Roger Stone Encouraged Trump to Pardon Marcus Garvey

One of Donald Trump’s longest and closest associates has encouraged the president to grant a posthumous pardon to Marcus Garvey, the pan-African advocate and black nationalist who became a forebearer of the modern civil rights movement.

The associate, Roger Stone, told The Daily Beast earlier this week that he wrote Trump “a year ago” urging him to consider a Garvey pardon. Trump has not acted on the request and it’s unclear if he plans to. Stone did not return additional requests for comment, but in a Reddit forum in 2017 he explained that he had wanted the president to make the announcement during Black History Month, adding, “Yes I am serious.” 

The president has recently discovered an appetite for issuing pardons of iconic figures, including those deceased, enhancing the prospect that a Garvey pardon may happen. That said, Trump does not appear to have ever mentioned the Garvey case. Nor is it clear if Stone has done any advocacy beyond the lone letter and the Reddit forum.