The Sun-Times<\/em>\u00a0writes that the Chicago man \u201chas steadfastly maintained his innocence, arguing that he was targeted for prosecution in retaliation for exposing unprofessional and racist behavior within the U.S. Secret Service.\u201d- <\/p> Bolden aimed to clear his name by seeking the support of three presidents: Richard Nixon, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, but it was Biden who finally pardoned the 87-year-old man.<\/p> \u201cWhen my attorney called me on Monday night and said Biden was going to grant me a pardon, I was elated,\u201d Bolden told The Sun-Times<\/em>. \u201cIt was so long coming. I\u2019m overwhelmed.\u201d<\/p> \u201cIt\u2019s been nearly 60 years,\u201d he said. \u201cI thought it would happen. I knew God was in the plan all along because I had faith that justice would be served. If it weren\u2019t served here, it would be served eventually. I would see it. That\u2019s faith.\u201d<\/p> According to the report, Biden pardoned three people this week and commuted the sentences of 75 others serving long prison terms for nonviolent drug offenses, inmates who would have been eligible for shorter sentences under current guidelines.<\/p> Bolden\u2019s son, Dr. Daaim Shabazz, an associate professor of global business at Florida A&M University, said his father was able to carve out a good life for his family despite his ordeal, sustaining a marriage for 49 years and raising three children.<\/p> Two of those children and Bolden\u2019s wife have passed away, said Shabazz, adding that \u201cThey certainly would have been proud that his name was cleared.\u201d<\/p> Shabazz was only 2 years old when his dad was imprisoned.<\/p> \u201cI want people to know his story,\u201d said Shabazz, \u201cwhat he endured, what he went through, what he struggled to do, and how he maintained his dignity and stood on the truth until the end. If he was not pardoned, the lessons are still great lessons to learn.\u201d<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" After witnessing laxity by others assigned to President John F. Kennedy, Abraham Bolden spoke out \u2014 then faced retaliation. In 1961, Abraham Bolden became the very first Black Secret Service agent to serve on a White House detail. Within months, after witnessing laxity by other colleagues assigned to President John F. Kennedy, Bolden spoke out […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1964,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1963","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gynesisradio.com\/tpsquare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1963","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gynesisradio.com\/tpsquare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gynesisradio.com\/tpsquare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gynesisradio.com\/tpsquare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gynesisradio.com\/tpsquare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1963"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.gynesisradio.com\/tpsquare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1963\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gynesisradio.com\/tpsquare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1964"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gynesisradio.com\/tpsquare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1963"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gynesisradio.com\/tpsquare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1963"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gynesisradio.com\/tpsquare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1963"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}