Pardon for Jack Johnson?

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Bart

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Amazing! All the stuff goingon and this is what our leaders are worried about? What message does this send?
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7639015.stm


Friday, 26 September 2008 00:01 UK


The US Congress has recommended that a presidential pardon should be granted to the first black world heavyweight boxing champion.


Jack Johnson won the title in 1908 but was later convicted of transporting white women across US state lines for immoral purposes.


Johnson served nearly one year in prison for what is now seen as a racially motivated conviction.


Congress stated that Johnson's success motivated other black athletes.


(snip)


The congressional resolution urges President George W Bush to grant Johnson a pardon.


It states that the conviction was racially motivated, prompted by his sporting success and his relationships with white women.


"He was a victim of the times and we need to set the record straight - clear his name - and recognise him for his groundbreaking contribution to the sport of boxing," said member of the House of Representatives Peter King, the author of the resolution. (snip)


[url]http://www.thomas.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/D?d110:3:./temp/~bdDIO 4:mad:@@P[/url]



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3. H.CON.RES.214 : 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.






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The Mann Act was applied to cases concerning the transport of a woman of any race across state lines for immoral purposes. Otherwise pimps could escape prosecution by simply crossing state lines. Chuck Berry was convicted under the same law and his victim was a 14 year old Apache Indian.

The Mann Act is still used to combat sex slavery.

Congress might gin up more support if they highlight Mr. Johnson's pimp credentials. It seems pimps and pimping are well regarded in popular culture. Perhaps we'll return to the good old days when prostitutes were kept naked and chained in a baby's crib. Until the 1920s this was the scene in scores of Chicago brothels.

Mr. Johnson was also something of a prolific thief. His favorite method was to employ his celebrity and be invited to a party. He would slip away and pocket jewelry, but only the better pieces. If questioned he would say he was only looking for the restroom.

Inspiring.
 
Johnson was also a known degenerate gambler who hung around shady characters in the Chicago underworld. While I think the pimping charges were biased, this wasn't a guy who you wanted to invite to your dinner party and discuss global politics. His loose spending habits kept him perpetually broke until the last days of his life.
 
Cut this man some slack. He did invent the adjustable wrench. This inspired black people to give up sports and to become involved in the auto industry at all levels.
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Johnson also lied through his teeth about his fights with Jess Willard and Stanley Ketchel.

He said he agreed to throw the Willard fight, even though video footage showed Johnson going crazy trying to knock out Jess before he got caught by a straight right hand and got knocked out himself.
Of course nobody asked Johnson to explain why, if he was going to throw the fight, would he fight furiously for 26 rounds in the blazing Havana Cuba sun instead of going down in the early rounds.

He also said he had an agreement with Stanley Ketchel to carry him to a decison but Ketchel double crossed him with a hard punch that knocked him down.
Video footage showed that Johnson bloodied up Ketchel from the start and scored a knockdown in the early rounds. Ketchel came back to hurt Johnson badly with a left hook in the 7th round and then knocked him down heavily in the 12th round before Jack got up and knocked Stanley out.

What does almost getting KOed by a 5'9 150 lb middleweight say about "the great" Jack Johnson?
 
Johnson married Etta Terry Duryea in late 1910 or early 1911. A Brooklyn socialite and former wife of Charles Duryea, she met Johnson at a car race in 1909, and their romantic involvement was turbulent. Beaten several times by Johnson and suffering from depression, she committed suicide in September 1911, shooting herself with a revolver.[1]
Click to expand...

That's something that was missing from the Ken Burns' doc about the great black man.
 
What is Ken Burns' deal? Does he put out that garbage as part of his arrangement to be shown on PBS?

If you only make films for broadcast on PBS are you really a filmmaker? Spike Lee may be a bad filmmaker, but at least he can get people to pay to see his product.
 
It's not surprising that Peter King is the representative who thought this was an issue for Congress to become involved with. That pimp for Israel is about as obnoxious as they come, even with all the competition in Congress.

Johnson is as overrated as all the other black fighters. Jim Jeffries nearly beat him, as an old man who'd been retired for several years. People forget Jeffries nowadays, but before his unfortunate comeback attempt, he was the only heavyweight champ to retire undefeated. Except for Rocky Marciano, no one else ever retired undefeated. Ketchel was a genuine great, who nearly beat Johnson despite the tremendous difference in height and weight. Jess Willard, who knocked out Johnson quite legitimately (despite his predictable, childish claims to the contrary), was a mediocre giant who was knocked down 7 times by Jack Dempsey during their championship fight.

Ken Burns is a typical modern-day self-hating white guy. His "work" is full of irrational love for blacks. His history of baseball documentary, which could have been wonderful, instead was full of trite propaganda about Negro League players. It was, in fact, more like a history of the Negro Leagues and segregation in America than it was a history of Major League Baseball.
 
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