Africanamericans to return to africa. The petition was filed in june. This is one hour and 30 minutes. I would like to welcome everyone this afternoon to this historic and is precious occasion. The petition for the pardon of the honorable Marcus Garvey. I am a social justice and human rights lawyer here in the washington, d. C. , area. We have a very Dynamic Panel for us this afternoon. We are going to talk about the legal issues of the case, the historical issues, the impact of Marcus Garvey and the worldwide diaspora and many other aspects as well. Im going to start off with reading a statement. Congresswoman Yvette D Clark representing a new york congressional district. This is her statement that she wanted to have read at the Marcus Harvey press conference august 17, 2016. Marcus garvey lives in history as one of the first readers of the American Civil Rights movement. To unite people toward a common goal of social progress. Marcus garvey founded the universal Negro Improvement Association and african communities lake, which at one time hit nearly 6 million members in 40 countries. In 1923, Marcus Garvey was unjustly convicted of mail fraud and deported from the United States, despite having his sentence commuted from former president coolidge. For most 30years efforts have been made to exonerate Marcus Garvey. The family started this crusade in july 1987 when one of the most senior members of the Congressional Black Caucus held a hearing in the Judiciary Committee on the conviction. The hearing coincided with the resolution submitted by another senior member, the honorable charles wrangle. Asserted that Marcus Garvey was innocent of the charges brought against him. Number two, Marcus Garvey is and should be recognized internationally as a leader in and thinker for the struggle for human rights. And the president should take appropriate measures to clear Marcus Garveys name. Historians including tony martin at grassley lee, and rupert lewis has published materials detailing in depth how garvey was wrongfully convicted. Law professor just and hezbollah, who we are honored to have with this is afternoon, in his work published in the georgetown journal of modern turn modern race perspective, provided an indepth historical legal review, which was further bolstered by the legal brief we have submitted to the United StatesLegal Department of justice in the white House Counsel this summer. Here today. Ves are professor Charles Ogletree of Harvard University law school and the garvey family. We are so very honored to have representing here dr. Julius garvey. The youngest son of Marcus Garvey. During the proceedings, 30 years since the congressional hearing garvey has been honored internationally as a leader and thinker in the field of human rights. The organization of american states has designated a hall in its main building. Marcus garvey hall. Additionally, garvey has been named as the First National hero. Recognition of Marcus Garveys lifelong contribution to society. Marcus garvey should be exonerated. By way of a posthumous pardon. President obama should take appropriate measures to clear Marcus Garveys name. Showing it is never too late to write a wrong. Right a wrong. It is time to exonerate Marcus Garvey, and let history reflect the true nature of his legacy. God bless the United States of america, god bless jamaica, and god bless the memory of Marcus Garvey, one love that honorable pp the one. Love. Clark,orable yvette d. Representing new yorks ninth congressional district. I would also like to acknowledge this happens to be the birthday of Marcus Garvey, august 17. We are very honored and appropriate to announce this historic announcement today. We will start off our illustrious panel with remarks from Howard University associate professor of the African Diaspora in history and at howard professor swan that , will give us perspective regarding Marcus Garvey. Professor swan. Good afternoon. It is truly an honor to be here and be a part of this really important, illustrious event. Marcus garveys legacy is still being explored and understood in really important ways. It is hard to speak of garvey in 10 minutes, but to speak of garvey is to speak of the black world in the 1920s. To speak of garvey is tos week about black africa that extend for 19th century. To speak about garvey is to talk about black resistance. To speak of garvey is tos week of black thoughts of black men and women that transfers into the 20th century. Garveys genius was his ability to build the worlds most expensive black movement, the likes we have never seen since. The negro word, for example, this amazing document in news timber that is not only written in english, but also french and spanish traveled across the world. This speaks to the assault of garvey. Speaking about black unity. Forking about the need black people, like other populations of the world that have a right to selfdetermination. The right of colonized peoples to have freedom. This is what garvey was speaking about. It was an amazing organization, one of the reasons because it was familybased. It had a juvenile wing. Very Family Organization that spread across the world not just , the United States. Cuba has the most branches. Within america, it is seen as new yorkbased africanamerican idea. Louisiana actually have the most chapters. Garvey even reached africa. You see a chapter formed in Southern Africa and being attacked and the apartheidlike regimes. Right now in zimbabwe. He reached australia in 1920. Aborigine historians. Very much on the lines of of the organization. The unia. This must be mentioned, as well as the other numbers that were affected. They had their passports are revoked. Visas denied. The organization became an organization that these tactics of denial were practiced on. First black the performer was used to infiltrate. They were out of bounds. But not unexpected. He covers the Garvey Movement had this phenomenal ability to your denies black ideas. To galvanize black ideas. To speak about why he was so powerful. The organization of progressive onenizations took the motto aim, one destiny, which we know now is garvey. Through garvey we see people colonizing around the attacks in ethiopia and italy in the 1930s. When we heard the words of bob marley, emancipate yourself. That is a straight quote from Marcus Garvey whose legacy has been everpresent. Garvey has fueled so many other organizations from the nation of islam. People transformed by the process. Still have garvey eight garveyites in many places. Now is the time to write the wrong. I think this is really important, not just for the historical dynamic for how i look at garvey but a way to right the wrongs. Scholarship. Reemergence of garvey scholars that understand the impact of garvey across the world. Clearly a testament to the fact that this is the movement of legitimized struggle that should be seen as such. A multitude of books, scholars winning prestigious awards for garvey. We should also address some of the same issues from a legal perspective. [applause] thank you so very much. The next person i will bring up is someone who was named as the top 40 lawyers under the age of 40 by the national bar association. Someone named as one of the 25 new leaders of social justice. We are talking about professor Justin Hansford, a professor of st. Louis University Law school who lives just 10 minutes from where Michael Brown was shot down in the streets by law enforcement. In ferguson, missouri. He is one of the foremost leaders and thinkers dealing with social justice issues today. That wasreview article Justin Hansford and dr. Lewis garvey. So with that, i would like to bring professor hansford up to talk a little bit about the legal case, and possibly introduce this as well. Thank you. Professor Justin Hansford good afternoon. I want to begin by reading you an excerpt from the legal case against Marcus Garvey, an opinion authored by the second court of appeals in 1925. It may be true garvey fancied himself if not a messiah, that he deemed himself a man with a message that he was going to deliver, and he was going to have ships that would take his people out of bondage. But even with this assumed, it remains that if it is gospel in part involves exhortation to buy worthless stocks, accompanied by deceivingly false statements as to the words thereof, he was guilty of a scheme or artifice. We need not delay to examine in detail to examine the fraud scheme exhibited by practically uncontradicted evidence. Appeal through the ambition, emotions or race consciousness of men of color, it was a simple and familiar device of which the object, as of so many others was to ascertain how it could best unload Capital Stock at the largest possible price. At this bar, there is no attempt to justify this going selling scheme practice improvement. It was wholly without morale it only without morality or legality. That is the statement by the United States court of appeals for the second circuit. This judicial opinion has reverberated throughout history unto today. It illustrates how a court and a judge and the Legal Process can construct a narrative that can suppress, that can oppress, and devalue voices for justice. Ultimately the unjust trial of Marcus Garvey and the conviction in deportation that followed was an attempt to silence and suppress his movement for Racial Justice. We come here almost 90 years later to show our resistance still indoors, despite the efforts that were made to suppress our defense. We continue to fight to restore the legacies and ideas of Marcus Garvey. Because he was the leader of the largest Racial Justice movement we have ever seen in the course of the African Diasporas history. So history matters. In despite of Marcus Garveys great accomplishments, if i were to ask a random person, who was Marcus Garvey . Maybe they would say, wasnt it guy . Back to africa his legacy has been suppressed, his legacy has been narrowed, and his legacy is so much larger and greater. He was not just a civil rights leader, he was a political philosopher, human rights trailblazer. His slogan both at home and abroad was inspiration for the Decolonization Movement that resulted in the decolonization of african movements, in addition to the caribbean. He was someone admired by Martin Luther king, nelson mandela, and malcolm x. But sadly, his legacy has been tarnished, degraded and banished from the american narrative. In large part due to the legal opinion that you just heard and the criminal Justice System that affected his unjust conviction. The conviction was not just painful for his family, but for his followers. It has made all of our lives less rich. It has robbed us of an important part of our history. So i myself never heard the name Marcus Garvey until i was 15 years old and reading my favorite look, the autobiography of malcolm x, a book that changed my life. I found that Marcus Hervey was someone that malcolm x father had worked with. I went to research, who is this guy . I went to a local Public Library to find information, because of the Public School where i was there was no book on Marcus Garvey. I read a book called black moses by david cronin. It was seen as a balance treatment of Marcus Garvey and his movement and presented garvey as a wellmeaning dreamer who was a buffoon, who was to ostentatious for his own good and this led to his ultimate demise. So is this an accurate telling of the garvey story . If not, why is that the legacy that has been passed down to us 90 years later . The silencing of garvey does not come from a relevant. In my short career i have had the opportunity to travel to the caribbean, africa, other parts of the world. I was able to do the same thing Marcus Garvey did 100 years earlier, which is wherever you go in europe and the United States, wherever there are black people, they are at the bottom of the social ladder. What garvey did was to open our eyes to the fact that this does not have to be so. This is not something that was written in stone. His message rings true a century after he first delivers it. Since the message is still relevant, how come we dont know about it . I think the answer is provided in the legal brief that i wrote. And it wasothers signed by dr. Julius garvey. The answer, i think will shop, disappoint, and greatly disappoint many of the readers. We submitted it to the department of justice into the white house, and i think it will shock, disappoint, and surprise many of them. What it reveals is that Marcus Garveys message was deliberately and intentionally silenced, and the law was just a tool that was used by J Edgar Hoover and other people who were interested in seeing garveys message supressed. President obama has an opportunity to write this wrong. Why is this the time to make things right . We outlined three reasons in the legal brief. First of all, this is not the first time the president has given a posthumous pardon to someone who has passed away. Both president clinton and president bush have given posthumous pardons in the last years of their administration. Clinton 1999 and president bush 2008. These are definitely legal, and definitely president for doing so. Secondly, Marcus Garvey is innocent. We have proven that beyond a reasonable shadow of a doubt. The United StatesCongress Held a hearing in 1987 in the house Judiciary Committee chair by john conyers where they afford indepth all of the evidence. They look at historical evidence presented by historians like tony martin. They conclude he was innocent back in 1987. There have been dozens of books. Currently his bust is in the hall of state. His face is on the currency of jamaicas currency. Marcus garvey is innocent and people around the world have recognized it. Even our own United States government has recognized it. Finally, why is this right time to exonerate Marcus Garvey . The reality is, there has never been a better time to do so. I believe we are at a turning point in the Racial Justice history. We are at a time where we are trying to confirm perhaps for the First Time Ever that black lives do matter, and this is part of the process. One of my favorite historians, vincent harding, has articulated there is a river to the black freedom struggle. To those of us that feel we are a part of the freedom struggle, it is part of our responsibility to make sure we continue that we hand that legacy down to those that will follow us, which includes the memory of the great ones that have gone before us and im happy to be a part of this process and look forward to hearing your questions. Thank you. [applause] thank you very much. I am so very honored to bring to the podium the ambassador, the eldest daughter of malcolm x and dr. Betty shabazz. She is an author, ambassador, motivational speaker. She was six years old when her father was assassinated. As so many people whose ancestry came from the caribbean as mine did as well, her grandpa grandparents were crusaders for \grandparents were crusaders for the universal Negro Improvement Association. At this point, give a welcome warm welcome to ambassador shabazz. [applause] ambassador shabazz we are going to have to update wikipedia, because i am no actress. They take away your intellectual power by putting in Something Else, and somehow that has more life than it. I have someones piece here so i can read the letters that came to you earlier. I ask you in advance to pardon me because as i shared over breakfast, i have dyslexia. First, i would like to say greetings to this distinguished assembly of people who found it significant to be here. There were many others who i heard