President Trump said Saturday he is considering pardoning the late boxing champion Jack Johnson following a call from actor Sylvester Stallone.
“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!” Trump tweeted Saturday afternoon.
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
John Arthur “Jack” Johnson, the first black heavyweight boxing champion in American history, died in a car crash in 1946.
He was convicted by an all-white jury in 1913 of violating the Mann Act, which was meant to prohibit transporting women across state lines for “immoral purposes” — when he was traveling with his white girlfriend at the time.
This shrouded his relationships — including marriages — with white women in controversy.
Filmmaker Ken Burns said of Johnson: “For more than thirteen years, Jack Johnson was the most famous and the most notorious African-American on Earth.”
Trump’s openness to give a posthumous pardon to Johnson would align him with Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and former Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., who pushed for such a move in the past.
McCain, R-Ariz., called on former President Barack Obama to pardon Johnson as recently as three days before Trump’s inauguration.
So far, Trump has pardoned three formerly convicted felons: former Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio, former U.S. Navy sailor Kristian Saucier and former presidential adviser I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby.
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