UPDATE: Boxer Jack Johnson is posthumously pardoned by President Trump

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: Washington Post



President Trump granted a posthumous pardon to boxer Jack Johnson on Thursday, wiping clean his 1913 Mann Act conviction. Johnson, the first black heavyweight champion, was convicted under federal legislation that made it illegal to cross state lines with a woman “for the purpose of prostitution or debauchery, or for any other immoral purpose.” Jim Crow-era prosecutors often used the legislation as an anti-miscegenation device.

Trump tweeted last month that he would consider the pardon after receiving a call from actor Sylvester Stallone, who, according to the president, had explained the fighter’s “complex and controversial” life. “A truly great fighter,” Trump said Thursday in the Oval Office, where he signed the pardon in a ceremony attended by boxing legend Lennox Lewis and Stallone. “He had a tough life.”

Trump noted that a pardon for Johnson, whom he called “one of the greatest that ever lived,” had considerable support in Congress, including within the Congressional Black Caucus. The president said Johnson served prison time “for what many view a racially motivated injustice.”

Congressional leaders had long lobbied presidents to pardon Johnson; “No president ever signed it, surprisingly,” Trump said Thursday. A bill requesting a pardon from George W. Bush passed the House of Representatives in 2008 but died in the Senate.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/early-lead/wp/2018/05/24/boxer-jack-johnson-is-posthumously-pardoned-by-president-trump/?utm_term=.d7016437e8ff

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Original article -

by Washington Post Staff May 24 at 1:17 PM

Johnson, the first black heavyweight champion, was convicted in 1913 under the Mann Act, federal legislation that made it illegal to cross state lines with a woman “for the purpose of prostitution or debauchery, or for any other immoral purpose.” Jim Crow-era prosecutors often used the legislation as a type of anti-miscegenation law.

Trump tweeted last month that he would consider the pardon after a call from actor Sylvester Stallone, who according to the president explained the fighter’s “complex and controversial” life.

Congressional leaders have long sought a pardon for Johnson, who died in 1946. A bill requesting a pardon from George W. Bush passed the House of Representatives in 2008 but died in the Senate. A 1,000-page education bill in 2015 included a provision requesting a pardon for Johnson. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and former senator Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.), along with Congressmen Peter T. King (R-N.Y.) and Gregory W. Meeks (D-N.Y.), requested a pardon from President Obama in 2016.

This is a developing story. It will be updated.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/politics/wp/2018/05/24/boxer-jack-johnson-is-posthumously-pardoned-by-president-trump/?utm_term=.e55e399952a7

[yallerdawg]

1. One of those 'nudge-nudge-wink-winks.'

"We're not racist anymore! See?"

[BumRushDaShow]

3. New distraction to destract from the distraction that distracted from the original distraction.

(ETA - may have been a Don King request)

[Hugin]

6. Precisely.

The snowballing Big Lie is starting to roll back on the Tangeranus.

[yallerdawg]

11. The NFL issue is so blatantly racist...

someone like Don King might have mentioned how this long-standing injustice could appear to "help" a little as the Dotard panders to his white supremacist and covertly racist base.

[BumRushDaShow]

15. I still say that Mel Brooks is (and always will be) a genius.

[Blue_Tires]

24. +1

[MythosMaster]

27. yes, saw all his early movies in the cinema

not on tv. The good ol days.

[BumRushDaShow]

30. Plus he and Carl Reiner are still busy performing.

Kudos to them!

[Anon-C]

8. Kanye West and Candace Owens will be on later to explain how this...

...is an act of genuis stability.

[TeamPooka]

2. "Where's my Nobel Peace Prize?"

[bucolic_frolic]

4. Piece Prize, please!

He's had his

[Iggo]

5. Pardon some alive people, Mr President. (n/t)

[DinahMoeHum]

7. Boxer Jack Johnson would have been DEPORTED 100 years ago. . .

. . .if DJT were POTUS then.

This shit is fooling nobody.

[Hoyt]

9. Maybe Stallone should explain healthcare, taxes, foreign affairs, etc., to trump.

[kimbutgar]

10. See how he is trying to get the black vote!

He has done so much for black people.

[hatrack]

12. Maybe now he can prehumously pardon Colin Kaepernick . . .

[7962]

13. Should have been done decades ago.

I dont give a shit if it was trump that did it. It NEEDED to be done.

[BlueStater]

18. What the hell good does a pardon do a dead man?

Meanwhile, the fucker is perfectly content to let LIVING minorities continue to rot in prison for minor offenses.

[7962]

31. It does good to point out the injustice for a man who changed sports.

Why apologize for slavery? They're all dead.
And the prison reform bill may start to address the issue you mention. Van Jones says its a good start. I'll take his word for it as im sure he knows far more than I.

[dixiegrrrrl]

36. There are those who do not know he is dead. Seriously.

Reading comments on the Twitter feed about the pardon, several people were cheering that he is now "free" after being unjustly locked up.
I wish I was kidding.

[LanternWaste]

21. "I don't give a sh*t if Trump is engaging in publicity stunts..."

"I don't give a sh*t if Trump is engaging in publicity stunts. This publicity stunt NEEDED to be done!"

I'm not surprised at your sentiment... or your alleged reason for it.

[NewJeffCT]

23. If he did it for publicity

why had no previous presidents done it for publicity? I mean, George W Bush was a genuine sports fan and it would have worked with Karl Rove's idea of reaching out to minority voters.

[7962]

32. He's only here to troll me. Its kinda his life. Sad!

Never anything positive to offer to anyone, just incessant blather & criticism. You wont get a response.

I agree with you; and thats a good point. Bush could've issued a pardon when the bill stalled in the Senate.
I believe Van Jones said it right; (paraphrasing) "If I dont agree with you on 99 things, I'm supposed to ignore you on the one I DO agree with you on?" regarding the prison reform bill.

[elmac]

14. I have to wonder why Jack Johnson wasn't pardoned years ago

its long overdue but since tRump is only about tRump I think this is just a publicity stunt.

[BumRushDaShow]

16. Drumpf

was deep in the "entertainment" world, which included pageants, boxing, and casinos. It is very much within his "knowledge base" whereas anything to do with "government" and "diplomacy" is far outside of the scope.

[forgotmylogin]

17. The Donald is just practicing how to fill out the paperwork.

If this man were still alive he'd never consider pardoning him.

[Paladin]

19. trump, you miserable, pandering sonovabitch.

You actually think cutting Jack Johnson a pardon, more than a century late, will take attention away from the NFL clusterfuck? Maybe on fox "news" and Hannity's overheated excuse for a brain---nowhere else......

[FailureToCommunicate]

20. Jack Johnson lived to fight another day when he was kept off the Titanic:"I ain't hauling no

coal" the captain says is the line from this song by Ledbelly.

Captain Smith, when he got his load,
Mighta heared him holl'in', "All aboa'd!"
Cryin', "Fare thee, Titanic, fare thee well."

Jack Johnson wanted to ge on boa'd;
Captain Smith hollered, "I ain' haulin' no coal."
Cryin', "Fare thee, Titanic, fare thee well."

[Cha]

33. Wow! Mahalo for that FTC. nm

[FailureToCommunicate]

34. The pleasure is mine Cha

[Cha]

35. Ain't that somethin!

[orangecrush]

38. Great song!

[JI7]

22. He only did it because he is dead and Stallone showed up

[Blue_Tires]

25. I'll just leave these here...

Last edited Fri May 25, 2018, 05:24 PM - Edit history (1)

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

[BumRushDaShow]

26. Yup!

[sheshe2]

28. Incredibly sad but true, Blue_Tires.

Fugg trump.

[RockRaven]

29. Beyond the "see not racist" and irrespective of whether or not it was right and long overdue,

it also sends a message the way the Arpaio pardon did. Pardons are available, quid pro quo, for loyalty to Trump.

With Arpaio it was "go ahead, get held in contempt, I'll pardon you."

Johnson's charge was, in todays language, a type of sex-trafficking. Now why would Trump need to send a message to sex-traffickers that pardons are on the table? Who is this aimed at? Jeffrey Epstein? Dershowitz? People from Trump Modeling?

[NOVADAVE]

37. Pardoning him is racist

He was never convicted. Pardoning suggests he was guilty

[BumRushDaShow]

39. He was convicted, then fled, then returned and served a year in prison

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/early-lead/wp/2018/04/21/who-is-jack-johnson-the-boxer-trump-is-considering-for-posthumous-pardon/?utm_term=.4216c2f896ad

This doesn't mean the charges weren't totally bogus but that it was the typical terrorizing bullshit of the Jim Crow era (which continues as the "James Crow, Esq" era nowadays).

[Kotya]

40. Much bitterness on this thread.