Kemba Smith Pradia, who was convicted of a drug offense in 1994 and sentenced to 24 years behind bars. She has since become a prison reform activist. President Bill Clinton commuted her sentence in 2000.
- Darryl Chambers of Wilmington, Delaware, a gun violence prevention advocate who was convicted of a drug offense and sentenced to 17 years in prison. He studies and writes about gun violence prevention.
Biden commuted two individuals’ sentences:
- Michelle West, who was serving life in prison for her role in a drug conspiracy case in the early 1990s. West has a daughter, Miquelle West, who has written publicly about the struggle of growing up with a mother behind bars.
In a statement thanking Biden, she said, “I was just a little girl when my mom dropped me off at school one morning and never picked me up.” I was raised and have spent my whole adult life under the threat of being sentenced to life in prison. The clouds have lifted today, after almost 30 years of daily advocacy and hope that her life sentence might be lowered. For the first time, I see the light and a promising future for both of us.
- Robin Peoples, who was convicted of robbing banks in northwest Indiana in the late 1990s and was sentenced to 111 years in prison. The White House said in a statement that Peoples would have faced significantly lower sentences today under current laws.