President Joe Biden pardoned five people in his final day in office, including a prominent civil rights activist who died in the 1940s and the speaker of the Virginia House. The president pardoned the late Marcus Garvey, a civil rights leader convicted of mail fraud in 1923, who died in 1940. Garvey founded the first Black-owned cargo shipping line, Black Star Line, and created the Universal Negro Improvement Association.
Biden said in a statement issued by the White House Sunday: “America is a country built on the promise of second chances. As President, I have used my clemency power to make that promise a reality by issuing more individual pardons and commutations than any other President in U.S. history. Today, I am exercising my clemency power to pardon 5 individuals and commute the sentences of 2 individuals who have demonstrated remorse, rehabilitation, and redemption. These clemency recipients have each made significant contributions to improving their communities.”
Biden also pardoned Rep. Don Scott, D-Portsmouth and the first Black person to serve as Speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates. He was convicted in 1994 of a nonviolent drug offense and sentenced to 10 years in prison. Scott, a Navy veteran, worked as an attorney after his release. Scott said in a statement: “My journey — from being arrested as a law student to standing here today as the first Black Speaker of the House of Delegates in Virginia’s 405-year history — is a testament to the resilience of the human spirit and the transformative power of second chances.”
Biden pardoned Darryl Chambers, a gun violence prevention advocate who was sentenced to 17 years in prison, also for a nonviolent drug offense, in 1998. Chambers is a native of Wilmington, Del., where Biden also lives.
Ravi Ragbir was an advocate for immigrant rights in New York and New Jersey and also convicted of a nonviolent drug offense in 2001. Biden also pardoned Kemba Smith Pradia, who was sentenced to 24 years in prison in 1994, also for a nonviolent drug offense.
Per NBC News, Biden has set the presidential record for most individual pardons and commutations issued. He announced on Friday that he was commuting the sentences of almost 2,500 people convicted of nonviolent drug offenses. He also commuted the sentences of 37 of the 40 people on federal death row, converting their sentences to life in prison and issued a full pardon for his son, Hunter Biden, his most profile presidential pardon in recent months.
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