Reid, McCain win pardon resolution for first black boxing champ
WASHINGTON — Sen. Harry Reid has laced up his boxing gloves yet again to seek justice for the first African-American to hold the world heavyweight boxing championship belt.
The Nevada Democrat — and one-time pugilist — saw passage Wednesday of a resolution urging President Barack Obama to posthumously pardon John Arthur “Jack” Johnson who had been convicted of violating the Mann Act in 1912 for transporting a white girlfriend across state lines.
“After more than one-hundred years of injustice, the record of history must finally be corrected to restore Jack Johnson’s good name,” Reid said. “Jack Johnson was one of the greatest athletes of all time, a barrier-breaking pioneer and true champion whose reputation was tarnished by a racially motivated affront to justice.”
Reid and Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., have been fighting for more than a decade to clear Johnson’s name and renounce that type of Jim Crow era racism. They’ve sent similar resolutions to the White House but have yet to move Obama to clear Johnson. The White House offered no comment on the latest effort.
The resolution was tucked inside a massive education reform bill that the Senate sent Obama Wednesday on a vote of 85-12. The resolution appears in Section 9,206 of the 747-page conference report.
“Today, Congress not only voted to restore this man’s legacy, but also demonstrated the enduring power of America’s national character. Today we showed we will never stop working toward righting our nation’s past wrongs. It is time to put this injustice behind us,” Reid said.
Johnson defeated Tommy Burns in Australia in 1908 to take the heavyweight title, sparking a national hysteria for “a great White hope” to retake the title. Two years later, Johnson and former heavyweight champion James Jeffries squared off in what was dubbed “The Fight of the Century” on July 4, 1910, in Reno.
Jeffries’ corner threw in the towel in the 15th round in a lopsided match witnessed by some 20,000 people.
“The victory of the negro over the white man was so convincing, so absolutely conclusive that the majority of Jeffries’ admirers can not realize they banked their hopes upon such a weakened and shattered hulk,” wrote W. J. Slattery in The Call of San Francisco.
Johnson died in 1946.
Posthumous pardons are a rarity. The last was granted by President George W. Bush, who in 2008 pardoned Charles Winters. He had been convicted of violating the Neutrality Act in 1948 for helping to transfer two B-17 aircraft to Israel.
Contact Peter Urban at purban@reviewjournal.com or at 202-783-1760. Find him on Twitter: @PUrbanDC