Jack’s Justice
Railroaded by racism, champ merits a pardon
DURING Black History Month, we typically honor the accomplishments of black Americans from all walks of life. This year, President Trump could use this as an opportunity to right a historical wrong as well.
He should pardon Jack Johnson, the world’s first black heavyweight champion.
Born on March 31, 1878, in Galveston, Texas, the once-frail child would become a boxing legend. He earned the Texas State Middleweight title in his first pro fight, and held the World Colored Heavyweight Championship from 1903-1908.
That latter title was vacated when Johnson won the biggest prize of them all — the World Heavyweight Championship — over Tommy Burns on Dec. 26, 1908. He brutalized the champion for 14 rounds until police stopped the fight.
Boxing promoters searched for a “Great White Hope” to beat Johnson. The list included former world heavyweight champion James J. Jeffries and former world middleweight champion Stanley Ketchel. (He also had a 10-round draw against Jim Johnson in the first world heavyweight title fight between two black boxers.)
Jess Willard finally ended Johnson’s reign on April 5, 1915, in Havana, Cuba, with a knockout in the 26th round. Johnson initially claimed he threw this fight, aided by an infamous photo of him seemingly shading his eyes on the mat after being knocked down.
Yet there was another reason Johnson’s original story seemed plausible. And it had nothing to do with boxing.
Most of Johnson’s relationships were with white women. While this fact seems rather trivial today, it was a huge taboo at the time. Moreover, these relationships were often in the public eye, and many white Americans thought he was flaunting his white conquests the way he flaunted his wealth.
Novelist Jack London, according to NPR, wrote to a retired white boxing champ, urging him to come back and “remove that golden smile from Jack Johnson’s face . . . it’s up to you. The White Man must be rescued.”
In October 1912, Johnson was arrested for his relationship with Lucie Cameron, an alleged prostitute who later became his wife. He was arrested on the same charge involving another alleged prostitute, Belle Schreiber, about a month later.
These two unions had supposedly broken the Mann Act, a federal law that made it a felony to “knowingly transport or cause to be transported, or aid or assist in obtaining transportation for, or in transporting, in interstate or foreign commerce, or in any Ter- ritory or in the District of Columbia, any woman or girl for the purpose of prostitution or debauchery.”
Though both relationships had occurred before the Mann Act was enacted in 1910, an all-white jury still found him guilty in June 1913. Johnson was sentenced to a year and a day in prison. He skipped bail with Cameron, went to Montreal, and traveled to Europe, South America and Mexico for several years.
So when he lost to Willard in 1915, some people felt it was a discreet way of dropping the title in the hopes of avoiding jail time. As film coverage became widely available, however, he was forced to acknowledge that he didn’t throw the fight after all, saying, “Willard was too much for me, I just didn’t have it.”
Johnson finally returned to the US in July 1920 and surrendered to authorities. After serving out his sentence, he boxed for a few more years and died in a car crash on June 10, 1946. His criminal record still hasn’t been cleared.
Supporters mounted campaigns during the George W. Bush and Barack Obama administrations to get Johnson a presidential pardon. But even with the support of Sen. John McCain, filmmaker Ken Burns, former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson and others, they failed.
Now, Johnson’s greatgreat-niece, Linda E. Haywood, is trying to clear his name — and she’s hoping Trump will be the one to do it.
Indeed, he should. It’s the right thing to do — and it would take an important step toward healing America’s racial divide.
Trump should grant Johnson a presidential pardon. There’s no better time to do it than during Black History Month.