Kingston, 12 February 2022 - The Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment, and Sport has said “time come” to exonerate Jamaica’s first National Hero, the Right Excellent Marcus Mosiah Garvey.

The Minister’s Statement follows

“This month is Reggae Month, a powerful music of freedom, justice and transformation, heavily inspired by Garvey. This is Black History Month. This year is the Sixtieth year of Jamaica’s Independence; and the Hundredth year since wrongful charges were laid against Garvey. It is the Government’s position that Garvey should be absolved.

This is the premise on which our Administration saw fit to pass the National Heroes and Other Freedom Fighters (Absolution from Criminal Liability in Respect of Specified Events) Act, 2018. This, in the local context, acknowledged that our National Heroes including Garvey and other freedom fighters, in their fight for equality and self-determination, resisted unjust laws and oppression and for these acts were convicted. The Act absolved them of criminal liability in recognition of their sacrifice to win the freedoms we now enjoy in our democracy.

Garvey was the first great mobiliser of the black race worldwide, who ignited belief, racial pride, and an unstoppable quest for self-sufficiency, self-determination, as well as for equity and justice.

It is a responsibility of our people to act within our powers to repair the past, holding up for this generation and generations to come, the model of outstanding visionary leadership, dignity and integrity we have in Garvey.

Affixing our signatures to the Petition to exonerate our National Hero, is an opportunity to shine the bright light of justice on a past wrong, and on our present course, to address the persisting challenges facing our race including systemic racism, aggravated discrimination, race defamation, and the persistent denial of justice.

This is the legacy of Garvey, which we must protect and uphold. Recognition of our people’s contribution to development, peace and prosperity was the life work of Garvey and the common destiny which we must now claim for our race and all mankind.

Successive administrations of Government, starting with the initiatives of our late Prime Minister the Most Hon. Edward Seaga, have engaged the United States of America on the matter of clearing Garvey’s name; as announced in yesterday’s Throne Speech, Prime Minister Holness now leads this charge such that the Government, will utilise the avenues available to intercede with the Government of the United States to seek to clear our National Hero’s good name. Both the Ministry of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, are playing critical roles in this effort.

This cause is one in which there is no political divide. We are all united and determined to see Dr Martin Luther King Jr’s referenced long arc of the moral universe bent manifestly in favour of justice. I remain in touch with the Garvey family through consultations with Garvey’s son Dr Julius Garvey, for whom establishing the innocence of his father is of paramount importance, and a lifetime goal.

On February 1, Dr Garvey launched a new petition, with 100,000 signatures being sought on the website www.justice4garvey.org to take to President Biden.

Today I invite all Jamaicans to ‘Get Up and Stand Up’ for what is right. Lend your name and remove the stain. I call upon all our cultural communities, the people of Jamaica, the Caribbean and the entire Jamaican and African Diaspora to organise and mobilise around this cause, with One God! One Aim! One Destiny!”

END