PM Seaga and US Vice President George Bush were among those invited to the unveiling of Sam Sharpe's statue in St James. Sam Sharpe was hailed for his fight for human rights.

Monday, October 17, 1983

Seaga calls on US to clear Garvey’s name

GLEANER WESTERN BUREAU

PRIME MINISTER EDWARD SEAGA has called on United States President Ronald Reagan to use his powers “to grant a full pardon to Marcus Garvey, wiping the slate of his memory clean and clear for posterity and enhancing the consciousness, pride and dignity of black people, throughout the world”.

Vice President George Bush, now on a three-day official visit to the island, has been asked to “receive and convey” the request.

Mr Seaga said the judicial records of the US show that the Rt Excellent Marcus Garvey, Jamaica’s first national hero, was convicted of an offence during the course of a campaign of persecution against him “which caused him to leave America with a broken heart and a criminal record”.

Mr Seaga, who was speaking yesterday at a ceremony to unveil a monument in honour of National Hero Sam Sharpe, in the remodelled Sam Sharpe Square, Montego Bay, said: “It cannot befit the memory of this great man whom the world acknowledges as the father of black nationalism, for which he is universally honoured, that the record of his life continues to be painted with this stain of dishonour.”

Of Sam Sharpe, Mr Seaga said Jamaica was honouring “a very proud chapter in the history of our country and a very great son of Jamaica, who gave his life to the cause of liberty in our land”.

And, in his tribute to Sam Sharpe, Vice President Bush noted that “he fought for human right, the one upon which all other rights are based, the right to individual liberty”.

Placing Sam Sharpe alongside some noted American heroes, Mr Bush said: “As free peoples, we are deeply indebted to such men and women.”

He went on to say: “As I look around me today and think about the sacrifice of Sam Sharpe and others like him, I cannot but feel that he would be proud to witness the health and vigour of democracy in his homeland. He would be proud, too, of the example that the people of Jamaica have set for other countries of this hemisphere, and of their courage in speaking out for the freedom of people everywhere.”

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