90 years ago, boxer Johnson sought his own pardon

google.com ^ | 06/28/2011 | FREDERIC J. FROMMER

[massmike]

Congressional backers of a pardon for Jack Johnson, the world's first black heavyweight champion who was imprisoned nearly a century ago for his romantic relationships with white women, say his prosecution was racially motivated. Johnson made the same argument 90 years ago while in prison, records at the National Archives show.

Now, under a black president and black attorney general, the Justice Department is against pardoning Johnson. In the last session of Congress, both houses of Congress passed a resolution urging a pardon pushed by Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., "to expunge a racially motivated abuse of the prosecutorial authority of the federal government." But President Barack Obama has not acted on it.

While Obama hasn't commented publicly on the matter, the Justice Department's pardon attorney told McCain and King that the DOJ's resources are best used for pardoning the living. Still, the lawmakers are making another run at the pardon this year.

In 2004, the Committee to Pardon Jack Johnson, launched by filmmaker Ken Burns and others, filed a petition with the Justice Department asking for a posthumous pardon, and McCain and King introduced their resolution. As Texas governor, George W. Bush had proclaimed Johnson's birthday "Jack Johnson Day" for five straight years in honor of the Galveston, Texas native, but the Bush administration never acted on the petition.

Supporters were sure they'd have better luck with Obama, who became the nation's first black president 100 years after Johnson became the first black heavyweight champion. But they're still waiting.

[massmike]

[massmike]

Supporters were sure they'd have better luck with Obama, who became the nation's first black president 100 years after Johnson became the first black heavyweight champion. But they're still waiting.

"Obama don't care about no black people!"

[apillar]

the Justice Department's pardon attorney told McCain and King that the DOJ's resources are best used for pardoning the living.

Exactly, I watched the Ken Burns special on Jack Johnson back when it was broadcast and it was pretty obvious Johnson got shafted by the feds because he was a famous, rich, black guy that not only dated white women, but did it flamboyantly. A big no-no in those days. If I remember correctly, the feds actual created a law just so they could convict him, it was something about forbidding a black to transport a white across state lines, for sexual purposes. That being said, I not sure what it accomplishes nearly a century after the fact, when everybody involved is dead and the best you can hope for is to waste a lot of money and resources for what will be a little more than a footnote in the history books.

[Sherman Logan]

If I remember correctly, the feds actual created a law just so they could convict him, it was something about forbidding a black to transport a white across state lines, for sexual purposes.

Nope. He was prosecuted for transporting a woman across state lines for "immoral purposes," under the Mann Act, which does not mention color or race. Still a law, I believe, though seldom used.

Since he wasn't married to the woman in question, there is no doubt he was guilty. There is also no question the prosecution was racially motivated.