Sylvester Stallone is reportedly influencing Donald Trumpto do something that’s been asked of the Oval Office for decades — issue a pardon to trailblazing black boxer Jack Johnson. After years of politicians and historians calling for the wiping of Johnson’s criminal record, it might finally happen.
Sylvester Stallone called me with the story of heavyweight boxing champion Jack Johnson. His trials and tribulations were great, his life complex and controversial. Others have looked at this over the years, most thought it would be done, but yes, I am considering a Full Pardon!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 21, 2018
Johnson became the first black heavyweight boxing champion of the world in the Jim Crow era, beset by racial double standards and outright hatred because of the color of his skin. Johnson blazed a trail not only for African American athletes, but prizefighting in general. He was famously arrested in 1901 after fighting Joe Choynski in Galveston, Texas due to prizefighting being illegal in the state. Unable to pay the large fine, the sheriff allowed the two imprisoned men to go home at night if they agreed to spar in front of large crowds at the jail. Eventually, the reduced the fines, a jury refused to indict the men, and his career continued to take off.
In the years following, Johnson became a star, and his 1910 Fight of the Century drew tens of thousands to Reno, Nevada. But like much of his life, every victory counter-punched. The film of Johnson’s victory was immediately censored around the country.
Despite his star power, the racism of the time proved to be too pervasive to escape. In 1913, Johnson was convicted by an all-white jury of violating the Mann Act, a law that made it illegal to transport any woman over state lines for prostitution, debauchery, or “any immoral act.” It was the catch-all of “any immoral act” that brought him under the scrutiny of the so-called law.
It didn’t matter to the jury that Lucille Cameron, the woman in question, wouldn’t cooperate and eventually became his wife — he was found guilty after another white witness testified against him, so he fled the country. He came back State-side seven years later and served out ten months in prison, where he would continue to fight behind bars.
Since his death in 1946, there have been calls for a pardoning of his unfair and unnecessary jail sentence. Senator John McCain has personally called upon Presidents George W. Bush, Barack Obama, and Donald Trump in 2017 to wipe Johnson’s record clean, and various boxers, celebrities, and historians have rallied to have Johnson pardoned. It took Rocky to gain the President’s ear.
Perhaps Trump is doing this simply to throw McCain a bone after their contentious back and forths over the last few years, but Occam’s razor says Trump is doing this because Obama didn’t. And while it’s an overall positive, the irony of having Trump pardon both Jack Johnson, a man who was racially profiled and Sheriff Joe Arpaio — who was found in contempt of court after a history of racially profiling people — will be lost on few.
