Some things that you learn make you wonder what is most upsetting. I just learned of the conviction of 1908 heavyweight boxing champion Jack Johnson. He was the first Black boxing champion and was convicted of transporting a woman across state lines for immoral purposes (the Mann Act which still exists today). That woman happened to be his wife, and the devil is really in the details, she was White.
The whole thing stems from the fact that Johnson won the heavyweight championship in 1908. I was unable to be beaten, even by the retired greats of the time. The fact that he won the title, and beat the then 'great White hope' Jim Jeffries, created riots. Imagine that. Then again this was just a few years prior to the massacre and destruction of the thriving Black town Rosewood.
Johnson had to flee the nation after a kangaroo trial of false witnesses and a judge who blatantly wanted to "send a message" to African Americans. Isn't it amazing what you can learn about American history that was never once touched upon by the education system in 12 years that we all go through. Eventually Johnson made a deal to return to the U.S. where he had to spend 10 months in prison. For a crime that did not exist, except in the minds of the racially biased public of the time. When he was released, Johnson was effectively barred from boxing, never regaining his title.
I believe that Jack Johnson was also the cause of the term 'great White hope". This term has been used several times in my life, always in boxing and always referring to a White boxer trying to defeat a Black champion. The last time I recall was back in the 80's with Holmes vs. Cooney. (It was also partially the basis of a movie and play by the same name) Amazing how some things change and yet under the surface they really haven't.
Why am I bringing this up? Because efforts are underway to give Jack Johnson a posthumous pardon. I should say that the efforts to get this are continuing again.
It took 96 years before a cry came up to pardon Jack Johnson, that I am aware of. This was lead by Ken Burns the filmmaker responsible for Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson and the creator of the Committee to Pardon Jack Johnson. Burns is joined in this effort this year with Sen. John McCain and Rep. Peter King - both former boxers of some degree.
In 2004, Burns filed documents with the Department of Justice to correct this travesty of justice and blight on the American legal system. The DOJ did nothing. A resolution was presented to Congress in 2004 and 2008, to resolve this as well, and Congress (both with Republicans and Democrats at the helm) failed to get this passed.
Now think about this. The DOJ refused to touch this. Congress has ignored it. And no President has provided this pardon to date. Yet President Clinton had no problem pardoning Marc Rich, or Lt. Henry O. Flipper. President Bush had no problem pardoning Charles Winters. Yet neither President would touch this obvious and resentful act of segregation.
I really don't know what I am most upset over this issue. The fact that as an educated man I have never heard of this act of legal corruption (or that Congress eventually passed an act banning the interstate transport of fight films for fear that the images of Johnson beating his white opponents would provoke further unrest), the fact that it took 96 years before anyone sought to correct it, that Congress found it either too unpleasant or unimportant to act upon, that the DOJ refused to so much as look at the case, or that it was deemed unworthy of action by every President since Woodrow Wilson.
And just as a more personal note of disgust, I note that the Democrat Party - which claims the title of the Party of people of color - neither took up this issue nor helped it in any manner. Ever.
Yes America has moved forward in many ways over the last century. Yet it is apparent for anyone that even looks superficially at our past and present, that we really haven't moved forward that much. We just have hidden the past far better.
No comments:
Post a Comment