The Mayor of Kingston, Andrew Swaby, has thanked former United States president Joe Biden for pardoning Marcus Garvey, Jamaica’s first national hero and former councillor at the Kingston and St Andrew Municipal Corporation (KSAMC).

As his presidency winds to a close, President Biden issued a posthumous pardon for Marcus Garvey, a notable Black nationalist who inspired figures like Malcolm X, Nelson Mandela, and later generations of Black Panther Party activists.

President Biden on Sunday pardoned Marcus Garvey, one of the first Black civil rights leaders, more than 80 years after Garvey’s death.