Jack Johnson Presidential Pardon

[brianlkennedy]

As a human rights attorney and martial artist I have gotten involved in a project to get a posthumous pardon for the famous boxer Jack Johnson. As to why I am posting this here in the Kung Fu magazine forum, there are two reasons for it. First many of the folks here may have been boxers at one point or another or follow boxing. And secondly martial artists, be they east or west, black, white or Asian are all in a common brotherhood/sisterhood--at least as I see it. So if folks here are interested in helping clear the name of Americas first black heavyweight champion you might want to take a look at this web site:

http://www.boxersunion.org/leg.htm

And at the top is a section called:
Resolutions In Support of Pardoning Jack Johnson
Ask Your Representative to Co-Sponsor This Legislation

Many of you may already be aware of Jack Johnsons story. He was the first American black heavyweight champion. He also was not the kind of guy who took **** so---he was not very popular with the establishment. So—he ended up getting a completely bull**** criminal conviction.

What the petition drive is doing is trying to get people to send letters to their US Congressmen to have the US Congress pass a resolution urging the US President to issue a pardon for Jack Johnson.

I realize it could be argued that; look, what the hell difference does it make, Jack Johnson has been dead 50 years, dead men do not need pardons and writing letters is a hassle.

My counter to that is simple; boxers by and large do not get much in this world. The boxing business uses them, then discards them. At least in this one case justice ought to be done, even if it is 50 years late.

At the bottom I have attached sections from the Congressional resolution that tells a bit about Jack Johnsons story.

Take care,
Brian


Expressing the sense of Congress that the President should grant a posthumous pardon to John Arthur `Jack' Johnson for the 1913 racially motivated conviction of Johnson, which diminished his athletic, cultural, and historic significance, and tarnished his reputation.

Whereas John Arthur `Jack' Johnson was a flamboyant, defiant, and controversial figure in American history who challenged racial biases;

Whereas Jack Johnson was born in Galveston, Texas, in 1878 to parents who were former slaves;

Whereas Jack Johnson was a professional boxer who traveled throughout the United States and the world, fighting both Black and White heavyweight boxers;
Whereas in 1908, after being denied the opportunity to fight two White boxing champions on purely racial grounds, Jack Johnson was granted an opportunity by an Australian promoter to fight Tommy Burns, the reigning world heavyweight champion;

Whereas Jack Johnson defeated Burns to become the first African American to hold the title of world heavyweight champion;

Whereas the victory of Jack Johnson over Burns prompted the search for a White boxer who could beat him, a recruitment effort dubbed the search for the `Great White Hope';

Whereas in Reno, Nevada, in 1910, in what was referred to by many as the `Battle of the Century', a White former heavyweight champion named James `Jim' Jeffries came back from retirement to fight, and lose to, Jack Johnson;
Whereas the defeat of Jeffries by Jack Johnson sparked rioting and aggression toward African Americans and led to racially motivated murders of African Americans nationwide;

Whereas the resentment felt toward Jack Johnson by many Whites was compounded by his relationships with White women;

Whereas between 1901 and 1910, 754 African Americans were lynched, some simply for being `too familiar' with White women;

Whereas in 1910, Congress passed the White-slave traffic Act (commonly known as the `Mann Act'), which outlawed the transportation of women in interstate or foreign commerce `for the purpose of prostitution or debauchery, or for any other immoral purpose';

Whereas in October 1912, Jack Johnson became involved with a White woman, Lucille Cameron, whose mother disapproved of the relationship, claimed that Johnson had abducted her daughter, and sought action from the Department of Justice;

Whereas Jack Johnson was arrested by United States marshals on October 18, 1912, for transporting Lucille Cameron across State lines for an `immoral purpose' in violation of the Mann Act, but Cameron refused to cooperate with authorities, the charges were dropped, and Cameron later married the champion;

Whereas Federal authorities continued to pursue Jack Johnson and summoned Belle Schreiber, a White woman, to testify that Johnson had transported her across State lines for the purposes of `prostitution and debauchery';

Whereas in 1913, Jack Johnson was convicted of violating the Mann Act and was sentenced to 1 year and 1 day in Federal prison, but fled the country to Canada and then to various European and South American countries;

Whereas Jack Johnson lost the heavyweight championship title to Jess Willard in Cuba in 1915;

Whereas Jack Johnson returned to the United States in July 1920, surrendered to the authorities, and served nearly 1 year in the United States Penitentiary at Leavenworth, Kansas;

Whereas Jack Johnson fought boxing matches after his release from prison, but never regained the heavyweight championship title;

Whereas Jack Johnson supported this Nation during World War II by encouraging citizens to buy war bonds and by participating in exhibition boxing matches to promote the sale of war bonds;

Whereas Jack Johnson died in an automobile accident in 1946; and

Whereas in 1954, Jack Johnson was inducted into the Boxing Hall of Fame: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), That it is the sense of Congress that--
(1) John Arthur `Jack' Johnson paved the way for African American athletes to participate and succeed in racially integrated professional sports in the United States;
(2) Jack Johnson was wronged by a racially motivated conviction prompted by his success in the boxing ring and his relationships with White women;
(3) the criminal conviction of Jack Johnson unjustly ruined his career and destroyed his reputation; and
(4) the President should grant a posthumous pardon to Jack Johnson to expunge from the annals of American criminal justice a racially motivated abuse of the prosecutorial authority of the Federal Government, and to recognize Jack Johnson's athletic and cultural contributions to society.

[TonyM.]

Well said sir.

['MegaPoint]

I agree with you wholeheartedly about Mr. Johnson.

I also feel that if reparations can't be paid to the ancestors of African-American slaves, Affirmative Action should be made a Constitutional right until all things are truly equal in America. THEN you can ammend it (don't give me that states rights crap either). If we did it for the Japanese-American internment camp survivors, you can do it for the folks who pretty much built this great Babylon of ours.

Pardoning Jack Johnson is a no-brainer as is paying back all the family members of Tuskeegee Experiment survivors for using the men in their families as human guinea pigs (without their knowledge).

Ahhh, "America"! When I hear that name it conjures images of, well--- conjurers, necromancers and alchemists. How proud I am to be associated with such a "storied" history of genocide, eugenics, RACE-ism (where we running to?) and xenophobia on a Grand Scale!

It's easy as A-B-RA-Ca-Dab-RA(emphasis on "RA"), and E. Pluribus Unum! Then there was ONE!!!! Hahahaha!!!

I think they're only fooling some of the people some of the time, especially nowadays. Some of us gots it figured out. What's the ANGLE?!

Later <G>!!!

[DAT]

"Expressing the sense of Congress that the President should grant a posthumous pardon to John Arthur `Jack' Johnson for the 1913 racially motivated conviction of Johnson, which diminished his athletic, cultural, and historic significance, and tarnished his reputation."

There has been a "holocaust" of racial injustice in the past in this country and every country on this planet. JJ's historical significance, in my opinion, has been enhanced by the documented actions against him and how he acted in a defiant manner unheard of in the day. You goal is noble but as an attorney I would hope that you would spend your time and energy to right present day injustice. I think JJ and others who suffered racial injustice in the past would be grateful. Clear thinking educated individuals understand what happened to JJ and why.