Click here to sign the petition to exonerate Marcus Garvey!!!
Marcus Garvey is the source for Bob Marley’s well known phrase in “Redmption Song:”
Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery; None but ourselves can free our minds.
That famous lyric originated with Marcus Garvey. In his 1937 speech “The Work That Has Been Done” given at Menelik Hall in Nova Scotia Garvey states:
We are going to emancipate ourselves from mental slavery because whilst others might free the body, none but ourselves can free the mind.
The mental emancipation Garvey spoke about has yet to become significantly widespread among the human race. One indication humanity has yet to achieve mental emancipation is the fact criminal charges are still on the records of the United States Federal Government. Does such fact Garvey’s of universal emancipation warrant his exoneration? With such a powerful statement having influence on people worldwide to the extent they seek further knowledge as to source of Bob Marley’s lyrics it would seem the answer is in the affirmative.
The only evidence used to convict Marcus Garvey was actually an absence of evidence. At trial a single empty envelope was presented. Allegedly the envelope once contained a flyer which suggested the Black Star Line owned a ship named for Phillis Wheatley, the first African-American to have published poetry. Garvey was out of the USA at the time and therefore could not have created such a flyer if one actually existed.
More information on the Garvey Case can be found in the article by Professor Justin Hansford. Jailing A Rainbow can be read at the link below:
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1321527&
The Jamaican lawyer and government received a rejection letter from the White House. Will this be that charm to get a positive?
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I have never seen the letter. Do not know whether that whole episode was real or a hoax. I do know the link to this petition is directly on the White House website. They set the parameters for any issue to be addressed. The only answer to your question can be received when on October 22, 2011 we have OVER 5,000 signatures on the petition to exonerate Marcus Garvey.
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Marcus Garvey positively inspired many people and also many many Reggae musicians. Especially the Music of Burning Spear, who is one of the most influential Reggae musicians out of Jamaica.
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i want to sign this…he was a great man…
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Let join together. I was a sponsor of a White House petition and this one: http://signon.org/sign/clear-marcus-garveys
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