Restore lustre to Garvey's name

THE EDITOR, Sir:

I read with great interest your article in The Sunday Gleaner, 'Exoneration - Jamaica's jubilee gift to Garvey', and noted your astute analysis of the facts surrounding Marcus Garvey's wrongful conviction and imprisonment.

On behalf of the Marcus Garvey Celebrations Committee and the Institute for Caribbean Studies, and the Rootz Foundation, which has created an online petition (http://bit.ly/KqUrGh) addressed to President Barack Obama to exonerate Garvey, we are requesting your assistance in publicising our petition.

Although Marcus Garvey does not need to be exonerated in our eyes, the Rootz Foundation, Institute for Caribbean Studies, and the Marcus Garvey Celebrations Committee are using this strategy as part of a larger goal of the public restoration/rehabilitation of the good name and character of our hero, Marcus Garvey.

Garvey's exoneration, we believe, will accomplish three things:

1. In the name of justice, clear the name of a man who was wrongfully convicted and imprisoned.

2. Honour the legacy of the hero in the struggle for human rights and black identity.

3. Draw attention to the work of Marcus Garvey, especially his ideas about personal responsibility and success.

GEOFFREY PHILP

geoffreyphilp101@gmail.com