Dear Editor,

I read an article in the Jamaica Observer on Monday, August 19 in which the 91-year-old son of Marcus Garvey, Dr Julius Garvey, seemed to have endorsed Mark Golding and the People’s National Party (PNP) to lead Jamaica.

I wonder whether Julius has forgotten that it was under the leadership of the PNP that Garvey was declared a criminal and imprisoned.

Lest we forget, then premier of Jamaica and then PNP leader, Norman Manley, advanced a civil case which led to Garvey being forced into exile as both a broken and broke man.

Professor Rupert Lewis, in a column published in the Jamaica Observer last week, recalled the political persecution of Garvey for speaking out against British colonial injustice: “Garvey, then 42 years old, was elected in 1929 to the then Kingston and St Andrew Corporation (KSAC), now KSAMC, while serving three months in the St Catherine District Prison for contempt of court for speaking out against British injustice in Jamaica. As a result, he missed three sittings of the council and was disqualified in a case in which Norman Manley represented the Crown.”

Garvey was so badly affected by subsequent litigation advanced by PNP surrogates it forced him into bankruptcy only a few years after Manley had declared him “an impertinent positive disgrace without decency or intelligence”. The historical record of this exchange in the chambers of the KSAC are widely available and has been published in local print media.

Has Julius forgotten that the PNP Administration refused to accept Garvey’s remains in Jamaica, and it was the late former Prime Minister of Jamaica Edward Seaga who paved the way for Garvey to return home?

I read the article in amazement — Julius Garvey seemingly supporting Golding, who last we heard was a British citizen aspiring to lead Jamaica.

I wonder whether Julius has had a severe memory loss. Has he forgotten the PNP’s vicious treatment of his father?

Bernard Headley

bernard.headley@yahoo.com