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America, not Johnson needs pardon (black boxer Jack Johnson)
Aberdeen American News ^ | January 19, 2005 | Leonard Pitts, Jr.

Posted on 01/20/2005 11:28:41 AM PST by EveningStar

Jack Johnson was a black man who often spent his days beating up white men and his nights making love to white women. This, in the first years of the last century.

So you can understand why he was a polarizing figure, why newspapers inveighed against him and the government conspired to bring him down.

Of course, chances are good that you've never even heard of John Arthur Johnson. As filmmaker Ken Burns pointed out to me in a telephone interview, we are a nation of great historical illiteracy. Ask most people what they know about even so towering a figure as George Washington and you're likely to hear only myths.

"If George Washington can get lost," said Burns, "then Jack Johnson can get lost."

Monday night on PBS, Burns set out to find him. The result is a two-part biography, "Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson," that offers a compelling exploration of a singular life.

Johnson was a fighter. He became the first black heavyweight champion in 1908 with an easy knockout of Tommy Burns.

This was at a time when the physical superiority of white men over black ones was widely regarded as self-evident truth, so Johnson's victory was an electric shock to the American psyche. And he kept winning, each victory another poke in the eye for the lie of white supremacy. Former champion Jim Jeffries - five years retired and many pounds overweight - was called upon as the "great white hope" who would put Johnson back in his place. Johnson toyed with him for 15 rounds, then decked him.

No black man with any sense dared look too pleased. As it was, angry whites rioted across the country. Eight people died.

What made matters worse is that Johnson was, as Burns puts it, "the original gangsta," living a bling-bling lifestyle 90 years before that term was coined. In an era that required black men to be circumspect, he was a brash fellow who didn't mind flaunting his wealth. He lived high, drove fast. And if he was attracted to a white woman and she to him, he saw no reason they should not be together. Indeed, he had a bad habit of marrying them.

It all came to a head in 1913, when Johnson was convicted of violating the Mann Act, which made it a federal crime to transport a woman across state lines for illegal purposes. Johnson's "illegal purpose" was to have sex with a white woman.

Not that the government bothered to hide the racism of its motive. As the prosecutor said after the verdict, "This Negro, in the eyes of many, has been persecuted. Perhaps as an individual he was. But it was his misfortune to be the foremost example of the evil in permitting the intermarriage of whites and blacks."

Burns, aided by Sens. John McCain and Edward Kennedy, is petitioning the president for a posthumous pardon on Johnson's behalf. Consider this column my way of adding my name to the list.

Still, I have issues with that word, "pardon," which suggests Johnson requires forgiveness for doing something wrong. His only mistake, if you want to call it that, was in believing that he was a man free like other men, to define himself as he saw fit, live his life on his own terms.

You hear echoes of his story in the stories of O.J. Simpson, Terrell Owens and in a hundred stories that have nothing to do with white women and sex and everything to do with the simple freedom to be.

"Jack Johnson decided to live his life nothing short of a free man," says Burns. "And this is a story of how this country went after him for doing what the Constitution said he had the right to do."

That's why I think we need to be straight about this. It would be good to see Johnson's name cleared. But it's America that should be asking for a pardon.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: bigotry; boxing; criminal; jackjohnson; kenburns; mannact; pardon; racism
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To: EveningStar

Leonard Pitts is an affirmative-action columnist who only got his job by being black. he was even awarded the affirmative-action Pulitzer for being the best black columnist on the liberal plantation. naturally, my local leftie paper runs his column. It's apparent to me that he never heard of Jack Johnson until he saw the TV show. Then he uses this PBS agitprop to attack America and defend OJ. It's completely typical of his writing.


61 posted on 01/20/2005 1:07:30 PM PST by ozzymandus
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To: EveningStar
Of great interest in this corner. Nice to be reminded of the days when one foolishly spent one's time, pouring over records and seeing old films. If one has to deal with this immortal statement vis:"Man's inhumanity to man, makes countless thousands mourn"- Robert Burns,then, how has Johnson been treated?.

True, he went to Leavenworth. How many were really brutalised in prisons for their offences? Johnson boxed there, he was in charge of an athletics program. Obviously the memory of Johnson, is being used for politically correct purposes. Others were treated many times worse and never made it out to live fairly normal lives.

To digress and put in a little white pride, it was old bare knuckle fighter, Joe Choynski, (175 pounds) who ko'd Johnson in three rounds 1901. Both men jailed afterward Choynski said to have shown Johnson a few tricks in their brief stay in durance vile. afterward.

Enough of pardons.

62 posted on 01/20/2005 1:12:18 PM PST by Peter Libra (Steady in the ranks)
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To: EveningStar
"He lived high, drove fast."

Drove fast? What? a 1908 Ferrari Testarossa?

63 posted on 01/20/2005 1:15:34 PM PST by Hatteras
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To: Mr. Mojo
Impossible though it may be, I'd like to see a round robin tourney involving the greatest heavyweights in history at their respective primes: Jeffries, Johnson, Dempsey, Louis, Marciano, Clay, Frazier, Foreman, Holmes, Tyson, and Holyfield. .....each fighting every other fighter in the field twice. It would be interesting to see who came out of that field with the best record, but I suspect it would be the fighter with the most dimensions to his game, both physically and mentally. .....and Johnson would be up there. Tyson would probably be at or near the bottom.

Back in the mid-sixties, computerized heavyweight boxing tournament was held. Data was fed into an NCR mainframe computer. From the calculated results, scripts were written and broadcast by radio as actual boxing matches, supplemented with interviews of then living former champions.

The tournament was a 16 man elimination tournament. I don't remember all the participants, but I do believe that they included Sullivan, Corbett, Fitzsimmons, Johnson, Dempsey, Tunney, Schmeling, Sharkey, Baer, Louis, and Marciano. Some of the results: Baer beat Johnson, Dempsey beat Louis. Marciano beat Dempsey in the finale. Needless to say, the results were highly disputed by boxing fans.

This led to a computer fight with tournament winner Marciano and Ali. However, this was not a radio script but a TV script, with the real Marciano and Ali participating. They both got into shape. The sequences were filmed as an actual fight with Marciano winning via a 13th round KO. Marciano died in an airplane crash a few weeks after the "fight" in 1969.

The film was shown months later, nationally, via paid closed circuit TV. Here is an account of that fight.

64 posted on 01/20/2005 1:18:44 PM PST by EveningStar
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To: EveningStar

Seems to me that Johnson lived pretty high on the hog, layed a bunch of porkettas and pretty much had his own way in all areas of his life.

Johnson got what he wanted, the porketteas got what they wanted, and they have moved on.

Why the h*ll don't we do the same?


65 posted on 01/20/2005 1:25:08 PM PST by F.J. Mitchell (The Progrossive Democrats are never so small a minority that they can't screw every thing up.)
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To: F.J. Mitchell
Johnson got what he wanted, the porketteas got what they wanted, and they have moved on.

Why the h*ll don't we do the same?

Are you suggesting that white liberals like Burns should pass up an opportunity to indulge in vainglorious posturing?

66 posted on 01/20/2005 1:30:52 PM PST by EveningStar
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To: EveningStar
I know that this is not the exact information that will be welcome. I know that there were TWO ENDINGS to the Marciano - Ali mock up. Where Ali (Cassius Clay) was popular it showed HIM as the winner. Bloomin' fiddle. Still all good fun and entertainment.

Unfortunately we should take the meticulous athletic records kept in track and field. It is regretful for comparisions , that some sort of evolution has taken place. Even if we leave out steroids, the oldsters just do not compare with the moderns. Sad I am to admit this.

I will make one exception at least. That is not in boxing. No admirer of the French though. One man stands above all others . Professional name- BLONDIN. Nobody could do what he did. Tight rope walker of over 110 years ago. Oh, just loved the immortal James J Corbett and his Edison studio film beating poor Peter Courtenay in the 1890's. Lovely stuff.

67 posted on 01/20/2005 1:34:34 PM PST by Peter Libra (Steady in the ranks)
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To: F.J. Mitchell

Shame on you. Some people have to earn a living such as this poor writer.


68 posted on 01/20/2005 1:37:26 PM PST by cyborg
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To: Peter Libra

They shot at least 4 endings because neither Marciano nor Ali knew the actual outcome at the time they were "fighting":

Marciano by KO
Ali by KO
Marciano by decision
Ali by decision


69 posted on 01/20/2005 1:38:51 PM PST by EveningStar
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To: EveningStar

As long as we're pardoning dead people, I'd like to see Attila the Hun pardoned for his myriad human rights abuses. After all, Attila was abused as a child. /sarcasm


70 posted on 01/20/2005 1:41:12 PM PST by LibertarianInExile (NO BLOOD FOR CHOCOLATE! Get the UN-ignoring, unilateralist Frogs out of Ivory Coast!)
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To: Mr. Mojo
I agree with the sentiment in your day dream. Such a tournement would truly be a joy to all who appreciate the sport.

Frankly, I wish someone other than a "Liberal" with the need to make a social commentary, had used much of the same material about Johnson's own life and boxing. The boxing material was fascinating. The social commentary bordering on the outrageous.

Pretending that one can flaunt the social mores of a community and not expect others to take offense, is the sort of material Leftist politics are made of. But what a sad distraction, the producer offered, from one who truly had extraordinary boxing skills. I had always heard that Johnson had better honed defensive skills that any other Heavyweight, and I frankly marveled at the fluidity of his defensive moves.

What an exciting moment, in Reno, when he met Jeffries. What a shame that they didn't meet a few years earlier, when Jeffries had not been out of the ring for so long. I wish, still, that they had shown the whole fight, not just excerpts, and also some of the fights to which they only alluded. But PBS had to offer a message. Very sad. Their obvious bias, as I say, was a distraction. And in recalling the offensive side of Johnson's life, in order to make that statement, they diminished the stature of their subject.

William Flax

71 posted on 01/20/2005 1:42:38 PM PST by Ohioan
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To: EveningStar
Always admired Jack Johnson. I wonder if Burns will mention the fact that JJ was considered an "uncle Tom" by many blacks for his "white man's pretensions?"
72 posted on 01/20/2005 1:45:08 PM PST by Clemenza (Paleocons, Europhiles and Monarchists should be purged)
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Comment #73 Removed by Moderator

To: Luddite Patent Counsel
In his prime, I don't think anyone could have beaten Tyson. I think Johnson would be my second pick and then Ali.

However, I don't support a pardon. He was notorious in his promiscuity and adultery and frequented bordellos at every opportunity. He was an horrible example to America's youth black, or white. He did violate the Mann Act. My problem though, is the unequal application of the Mann Act to other violators.
74 posted on 01/20/2005 1:45:48 PM PST by MBB1984
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To: Ohioan

Pretending that one can flaunt the social mores of a community and not expect others to take offense, is the sort of material Leftist politics are made of.

** What's wrong with pointing out the obvious issues of the time? The only reason why he was hated so much is because he slept with white women. This would not have been an issue if the women were black. White men could sleep with black women and not face getting arrested or lynched back then. There's nothing leftist about that because it's TRUE. Not everything is a leftist conspiracy.


75 posted on 01/20/2005 1:46:28 PM PST by cyborg
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To: Clemenza

You know the answer to that question!


76 posted on 01/20/2005 1:46:59 PM PST by cyborg
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To: Mr. Mojo

My grandfather was a boxing fan par excellance. He respected Marciano, but thought that in terms of style and technique, Joe Louis was the greatest.


77 posted on 01/20/2005 1:47:08 PM PST by Clemenza (Paleocons, Europhiles and Monarchists should be purged)
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To: ukie

No, he was prosecuted for violations of the Mann Act. Lots of people were. Burns fails to mention that. The Mann Act was a wonderful catchall tool for the feds to use; seemed like half the gangsters on the run brought their molls. :)


78 posted on 01/20/2005 1:48:28 PM PST by LibertarianInExile (NO BLOOD FOR CHOCOLATE! Get the UN-ignoring, unilateralist Frogs out of Ivory Coast!)
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To: weegee

PARDON CHUCK BERRY!

This needs to be said again.

PARDON CHUCK BERRY!


79 posted on 01/20/2005 1:50:17 PM PST by LibertarianInExile (NO BLOOD FOR CHOCOLATE! Get the UN-ignoring, unilateralist Frogs out of Ivory Coast!)
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To: MBB1984

If you're going to pardon Johnson, why not Ali and Tyson? How about Jim Brown? O.J.? (Oh, that's right, he's an innocent man still searching for the "real killers" on the golf course. No pardon necessary.)


80 posted on 01/20/2005 1:50:59 PM PST by Luddite Patent Counsel
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