On his final day in office, President Joe Biden issued pardons for five individuals, including a historic civil rights activist from the 1940s and the speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates.
“America is a country built on the promise of second chances,” Biden stated in a White House release on Sunday. “As President, I have used my clemency power to make that promise a reality, granting more individual pardons and commutations than any other President in U.S. history.”
Biden announced pardons for five individuals and commutations for two others, emphasizing their “remorse, rehabilitation, and redemption.” Among those pardoned was the late Marcus Garvey, a civil rights pioneer convicted of mail fraud in 1923.
Garvey, who passed away in 1940, was the founder of the Black Star Line, the first Black-owned cargo shipping line, and the Universal Negro Improvement Association.
Also pardoned was Virginia Delegate Don Scott, the first Black Speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates. Scott, a Navy veteran, was convicted of a nonviolent drug offense in 1994 and sentenced to 10 years in prison. Following his release, he became an attorney. Reflecting on his journey, Scott said, “From being arrested as a law student to becoming the first Black Speaker in Virginia’s 405-year history, my story is a testament to resilience and the power of second chances.”
Biden also granted clemency to:
• Darryl Chambers, a gun violence prevention advocate from Wilmington, Delaware, sentenced to 17 years in 1998 for a nonviolent drug offense.
• Ravi Ragbir, an immigrant rights advocate in New York and New Jersey, convicted of a similar offense in 2001.
• Kemba Smith Pradia, who was sentenced to 24 years in 1994 for a nonviolent drug offense.
These pardons are part of the 2,500 clemency actions Biden issued during his final weeks, primarily for nonviolent drug offenses. He also commuted several death row sentences to life imprisonment and granted a full pardon to his son, Hunter Biden, in one of the most high-profile clemency decisions of his presidency.
