Goverment refuses to pardon Jack Johnson...

I came acroos this today found it interesting

Anyone else find this Fubar? I mean this man will forever have a mark on his legacy and families history over being with a white woman at a time when this country should still be ashamed of the fact we were so outrageously prejudice...

I understand the part where they say that they don't do such pardons unless it benefits the person getting the pardon but I think it would say a lot about us as a nation in the way we admit at one time we were so wrong with out beliefs..and the fact the man really did no wrong..

Anyone else think they should have pardoned Jack?



WASHINGTON – The Justice Department is refusing to back a posthumous pardon for Jack Johnson, the black heavyweight boxing champion who was imprisoned nearly a century ago because of his romantic ties with a white woman.
In a letter obtained Thursday by The Associated Press, the department's pardon attorney, Ronald L. Rodgers, told Rep. Peter King that the Justice Department's general policy is not to process posthumous pardon requests. In cases like Johnson's, given the time that has passed and the historical record that would need to be scoured, the department's resources for pardon requests are best used on behalf of people "who can truly benefit" from them, Rodgers wrote.
The letter was in response to one that King, R-N.Y., and Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., had sent to President Barack Obama in October urging a pardon. In that letter, the two lawmakers noted that both houses of Congress has passed a resolution calling for a presidential pardon and said they hoped the president would be eager to "right this wrong and erase an act of racism that sent an American citizen to prison."
Rodgers wrote that notwithstanding the department policy, Obama still has the authority to pardon whomever he wishes, "guided when he sees fit by the advice of the pardon attorney."
And he did cite two cases of posthumous pardons: President Bill Clinton's 1999 pardon of Lt. Henry O. Flipper, the Army's first black commissioned officer, who was drummed out of the military in 1882 after white officers accused him of embezzling $3,800 in commissary funds; and President George W. Bush's 2008 pardon of Charles Winters, who was convicted of violating the Neutrality Act when he conspired in 1948 to export aircraft to a foreign country in aid of Israel.
In Winters' case, Rodgers said, the pardon request was not processed by Justice's Office of the Pardon Attorney, due to the department's posthumous pardon policy.
King said in a telephone interview that he and McCain probably will continue to urge Obama to issue the pardon.
"What they're doing here is bucking it back to President Obama," King said. "So I would respectfully urge him to grant the pardon. This is the president's call."
The White House had no immediate comment on whether Obama would consider the request.
When he unveiled the resolution in April, McCain said he was sure that Obama "will be more than eager" to issue the pardon.
A hundred years before Obama was elected the nation's first black president, Johnson, a native of Galveston, Texas, became the first black heavyweight champion, on Dec. 26, 1908, after police in Australia stopped his 14-round match against the severely battered Canadian world champion, Tommy Burns.
That victory led to a search for a "Great White Hope" who could beat Johnson. Two years later, Jim Jeffries, the American world titleholder Johnson had tried for years to fight, came out of retirement but lost in a match called "The Battle of the Century," resulting in deadly riots.
In 1913, Johnson was convicted of violating the Mann Act, which made it illegal to transport women across state lines for immoral purposes. After his conviction, he fled the country, but agreed years later to return and serve a 10-month jail sentence.
In 2004, the Committee to Pardon Jack Johnson, which filmmaker Ken Burns helped form, filed a petition with the Justice Department that was never acted on. His 2005 documentary, "Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson," explored the case against the boxer and the sentencing judge's acknowledged desire to "send a message" to black men about relationships with white women.

Yeah I'm with you Daxx, I can't understand one little bit why they wouldn't.

It's weird that they basically refused on the grounds of it being too much paperwork and that their resources are best used on those still alive to benefit.

I mean how much resources are involved in somebody giving a 30 second speech to say he is pardoned, doesn't it take even longer to refuse and give a statement as to why? :confused:

He should be pardoned and I see no reason to argue otherwise. The man was sentenced because of blatant discrimination. You go to jail for raping and killing people, not for having consensual relations with other people who just so happen to have a different skin tone.

He should absolutely be pardoned and the laws for which he was found guilty of violating recognized for the hollow and ignorant mids set shite they were.Alot may have to do with political calculations.Fortunately with the time that has passed,history and hindsight, and minds expanding from cro-mag...for the most part....nearly all have pardoned him already.

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Originally Posted by Bilbo

It's weird that they basically refused on the grounds of it being too much paperwork and that their resources are best used on those still alive to benefit.

I mean how much resources are involved in somebody giving a 30 second speech to say he is pardoned, doesn't it take even longer to refuse and give a statement as to why? :confused:

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Yeah pretty much sums it up huh? Too much paperwork....I don't know what a bigger embaressment is...The fact he was charged and convicted for having a white girlfriend or the fact vthey won't right the wrong because it is too much effort:rolleyes:...

No matter how it is presented it is more of a crime for what took place then and the decision not to overturn it now then anything Johnson did

Watched ESPN Classic documentary and he is so much like Ali, skillful, hated a head of his time, exiled, tragic miscarriage of justice.

He did get John L Sullivan and James Jeffries to kiss and make up, surely that must count for something.

How about this? Instead of research you just draft a pardon on White House letterhead, slap his name on it and release it. Bam. Refusal makes it look like the gov't still condones his punishment.

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Originally Posted by Master

Watched ESPN Classic documentary and he is so much like Ali, skillful, hated a head of his time, exiled, tragic miscarriage of justice.

He did get John L Sullivan and James Jeffries to kiss and make up, surely that must count for something.

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Nice point of view but Ali should not be put in the same category with Johnson. Johnson was convicted because of blatant racism and biggotry. Ali refused to fight for his country when they called. I don't care what you're ideological views are. Country first, not self. Ali put himself before his country. While I respect everything he did as a boxer, I did not have as much respect for the man himself.

Johnson is a travisty that needs to be reversed.

So let's EVERYONE get this straight John McCain and Peter King REPUBLICANS seek to pardon the first ever Black Heavyweight Champion of the World and the DEMOCRATS and the first ever Black President of The United States refuse.....anyone else wonder why I go on and on about ignorant fucking liberals???

I bet if you piggybacked that pardon on this idiotic Healthcare Bill or put it in with one of the many bailout bills then it would pass in no time

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Originally Posted by Lyle

So let's EVERYONE get this straight John McCain and Peter King REPUBLICANS seek to pardon the first ever Black Heavyweight Champion of the World and the DEMOCRATS and the first ever Black President of The United States refuse.....anyone else wonder why I go on and on about ignorant fucking liberals???

I bet if you piggybacked that pardon on this idiotic Health care Bill or put it in with one of the many bailout bills then it would pass in no time

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Our Liberals refused to say sorry for our past sins against all our black brothers here.They feared law suits against them admitting wrong.

They were cast out for it and we took on a Labor gov who came over as much less business orientated and more in tune with the public wishes.

Our new PM got up and just said it.

Belligerence and racism are not endemic to any particular political ideology and anyone who thinks otherwise is an idiot.

I see no reason why he shouldn't be pardoned.

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Originally Posted by 15rounder

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Originally Posted by Master

Watched ESPN Classic documentary and he is so much like Ali, skillful, hated a head of his time, exiled, tragic miscarriage of justice.

He did get John L Sullivan and James Jeffries to kiss and make up, surely that must count for something.

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Nice point of view but Ali should not be put in the same category with Johnson. Johnson was convicted because of blatant racism and biggotry. Ali refused to fight for his country when they called. I don't care what you're ideological views are. Country first, not self. Ali put himself before his country. While I respect everything he did as a boxer, I did not have as much respect for the man himself.

Johnson is a travisty that needs to be reversed.

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I'm no expert in politics...just a personal feeling...but I respect Ali so much for not going to war for these fucking pigs...Look at what's happening to all our troops in Afghanistan right about now? And for what?

I know a guy in the army right now and he tells me he can't wait to get to Afghanistan..I was surprised he said that and asked him why - He replied, "I dunno man, they just really hype you up...it's obviously propaganda but man it proper hypes you up and makes you wanna get out there and kill some taliban!"

That shit summed it up for me...There needs to be more people like Ali - people who stand up for what they believe in and not just cower away in fear.

Come on, why do you think we're in a recession? Due to shitty management! Why do you think managers of big organisations get a bad rep? Because most of the time they are crooked wankers...Look at the stupid bonuses they get while the companies they work for sink?

If there were more people like Ali in the world we wouldn't be in this predicament...

Then again, I'm drunk...maybe I'm optimistic claiming Ali's personality traits to be the saviour of our recession. ;D

Happy new year bitches!!! :cool:;D

....Al that's their job, to as Mathew Modine so eloquently put it in Full Metal Jacket "I wanted to meet interesting and stimulating people of an ancient culture... and kill them. I wanted to be the first kid on my block to get a confirmed kill!" ....what's so bad about that when the "ancient culture" our boys are meeting suicide bomb innocent people and spray acid on girls that try to go to school or stone rape VICTIMS to death.

I honestly think we've been too kind to them

Worst...Episode...Ever.

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Originally Posted by Lyle

....Al that's their job, to as Mathew Modine so eloquently put it in Full Metal Jacket "I wanted to meet interesting and stimulating people of an ancient culture... and kill them. I wanted to be the first kid on my block to get a confirmed kill!" ....what's so bad about that when the "ancient culture" our boys are meeting suicide bomb innocent people and spray acid on girls that try to go to school or stone rape VICTIMS to death.

I honestly think we've been too kind to them

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Don't get me wrong Lyle, if you're looking for someone who is PC - you're looking at the wrong guy. The U.K's problem is that we're too damn PC. All too often, the wrong people get punished and the pieces of shit get off scott free.

I just like the fact that he thought..."Nah, they aint done nothin to me. I ain't fighting your war which I disagree with"

It's as grass-roots as that for me...I like the strength of character he showed. It's rare.

P.S. I only wish that our countries sole intentions for being at war was to rid the world of suicide bombers, rapists, acid sprayers and all that jazz...but we can't even punish or properly control the scum in our own country who do things like that let alone trying to do it in another country. So it's obvious that they're not there solely for the good of the world. It's just a great way to side-track.

But hey, I'm gonna stop talking now because I know nothing more than the fact that "powers that be" are corrupt in any aspect of life. Everybody looks after number 1 - As far as politics goes..I'm clueless

P.S.S. JJ should be pardoned..what kinda shit is that! ;D

Man fuck the government.

Jack should be pardon. He shouldn't be guilty just for liking white pussy.

Just think if Tiger Woods was in Jack Johnson's era he would probably be getting a life sentence.