Dear President Joseph Biden,
As your White House presidency ends, I believe history will record you as a president of dignity and consequence. Your political career has no parallel. Your days dwindle, and America faces a new dawn. Democracy will be challenged, and a new government will lead. As President of the United States, you can grant pardons. On Sunday evening, December 1, you did the right thing by your son, granting Hunter Biden a pardon because he was a political target. You decided not to throw your son to the wolves, where revenge politics would be a reality. The criticism of Biden is unfair. Makes me think of Les McCann’s song, “Compared to What.”
I would like you to consider pardons for others who have worked their time productively before and after their incarceration. Compared to today, what does one go to jail for, or what does one not go to jail for? I respectfully request your consideration of pardons. I refer to the pardon in Article II, Section 2 of the Constitution. This is the pardon that President Gerald Ford issued to President Richard Nixon. It reads, “to grant a full, free, and absolute pardon unto Richard Nixon for all offenses against the United States he has committed or may have committed or taken from January 20, 1969 through August 9, 1974.“ The pardon is complete, absolute, and similar to the one granted to Hunter Biden. President Biden became the first President in the history of the United States to grant a pardon to his son.
Guilty as Charged…
On May 31, 2024, Donald Trump became the first former American president to be convicted of a felony crime. A New York jury found him guilty of all 34 charges in a scheme to illegally influence the 2016 election through a hush money payment to a porn actor who claimed the two had sex.
As a sitting President of the United States, Trump might likely see charges dropped and a jail cell he will never see. Of course, you know he will be sworn in on January 20, 2024, as the 47th President of the United States. The rule that “no man is above the law” in the United States has been proven incorrect. Trump moves forward despite his criminal acts.
Please Pardon…..
History has a funny way of changing and reconsidering itself. In that vein, I request that you pardon the following people. – “full free and absolute.” They have all served their time.
1. Former Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr. served in the House for 17 years, representing the second congressional district with significant contributions to improve living. One incident I remember most is the brown water in the south suburbs. He feverishly worked to correct this problem. He served a jail sentence of 30 months as he pleaded guilty to conspiracy, mail and wire fraud, and false statements. As a congressman, he was living in two cities, Chicago and Washington. He considered Washington a business expense in that this was where he served. The expense for a family of four was overwhelming. One of the factors that the press DID NOT RECORD is that his conviction was the misappropriation of funds over a decade. He pleaded guilty and has shown remorse. When he was sentenced, the Judge said, “I can’t wait for Jesse Jackson 2.0”. She meant after he served his jail term.
2. Sandy Jackson (Jesse’s ex- wife) also went to jail. She is a former alderman in Chicago. She is a good mother, and the courts allowed her and her husband to serve separate sentences because of the age of their young children. She was jailed for filing false returns.
3. In 1971, Attorney Harold Washington was a lawyer. He was charged with failing to file a tax return, yet the taxes were paid. He was jailed for 36 days. As you probably know, he went on to serve as Mayor of the city of Chicago. He changed the city and became one of Chicago’s most significant and beloved mayors. His pardon would be posthumous.
4. Rod Blagojevich was the Governor of the State of Illinois. He was sent to jail for racketeering, conspiracy, wire fraud, extortion, and attempted conspiracy for false statements to federal agents. He was the governor who named a replacement for the Senate seat for Barack Obama as Obama was going to the White House. Blagojevich was guilty of trying to sell the seat for his gain. He was impeached for his 40th seat as Governor Of Illinois. He was sentenced to 14 years in jail. His sentence was commuted in 2020 by President Trump, but he was not pardoned. He served his jail sentence for 8 years.
5. Clifford Kelley is a former alderman of the City of Chicago. He was found guilty of a bribe of $30,00 to influence city contracts. He served in the Harold Washington administration. Upon his release from jail, he became a vibrant influencer on the radio station WVON.
The Civil Rights Voice…
6. William Beavers, too, deserves a pardon. His pardon would be posthumous. He was jailed for tax evasion for six months. Until the time of his death (2024), he claimed that the FBI targeted him because he refused to wear a wire to entrap Cook County Commissioner John Daley or Mayor Richard Daley.
7. Businesswoman and author Martha Stewart should be pardoned. She was jailed for security fraud, obstruction of justice, and lying to an FBI agent. Her documentary makes it clear that the influential FBI Director did not like her, and the actual crime was that she was a successful billionaire woman. She served her time as her empire was challenged. Her crime was her success, in retrospect.
8. Activist Rosa Parks sat on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama, on December 1, 1955. She was arrested for disorderly conduct and violating a local ordinance (Jim Crow Law of Segregation). Colored people were assigned to the back of the bus. She was found guilty and fined. Mrs. Park’s disobedience led to a year-long boycott, ending physical segregation in America. Mrs. Parks’ posthumous deserves a total and absolute pardon from the President of the United States.
State Representative LaShawn Ford has introduced HB5904 to the State of Illinois. It amends the United Code of Corrections. It provides that a person convicted of a felony shall be eligible to be nominated for and elected to an elective public office after completing their sentence, including completing their parole or mandator supervised release term.
Trump has changed the game. Politics is not a sport and should be played as it is one. Justice should prevail. All of the above names had mishaps as they performed their duties. They paid for their wrongdoing but should be penalized forever. Politics has become a “miscarriage of justice” and toxic and revengeful. Retribution should not be an element of politics.
President Biden, I hope you will consider.
