BIDEN PARDONS MARCUS GARVEY 102 YEARS LATER

On his last day in office, US President Joe Biden posthumously pardoned Marcus Garvey, 102 years after his controversial conviction on dubious mail fraud charges. The pardon follows years of advocacy by civil-rights groups and lawmakers seeking to honour the Jamaican-born leader, who championed pan-Africanism and the liberation of African people.

Garvey’s Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) was targeted by the FBI, which saw Black activism as a national security threat, leading to his imprisonment.

While the pardon acknowledges a miscarriage of justice, many see it as mere tokenism. Other figures, such as Mumia Abu-Jamal and Assata Shakur, remain entangled in the US justice system.

The pardon also fails to go far enough: an exoneration would be more apt, as it would declare his innocence, rather than simply forgiving a conviction.

Continued……. Garvey’s legacy endures. His teachings inspired leaders such as Ghana’s first president, Kwame Nkrumah, and Malcolm X, who credited him with initiating America’s freedom movements. The Rastafarian movement revered Garvey for his prophecy tied to Ethiopian emperor Haile Selassie, while the pan-African flag - his creation - symbolises the blood, skin and soil of Africa. Garvey died at just 52, yet his impact resonates generations after. For Africans, Garvey’s greatness needs no external validation.

NATIONWIDE CURFEW IN SOUTH SUDAN

South Sudan has imposed a dusk-to-dawn nationwide curfew after revenge attacks killed 16 Sudanese nationals. The violence erupted in the capital Juba and other towns after videos emerged, allegedly showing the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) in Al Jazira harassing and killing South Sudanese citizens. According to reports three Sudanese people were killed in Central Equatoria state, nine in Northern Bahr el-Ghazal, three in Western Bahr el-Ghazal and one in Upper Nile.

South Sudan is home to many Sudanese refugees who fled the proxy war being fought in their country. South Sudanese president Salva Kiir has urged his citizens to refrain from violence, while also demanding accountability from Khartoum.

The African Union has also called on Sudan’s government to investigate and bring the perpetrators of the killings of South Sudanese to justice, sending condolences to the victims’ families.

Continued……. Sources:

https://au.int/en/pressreleases/20250118/auc-chairperson-strongly-condemns-brutal-killings-south-sudanese-civilians

https://www.newarab.com/news/south-sudan-imposes-curfew-after-looting-sudanese-shops

https://www.radiotamazuj.org/en/news/article/juba-summons-sudan-envoy-over-wad-madani-atrocities

https://sudantribune.com/article296100/#google_vignette

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/dec/10/airstrike-north-darfur-market-kills-people-sudan

https://www.barrons.com/news/sudan-army-denies-involvement-in-al-jazira-state-civilian-assaults-8c38dc92?refsec=topics_afp-news

https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/sudanese-army-says-advancing-key-rsf-held-capital-al-jazira-state

https://x.com/african_stream/status/1869404365674467526?s=46

HOW ISRAEL COST KAMALA HARRIS THE U.S. PRESIDENCY

A recent YouGov poll showed that 29 per cent of people who voted for US President Joe Biden in 2020 said the number one reason for not voting for Vice President Kamala Harris was her refusal to break from Biden’s policy on Gaza. 

Further, 20 per cent of voters in states that swung from Biden in 2020 to Donald Trump in 2024 said they would have voted for Harris if she hadn’t expressed unconditional support for Israel.

Following Donald Trump’s victory on 5 November, Democrats blamed people who voted for independent parties. However, vote tallies show that these parties garnered too few votes to affect either Harris or Trump.

Continued….. Trump is likely to be as pro-Israel, if not worse, than Biden-Harris and has already made some disturbing remarks, although he did manage to get a ceasefire before his inauguration. Let’s not forget that during his first term, he recognised Occupied Jerusalem as Israel’s capital city and the Syrian-occupied Golen Heights as part of Israel. But the difference, is that Republican Trump supporters, by and large, couldn’t give a toss about Palestine, while traditional Democratic voters do. That’s why Harris and Biden’s complete capitulation to Netanyahu and the Israeli regime cost them votes.

What do you think?

Sources:
https://www.commondreams.org/news/harris-gaza

Continued…….. The FBI ran an extensive campaign, including surveillance, wiretaps and listening devices in King’s hotel rooms. King accused the FBI of attempting blackmail through an anonymous letter, along with a tape of his alleged infidelities, suggesting he should commit su*cide to avoid public embarrassment. The FBI leaked information about King’s personal life to the media and attempted to turn public opinion against him. However, the press at the time largely refused to publish such details.

The King family and others have argued that James Earl Ray (1928-98) was used as a scapegoat for King’s assassination, which they say involved a broader conspiracy including the US government, the mafia and Memphis police. In 1999, a Memphis jury in a civil trial found local, state and federal governments liable for King’s death.

So are we really supposed to forget all this and just be grateful that the FBI had a change of heart and is now commemorating King?

Let us know in the comments.

Sources
FBI post
https://x.com/FBI/status/1881371223075995958

J Edgar Hoover: Garvey, Malcolm, Hampton
https://moguldom.com/448109/fact-check-before-malcolm-x-was-murdered-j-edgar-hoover-sent-message-do-something-about-malcolm-x/
https://face2faceafrica.com/article/john-edgar-hoover-the-fbi-director-who-destroyed-civil-rights-groups-using-state-sponsored-terrorism1234
https://truthout.org/articles/new-documents-suggest-j-edgar-hoover-was-involved-in-fred-hamptons-murder

FBI vs King
https://www.npr.org/2021/01/18/956741992/documentary-exposes-how-the-fbi-tried-to-destroy-mlk-with-wiretaps-blackmail

James Earl Ray was scapegoat
https://archive.ph/hK1KK#selection-971.253-971.267

REPARATIONS REMAIN JUST A DREAM

US presidents come and go, but true to the nature of the duopoly, that is the Democrat and Republican parties, who swap places in the White House every four to eight years, represent little in terms of policy change. Almost 57 years after his death, and 11 US presidents later, the goals the Rev Dr Martin Luther King, Jr (1929-68), fought to achieve remain elusive. Listen to this speech by the icon, where he points to the government’s reluctance to address racial and historical injustices despite extending favour to European settlers.

Continued……Near the end of the US Civil War, the government promised once-enslaved Africans that they would receive 40 acres of Confederate land (a total of 400,000 acres of indigenous territory along the southeast US coast) and a mule. However, US President Andrew Johnson broke this promise following US President Abraham Lincoln’s assassination. While some oppose transferring former plantations to Africans as reparations because it doesn’t take into account that European settlers originally displaced indigenous people, the idea stands that no reparative process is in place.

The experience of Black people in the US highlights the role systemic factors play in subjugating a group across generations, regardless of how hard one pulls on their bootstraps.

The absence of restitution for slavery, the implementation of discriminatory laws known as Jim Crow, and present-day structural racism manifest in the racial wealth gap. White people hold 10 times more cumulative wealth than Black people. A 2021 US Federal Reserve study found that Black households would hold five times more wealth in a world without racial wealth inequality. Jonathan Welburn, a researcher at the think tank RAND, says, ‘Yesterday’s segregation is today’s wealth gap. We like to pretend that we live in a race-neutral, merit-based society now. That this is all in the past, but you can’t erase history. It shows up in our wealth. For many, it shows up in the lack of wealth.’

Sources
40 acres and a mule
https://www.history.com/news/40-acres-mule-promise

Racial wealth gap
https://www.rand.org/pubs/articles/2023/what-would-it-take-to-close-americas-black-white-wealth-gap.html

Speech
https://reparationscomm.org/reparations-news/martin-luther-kings-case-for-reparations-still-rings-true

https://ibw21.org/commentary/kings-poor-peoples-campaign