President Donald Trump has the absolute right to pardon, with some limits mandated by state laws. Caught in the middle of his not so clandestine messages, to Michael Cohen and Paul Manafort, to keep their mouths shut, is a boxing Adonis who happened to be, arguably, the second most famous champion in history. A long, long, long time ago Jack Johnson became the Heavyweight Champion of the world when he defeated Tommy Burns in 1908. Not only did Johnson vanquish the myth of the domineering white male, he poured salt into the open wound of racism. Yes, Johnson knocked out a white man and then married a white woman, as a matter of fact, three of them over his lifetime.
For seven years Jack Johnson did what is now considered entertaining for other heavyweight boxers with half his skills. He was loud, he was brash, he loved women and he backed up his words in the ring. His biggest mistake was doing it nearly sixty years before Muhammad Ali and doing it in technicolor. In 1912 Johnson, while married to his second wife Lucille Cameron, broke what I like to call, the ‘Less than a Mann, Trump Act’ and had sex with a woman [Belle Schreiber] he transported across state lines. Sort of like having sex with a porn star in California or a Playmate in Florida and living in New York, oh yeah that happened.
It is widely accepted that the charge against Johnson was not only retroactively enforced but was punishment for his…not knowing his place.
Although, I cannot verify the phone call, supposedly made by actor and fake boxer Sylvester Stallone, petitioning on behalf of a pardon for Mr. Johnson, and the word of the President is literally useless, the pardon is richly deserved. Mr. Johnson’s conviction needs to be expunged. Unfortunately, Jack Johnson, after a self-imposed exile, gave up a year and a day of his life in Leavenworth Penitentiary. I do not dislike Donald Trump enough to discourage Mr. Johnson’s pardon, but it is a sham and a shame that the ‘Galveston Giant’ could be forever associated with the shenanigans of another disreputable contrivance of the law.
Donald Trump pardoned Scooter Libby, a week or so ago for his part in the outing of CIA agent, Valerie Plame and I am sure Mr. Trump thinks Scooter Libby is a brand of canned vegetable
I can only imagine how the reported call from Stallone to Trump might have gone:
Rinnngggggg…
Trump: “Hello (sniff) John Barron here”
Stallone: “Hey yo’ hello is that you Mr. Prez.”
Trump: “Balboa, is that you?”
Stallone: “it’s Sly sir, we’ve gone over this before, Rocky was a movie.”
Trump: “What is it Rocky?”
Stallone: “sigh…about Jack Johnson how about a pardon?”
Trump: “ no, no, no Rock, not after he killed Mick…”
Click!
Remember this President is so ignorant of history, that he thought Frederick Douglass is still alive. I am willing to bet a worthless degree from Trump University that he has no idea who Jack Johnson is or was. Pardon me, Mr. President, I’m Jack Johnson.
Vote in ’18 for Change