I dunno. But in the past week, it seems there are more Trump supporters reading the NYTimes and making comments, for example to this article.
That they are taking the time to read a supposed leftist view, and not depend on Fox News, is a hopeful sign.
Their comments are welcomed.
5
Talk about your fake news.
1
What a phony The Con Don is. He pardons a dead black man, who entertained people like The Con Don in the boxing ring, but everyday he fosters hate-anger-fear against the black community.
Phony.
5
Man, President Trump could find the cure of cancer and give it free to everyone and still the left would complain....
Guys, he did what President Obama didn't dare. Just accept that he is not as bad as you think and his predecessor is not as good.
8
I guess this will be spun as the president's support of African-Americans? (disclaimer: They just have to already be dead).
13
Smoke and mirrors folks - Trump pardoning someone who is already passed away ! PULEASE The only thing he knows how to do is sign his name and have folks praise him for it.
11
A pardon way, way overdue, even if it's politically motivated to boost Trump's 'ratings' with the African-American community.
And other than some cheap celebrity attention-getting ploy, you have to wonder what Sylvester Stallone, as the fictional Rocky Balboa, has to do with the very real, historically maligned great Heavy Weight Champion, African-American boxer, Jack Johnson.
Any bets that before some aide suggested this pardon, Trump had no idea whatsoever who Jack Johnson was?
That said, his standard-issue grin and self-satisfied display of the pardon with his 'real estate magnate's' verbose signature, declares what it's all about--himself.
4
So let's put this in a nutshell. A President engages in a tasteless exercise of political theater, with all the trappings of oversize belt buckles and Hollywood stooges, all done to benefit someone who's been dead for over seventy years. Meanwhile, let someone protest the current, well-documented and unprovoked assaults and/or slayings of real live black men, and that same President calls for that protester to be muzzled, black-balled and deported. While the NFL brass, along with the "base", back him up. Sickening!
16
So...I was just reading about Trumps pardon of Jack Johnson and seeing, on the TV, a professional football player being 'tazed' and assaulted by a lynch mob of State Troopers for parking in a 'handicapped' parking space. What caught my eye in particular was the nonchalant expression on their faces as they were committing this atrocity.
Earlier in the day, Trump was commenting that professional football players should be thrown out the country for taking a knee during the National anthem, exercising their constitutional right to protest police murders and assaults on innocent and unarmed Black people. Later in the day, there was an item about border agents killing a young Mexican lady for entering the U.S. illegally.
He is destroying what is left of our country with lies and distractions and abuses of his authority. There is a pattern here that needs to get our immediate attention. The NYT, the last remaining voice in the din of our descent into 'who knows what', needs to bring attention to it, rather than feeding it piecemeal on a daily ongoing basis.
We have begun the process of 'rotting from within', alluded to by an Isis leader a while back. Pardoning Jack Johnson really doesn't mean very much if his descendants are routinely being murdered in the streets, while trying to live out their lives. It is more of a distraction than it is anything else.
27
It's a show. They asked Obama to pardon him, but generally presidents don't pardon people that have been dead a long time. There are far too many to pardon, so pardoning one means they are more important than the others?
More Trump showtime. But then Trump doesn't understand or care about the implications.
7
Finally. Should have been done by Obama. Most readers miss the point. It doesn't matter what Trump thinks personally or whether you like him or not. This was the right thing to do.
4
Johnson faced terrible racism. Jack London, the famed writer of "The Call of the Wild" and "White Fang" openly call him "that N-<word>" in his sports column, calling for him to be beaten, very similarly to what Muhammad Ali faced 50 years later. And Ali's bob-and-weave style of technique AND power was very much like Johnson's.
Even the fictionalization of Johnson in "The Great White Hope" failed to portray him as the intelligent and articulate man he was, even as it made him the tragic hero who supposed took a fall in the 1915 fight. (Highly questionable).
This is about the only thing Trump has done since he started campaigning that I didn't find utterly repulsive, and can even support. But he just HAD to take a dig at Obama, yet again, like the spoiled-rotten child he is.
2
Trump is definitely okay with black people, provided they’re dead. He has real problems with living blacks though.
17
How you treat the living matters far more than how you treat the dead. For dead person who is free from this world, this pardon means nothing. Even his children are probably gone. However, to the person of color who is alive, current society matters a lot. Where is Trump promoting fair treatment? Remember Charlotteville and white supremacists..
8
Let make sure I have this right. Pardon the black man who has been dead for a century but say if a black man who is alive kneels during the playing of the national anthem he should leave the United States. Another case of trump talk with fork tongue!
12
Trump? The new Great White Hope? Lordy knows that he can now put the WBC Championship belt right next to his Nobel Peace Prize...and Mr. Tan Man please except these awards in an imprecise manner...not telling us that you might cherish this or that you might not cherish that..."we'll see what happens".
2
Definition of irony...little man trump pardoned a black man of a racially tinged conviction but fails to recognize the reason for the kneeling black NFL players, police brutality and killing of black men..irony.
4
I hope Mr. Johnson appreciates Trump's effort on behalf of racial justice. Oh wait! Johnson -- he's dead.
Maybe Trump can champion racial justice for the living one day.
4
Trump is a fraud.
7
Mr. Trump certainly aligns himself with the elite of the boxing world, Don King, Mike Tyson, and now this thug!
Tom Franzson Brevard NC
3
History is chock full of bizarro moments. More often than not, the ends justify the means. Lets forget that it is THIS president who righted an injustice, and just appreciate that it finally came to fruition.
6
Anyone think trump sees the irony of pardoning Johnson, who fled into exile because of criminal sanctions related to his relationships with white women, while telling black football players to leave the country?
6
I remember arguing with some Fox News aficionados near the end of Obama's presidency, suggesting that they had a problem with Obama's race. "Well, what about Dr. Ben Carson?" demanded one of them. "He's the empty suit you republicans hung in the store window to 'prove' it isn't about Obama's race. Easy to do since you know he has no chance to be elected." This pardon is an identical PR distraction from the realities of trump and race. In the end no hearts or minds will be changed. At least Mr. Johnson catches an historical break.
3
"So I am taking this very righteous step, I believe, to correct a wrong that occurred in our history, and to honor a truly legendary boxing champion, legendary athlete, and a person that, when people got to know him, they really liked him..."
What an eloquent, ringing endorsement!
2
Incredible and pathetic. Criticism of Trump for this pardon. Where was Obama? A no-show.
10
This was an absurdly cynical act by a racist man who will do anything to garner votes and support. Only an idiot would believe that there is an ounce of sincerity in this gesture.
7
Obama always struggled with the "angry black man" issue. He assiduously avoided any situation, position or statement where that label could be pinned on him. He rightly feared that his opponents would stick it to him with that attack (overtly or by suggestion), especially targeting suburban, middle of the road, whites. He wiggled away from Rev. Wright, even though the man was a mentor and family confidant for decades. To a much lesser degree that thinking applied to Farrakahn (sp?), as well - notice how the CBC went to great lengths to secret away photos of Obama and Farrakahn smiling with each other.
I wonder if Obama felt pardoning Johnson, who was the poster child of "the angry black man" during his lifetime would redound to his detriment. I agree, the Obama spokesman's comment was mush.
Another bit of politics: when he was first being seriously mentioned as a candidate Obama was studied by the black community to see if he was "black enough" - people noticed his marriage to Michelle and compared it to Clarence Thomas's marriage to a white woman.
Race is a tricky business in American politics. Both sides play it, dodge it, manipulate it.
8
Looking past that this guy is) black so Trumps pardon is blatant attempt to pander. Johnson was known for abusing women,domestic violence, something Trump seems to covet in men he surrounds himself with.
9
'A former Obama administration official said Thursday that the Justice Department made that recommendation because it was their policy to focus on grants of clemency that could still have a positive effect on people who are still living.'
This has to win a prize for the most mealy-mouthed, ingenous and dishonest non-explanation ever to come out of the forked mouth of a government functionary.
Pardons are easy. Pardons are quick. You can pardon both the quick AND the dead, just as most jurisdictions around the world do, including the UK.
The US DOJ policy on this is racially discriminative because so many black men, women an children were falsely accused, unfairly tried, and wrongfully convicted by white juries for crimes they did not commit.
9
Can you actually be saying that the NYTIMES agrees with Trump ? No.
3
There was no reason to pardon him. He's been dead for decades. This is disgusting.
1
Well that took absolutely no effort whatsoever.
3
Has any nation on the PLANET been so obsessed, over the years, with "color"? What color is your skin? Are you "black" or "white"?
Turn back the clock a hundred years. I do believe there were laws--FEDERAL laws--prohibiting certain films from being carried over state borders.
Which films?
Films that showed boxing matches.
How come?
Because people in the south--especially the DEEP south--might be affronted or alarmed (or delighted) by the spectacle of BLACK men beating up WHITE men.
And that was not to be borne. The whole structure of Jim Crow--creaking, swaying in a gust--might conceivably come crashing down.
Black people might become "uppity." Forget themselves. Forget "their place." Get ideas. Rock the boat.
And Jack Johnson?
Sakes, the man ROCKED THE BOAT. Big time. Grinning ear to ear while doing it--"Any of you (supply epithet denoting white people) gonna STOP me?"
No wonder they detested him. "The Great White Hope" indeed!
Allegations of "domestic violence"? Oh yes. They bother me. But if (for a moment) I succeed in shoving that stuff out of my mind, I find myself murmuring:
"You GO, Jack! Right on, bro'!"
Maybe that feeling percolated into the White House.
Maybe.
Guess he`s decided to get in fighting shape for all the pardons he`ll be issuing to familiy members and factotums over the next few months.
2
This just shows that both parties know how to pander and play the optics game!
2
You Mean it’s finally said and done?! I thought he said he was going to be doing this for about three months now… I guess tump was grabbing sympathy (votes) all along - along the way.
Glad for Johnson’s family. But disgusted to see YET ANOTHER published photo of that inane pose holding up the document, with the indescribably dumb look on Trump’s face - and that signature that looks like a [false] polygraph section. I hope I’ll look back someday and not regret too much of what this dolt does to America.
7
A lot of people are saying: that because of the president’s remarks sympathetic to white supremacists maybe he shouldn’t be in the country.
2
So he got one thing right today — a bright shiny object to distract him after dismissing North Korea and looking for spies under the couch in the Oval Office.
1
"they wouldn't let Jack Johnson on board they said this ship don't haul no coal fair thee well titanic fair thee well....."
ballad of the uss titanic(sic)
Jamie Brockett
1
"Well they wouldn't let ol' Jack Johnson on board,
They said this boat don't haul no coal.
Fare thee well, Titanic, fare thee well."
~ Jaime Brockett, The Legend of the USS Titanic
1
How about turning around your hateful and unconstitutional rhetoric about football players kneeling to protest the racist and abusive tactics of police?
Give. Me. A. Break.
7
Trump is as duplicitous as they come. Pardoning Jack Johnson on the very day he gets played by KJU. Sure the pardon is a good thing. But Trump shouldn’t go patting himself on the back. This just an attempt to get some good news “above the fold”.
2
I commend al those who saw right through this. That blatantly racist president of ours hurriedly assembled the group in the picture just to distract us from his abject failure in cancelling the NK talks.
Why can't we have a real leader, like Mr. Kim. In fact, based upon the many comments I read here, there sure are a lot of folks who would like that. After all, Mr. Kim has never subjected his people to any type of racism and he welcomes Dennis Rodman. That's enough proof for me.
This pardon harms no one and is being cheered by many, including Johnson's family. No surprise though, that all the Trump haters are accusing Trump of pandering, something democrats would never do!! Oh, and and we get continued false innuendo about him being a racist. Sadly, had Obama pardoned Johnson, there are an equal number of idiots on the right who would have ridiculed that decision for being racially motivated. The American public is a lot like it's elected representatives.
3
Good work by President Trump and many thanks to the number of people, including Sylvester Stallone, who worked towards this end.
It is a bit disturbing that every single action of your president is seen with a jaundiced eye by quite a few people. I would be the first to agree that the verdict of history is much more likely to place Mr. Trump high in the list of the worst presidents of your country, than in the list of the best. This does not mean that he is incapable of doing some good during his presidency. By trying to pull him down every time he does or says something, his critics may be losing credibility when they criticize him with sufficient cause.
3
I wonder how many Americans can read the following words of Donald Trump's about color without seeing the color red:
“period of tremendous racial tension in the United States”
Trump is by no means the only white American across the political spectrum, up and down the social scale, to intone such words of pain-free awareness.
Certainly today, as for many years now, we can say without fear of contradiction that there is racial tension, racial strife, trouble between the races. But at the bottom of it all, there's a crime: a crime committed by white people against black people.
That's not between the races, and it's not a state of tension. It's a burden of guilt. Of course I don't expect Donald Trump to face that. I do believe that many other Americans are capable of doing so. A first step is to reject the blandly evasive language of racial tension when we hear it used on the subject of racism.
By "we" I mean, first of all, a certain Anglo-Saxon whose ancestors were farming in a couple of Southern states long before the Civil War. For Americans with less dubious antecedents, facing the truth should be as easy as apple pie.
2
If he were still alive would Trump have pardoned him? I doubt it.
2
I do not like the president or what he stands for, but I recognize the validity of this gesture (if only, in my view, "suspiciously" symbolic). A very intelligent move indeed. Jack Johnson was a great fighter who was decimated by his belonging to the black race. It was an injustice.
Likewise, it is painful to acknowledge the fact that president Obama never had what it takes to do this. Barack Obama is a great man, but, as a president, he was not unapologetic enough. And when I say unapologetic I´m not talking about vociferously celebrating his blackness, but I say it taking into account the beliefs he has and the things we all know he knew he could do but he did not.
Sure, had Obama made such a gesture he had probably been accused of racist or something similar. I can understand that he knew he was not living in a post-racial society, but I still would have liked him to have been bolder on his just beliefs. The beautiful America needs an unapologetic leftist, who has the guts and determination to spread love and fairness.
Today is Trump´s victory.
1
Nice to see that the pressing international disasters of the day don't keep Trump away from meaningless pandering. First things first, after all.
1
How can one pardon a man who committed no crime? Jack Johnson should have been exonerated with apologies a long time ago.
1
I applaud the POTUS.
I watched the event on CSpan - he came across as genuinely thrilled to be doing it.
Not only that he showed his soft side of being awed by athletes that the 44th could never do.
Some below have called it pandering - while I do not agree, so be it; but still his pen erased one of the scabs from our history.
I also appreciate his continued gestures of inviting others to speak in the Oval Office to tv cameras. I do not believe any if his predecessors ever did such a gesture.
All in all, as the 43rd once remarked it's easy to call other racists or pandering to racism when you fail to understand noble intentions.
1
It obviously was a political stunt, driven by a rare Hollywood supporter, with intentions to show his NFL rants aren't "truly" racially based, while making a dig at Obama.
It's not rocket science.
2
Splendid opportunity for the message: "African Americans are fine people, great athletes, who were oppressed a way, way long time ago."
We underestimate this guy's rhetorical skills at our continuing peril.
2
Wow, what a relief ! I was worried that Trump might waste his time as President making the tax code fairer, or improving our infrastructure, or protecting health insurance for the vulnerable, or keeping firearms out of the hands of invalids, or cleaning up the environment, or developing alternative fuels, or working on public heath, or improving public education, or improving our relationship with the nations of the world, or fighting against racism and prejudice, or making college for affordable for the middle class, or bolstering the federal police, or ending voter suppression, or protecting our elections from Russian manipulation, or tackling the Republican debt, or maybe, just for a day or two, acting like a serious person.
5
This was the right thing to do which is why Trump did it and Obama did not.
2
A political and public relations coup for Trump - gutsy and advantageous in his re-election campaign. The Justice Dept recommended to Obama not to give the pardon due to allegations - not convictions - about domestic abuse. That was a little too politically correct. Allegations get thrown around all the time these days.
Trump is sending a signal. If you are a fighter, I will pardon you. I wonder who this could be for...
When Donald Trump does anything...the first question to ask is: what is in it for him?
If anyone thinks Trump pardoned Jack Johnson out of a sense of justice, then Trump has a Real Estate Course he'd like to you sell you. How much do you want to bet we will soon be hearing about this 'magnanimous' deed in future campaign rallies where he is courting black voters?
4
Humm.
All I know about Jack Johnson is that he's the hero of Jamie Brockett's song, "The U.S.S. Titanic".
I'm dead certain that that song has nothing to do with Trump or pardons or even much of reality but Jamie Brockett is still remembered by those of the coffee-houses of Boston in 1968 and the song is just plain genius, genius being in short supply nowadays......
1
It’s good he’s pardoned. All resentment attached to his story is understandable. It’s bizarre that it happened with Trump. I knew the Jack Johnson story well growing up in the 70’s with a head full of diversity and music. Miles Davis said it with music in the Jack Johnson recordings during the period as one writer observed it was a period with ... “ a call for racial freedom and personal emancipation in an increasingly polarised era; Nixon in the White House, Black Panthers on the streets, troops in Vietnam, riots at Kent State....” and more. Regardless of Trump and regardless of differences I believe America and Americans are great and we will all rise above the Trump GOP/NRA administration and heal. “Keep the faith” is an appropriate phrase.
5
It's Trump pandering - but it's also the right thing to do. Can we approve of the action despite the actor? The pain will come when he keeps referring to this in the future . . .
6
Funny the Barack Obama never bothered to do this. Call Trump all the names you want but he righted a wrong. Of course most NYT readers will ridicule him for the pardon just as they would have praised Hillary for doing the same thing.
30
You're wrong. I'm really glad to see this and will give Trump credit. He has indeed righted a terrible injustice, and I'm very glad to see it done.
1
The difference between Trump and Hillary would have been their motive for the pardon. Hillary would have actually cared about the justice issue, while Donald can only care about himself (but maybe not his fault...appears to be a congenital condition).
4
Donald Trump doing one good thing, ostensibly for publicity, doesn't negate the many bad things he's done. It doesn't negate that he's morally bankrupt.
3
Just remember, Trump called for the execution of the so-called Central Park Five even after they were proven to be not guilty. In other words, he has called for lynching innocent black men.
78
Quote from Trump's "Central Park Five" letter to the editor: "Many New York families - White, Black, Hispanic and Asian - have had to give up the pleasure of a liesurely stroll in the Park at dusk ... given them up as hostages to a world ruled by the law of the streets, as roving bands of wild criminals roam our neighborhoods..."
Trump's anger was clearly directed at rapists and the breakdown of the rule of law, not against black people - He was wrong not to admit that they were innocent, wrong not to see that their confessions were coerced, but right to note that "they were not angels", having been arrested as part of a roaming gang of trouble makers. He was wrong to write the letter before they were convicted, wrong by egotistically doubling down and supporting bad policemen, but that doesn't make him a racist, sorry.
You can say he was "pandering" with his "Many New York Families" comment, "pandering" with his pardon of Jack Johnson, but there has to come a point when you wonder whether he is pandering, or just doesn't care about offending people who excuse bad behavior based on race.
Excusing the bad behavior of white people is racist, excusing the bad behavior of people of color is racist, pure and simple.
1
How about a "pardon" for all the black people lynched, for all the black citizens killed by the police before they could receive due process, for all the black citizens wrongfully accused who are incarcerated with no chance of reprieve, for all the black latinos who are being deported, for the enslavement of black people, for the shame we have made people feel because of the color of their skin, for Nat Turner, Emmett Till...for all the wrongs we as a country brought on undeserving and innocent human beings.
38
The only issue relating to this story is whether Johnson should be pardoned. Since so many are critizing Trump, they are racist for not supporting this pardon.
1
How can you pardon someone who has not committed a crime?
1
How about the fact that more whites were murdered by blacks in the past few years than the other way around, even though blacks are less than 15% of the population?
The accompanying essay in the Times says Johnson “was brash, taunted his opponents, dated white women and openly enjoyed the luxuries of his wealth.” So, basically, Trump pardoned someone quite similar to himself.
22
Jack Johnson must be breathing a huge sigh of relief right now.
13
Caught off guard and laughing unexpectedly.
1
Johnson got punished for what white pimps did not. It was a racist judge who sent him away. "Let's do something for black people that Obama didn't do." Does Donald have the slightest understanding of that complicated mess? Who does he think Johnson was? Why does he think Obama did not pardon him? Why is he allowing ongoing disenfranchisement of black voters? Is this an example of pandering and meaningless kiss-up instead of real action?
17
In what way are African American voters "disenfranchised"? It's true that felons can't vote, but that applies to felons of all ethnicities, and a person has a choice about whether to commit a felony or not.
Perhaps President Obama did not pardon Johnson because he did nothing to be pardoned for? Poor Donald Trump.
The huge wave of nasty anti-Trump comments just show out of touch the Times' admittedly literate and sophisticated readership is from the great interior of the country that gave Trump victory in 2016.
They'll join in 2020 famous New Yorker film critic Pauline Kael who said 40 years ago: “I can’t believe Nixon won. I don’t know anyone who voted for him.”
22
That’s not the only not parallel to the Nixon administration.
1
At the time no one could believe it ... he cheated - read all the history
The reader comments are mostly anti-Trump but the actual article was surprisingly even handed. The journalist injected politics when they interviewed a Democratic consultant for the article but even the consultant’s comment was fairly mild.
Another here ya go moment for Trump to appease the Black race. Why isn't there any mention of the fact, that Jack Johnson also invented the monkey wrench while in prison. Hmmmmmm!
2
With one stroke of the pen Trump has done more to help the blacks then Obama did in 8 years.
16
Funny I imagine there are a number of NFL football players that beg to disagree with your assessment!
2
Pandering to the black vote. He has done nothing else for the African-American community other than refuse to rent to members of that community.
1
Handed them a watey-melon, did he? No wonder you're enthused.
1
Ironic considering Trumps -and his supporters- racism, that he pardoned a deceased african-american athlete on the day the NFL changes the rules to fine largely AA athletes taking to their knee during the National Anthem to protest police brutality.
15
If those athletes had courage they'd all kneel. Every player should kneel at every game. If there are sanctions or fines they should start a league of their own.
13
I'd love to see fans in the stands take a knee as well. I see it as a patriotic action in defense of the First Amendment. Trump thinks such people don't deserve to be in America? They are exemplary Americans, expressing an unpopular opinion in the face of opposition from powerful people and institutions.
9
Glenda - how disrespectful to the flag and all veterans that served the country. There are other ways to protest and exercise your right to the 1st amendment that does not disrespect the symbolism of the flag. Martin Luther King jr. found one avenue.
As someone who is from Galveston, where Johnson was born, I am very happy about the news. There is already a statute of Johnson in a public park here and there is a street named after him in Galveston too.
I just wish he was pardoned by another president instead of one who is likely end up pardoning himself, a couple of his family members, and a few of his assiciates.
19
Mr Johnson was an amazing figure in American history. I am pleased he received his long overdue pardon.
"a period of racial tension in the United States."
This is like saying the period immediately prior to WW II was a period of religious tension in Europe.
"A victory that sparked violent white backlash in the form of riots across the country."
That activity was not "riots," it was whites executing a reign of terror over blacks, on July 4 no less, for the "crime" of a black man defeating a white man in a boxing ring. I know Trump is lacking in intelligence but I expect better from the Times.
13
If Donald J. Trump is not laughably heavy-handed and his motives shamefully transparent, then he is nothing.
What does he expect to gain from throwing a cold wet sop to people of color?
7
Have you considered the possibility that this was a signal to men convicted of sex crimes against women that he's on their side?
1
Do you think Mr. Johnson knows or cares? And, do I care about his family? No to both questions.
1
Trump's first good use of presidential power, albeit for his usual contemptible reasons.
[18.0524:1857]
6
Even when the man does the right thing by a correcting a century old racially-motivated conviction of a black man, his haters gotta hate. They always have to assume a motive; but their “do no wrong” socialist Obama never had any of his motives questioned by the same people who can’t find the simplicity of justice in Trump’s action today.
6
trump called for the deal th penalty for for innocent young men who were wrongly imprisoned for the Centrsl Park attack.
This pardon is nothing more than a cheap shot to make himself look good.
He is still a racist at heart , as he refers to KKK members as " good people"
To say nothing of the number of black propel killed by police .
1
If he had the opportunity, Donald Trump would have denied renting or selling property to Jack Johnson because he's black. We know this because Trump was caught red-handed redlining in 1972. This is a fact, not hyperbole.
We know that when Donald Trump said there are, "good people on both sides" of the Charlottesville assaults and murder, that there can be no doubt as to which "side" he is really on.
Donald Trump's political career started with years of systematic racist lies and race bating innuendo about our last President.
Now we know that Donald Trump is not above acting like he's not a racist, in order to "use" black people for his own political aggrandizement.
Donald Trump is a morally bankrupt, morally degenerate racist of the first order. And this latest ploy not only doesn't undermine that reality, it does, in fact, confirm it.
The fact is, deep down, Donald Trump thinks he's superior to black people because he's white. And no amount of self-serving window dressing is going to change that.
28
Sorry - all of the above is explainable by seeing Trump as a businessman out to make a buck and doesn't care who he offends, black, white, left, right, whatever. He would gladly sell property to Jack Johnson if it made him a buck. "Redlining" is not refusing to sell, he put people into units where he thought they would be most comfortable, and didn't care about their racism. That doesn't make him a racist, it makes him an opportunistic businessman.
1
Jack Johnson still does not get the credit he deserves in the sport of boxing, as well as his unapologetic lifestyle and attitude. I’m still shocked that white mobs didn’t find a way lynch him.
And I’m convinced that if Trump were around in the early 1900’s, he would be part of a mob calling for his head. Just as he stated that those “Sons of _____ “ be thrown out of the NFL.
We all know this pardon should’ve happen decades ago. Just hate that Trump is assoaciated with this legend finally getting “some” justice. All this on the eve of the NFL making the cowardly decision to bow to Trump, and the release of the video of the police unnecessarily getting physical and tasing Sterling Brown of the Milwaukee Bucks. Someone needs to tell Trump that (other than Kanye West) he will NOT get African-American support this cheap. Most will not forget how repeatedly discredited professional black athletes...stating hours before the Jack Johnson pardon that “maybe” NFL players don’t belong on this country.
5
for once Trump got something right.
3
Is there anything at all in this country, including the honor of the historically abused, that can't be turned into a public relations stunt? Pathetic.
And Trump threatens those with the guts to defend freedom, justice, and equality with protests against the violations of same with, "maybe you shouldn’t be in the country"? Even more pathetic.
However, don't expect a media that lives off of paper sales, page views, and Nielsen ratings to stop normalizing the backward and insanely abnormal. American politics has become a clown show. A very sad clown show.
America - wake up - you're being played.
8
Our president is a lifelong vicious racist. His ascent (and our nation's descent) was based upon it. His gesture today says, "I am not a racist," which should go down in history alongside Nixon's, "I am not a crook." Not buying it. Sorry.
15
Judging from the article photograph, the valiant fighter holding up proof of his power, his "victory," is very pleased with himself, the photo caption proving he's buddy-buddy with the famous white er, um and unnamed others hanging out—I wondered about the woman; is she a current or former boxer? but I'm sure Jack Johnson is inexpressibly grateful that Donald pardoned him, and only 72 years after he died!
Isn't anyone going to point out that The Mann Act has nothing to do with race? Ask Charlie Chaplin.
4
What? Chaplin was never convicted of violating the Mann Act. He wasn't even an American citizen.
Honestly, this is just pure smoke. I think it’s a waste! Simply because this is man has been dead for 72 years! Why didn’t he actually pardon someone who is still living and deserves to be pardon (not saying this man didn’t). The man is long gone and in his grave that doesn’t do anything for him or his family really. This just shows what Trump really thinks in his heart about America and its history and issues with racism.
4
My thanks to the Johnson family for keeping the faith!
My thanks to Ken Burns for our continued education!
My thanks to Sylvester Stallone for advocating for justice!
My thanks to President Trump for righting a wrong!
5
My thanks to Jack Johnson for being himself. Look into his eyes in the picture and really connect with him. He must have loved his life and his chosen sport. Clearly Jack Johnson transcended his time and perhaps this time as well, with all its petty nastiness.
1
The sanctimony and virtue signaling are running very deep here today. The Trump haters can hardly bring themselves to admit he did a good, and long overdue, thing.
Sad, really.
5
The righting of this injustice was besmirched in its execution.
Why would anyone stoop to accept anything from a trump. Two more years after waiting for decades, a real, actual President with a sense of history would have done it.
At the moment, this has degenerated into a brag point for trump and his ilk.
A meaningless gesture that accomplishes nothing. Great! President Trump pardons Jack Johnson dead 75 years. Meanwhile he vilifies black athletes who want to exercise their rights by taking a knee, saying stuff like they shouldn't be in the country. Count me as one of the unimpressed.
6
Donald is simply getting the public used to his issuing pardons. I'm pretty sure we know who else is on his list headed "Who I Might Pardon?"
3
I find it deeply troubling that past presidents refused to give this pardon years after the death of Jack Johnson. I find it more troubling that Barrack Obama looked for reasons to say no and those reasons had nothing to do with the crime he was found guilty of. That was cowardice.
I am not a Trump supporter but in this case Donald Trump made a good decision and made his point about the denials and refusals of other presidents. Obama had no clear moral compass and no understanding of the opportunity he missed to offer justice.
It took Donald Trump to bring justice!
5
Despite my feelings for the man, this was a decent, honorable move by Donald Trump. He has corrected a blot from America's racist past, and everyone in this country should congratulate him.
Thank you, Mr. President.
5
On its face, Jack Johnson should receive his posthumous pardon.
In reality, President Trump is inoculating the American public to the idea of presidential pardons as a concept. It's another example of the new normal.
When he starts pardoning the corrupt circle he's surrounded himself with, you'll see this as a moment of tactical brilliance. He may not have depth, but he's shrewd.
3
Thank you Mr President. A courageous and decent act.
10
I fully understand the sentiments of the Jack Johnson family. But this is simply a symbolic gesture. In yesterday's Op-Ed section there was a story about how Trump's policies on food stamps and work requirements for Medicare and housing subsidies all fall disproportionately on African Americans.
The Trump rules allow states to exempt rural counties that are overwhelmingly white from these requirements while leaving them in place for inner-city minorities.
So while the president is all smiles over this pardon, he and his fellow GOP have put a legislative boot on the throats of millions of poor people.
Tax cuts for the least needy, service cuts for the most needy.
9
Thanks for the link to the Rhoden article as well. Fascinating (re)read. Some noteworthy quotes from that article:
Why is the United States still afraid of Jack Johnson?
Fear? Indifference? Ignorance of history?
President Obama has not acted. I’m assuming — hoping — that he will save this for one of the final acts of his presidency: pardoning one of the most controversial figures in American sports history and, beyond that, righting a wrong.
But in a nation that promotes itself as the land of the free, there are few things more important than removing destructive symbols — like the Confederate flag — or correcting injustices like the imprisonment of Johnson.
It’s not only Jack Johnson who needs the pardon.
We do.
Life is seldom a straight line and scripts are not always followed.
1
While our nation's infrastructure falls apart, the warmongers have taken over our foreign policy, and international relations are at an all-time low, we are treated to another meaningless gesture from the distractor-in-chief.
9
Yes, it's a distraction - but it's also more than a hundred years overdue, so good that Johnson was pardoned.
2
For once, Trump did the right thing. Many people who despise Trump are using the occasion to hurl abuse at him. Since I myself despise Trump as much as it is possible to despise anyone, I understand the impulse. But it is a mistake to do it. It makes the critic look like an unreasoning fool. No one is compelling you to praise him -- but you (we) just keep quiet.
19
Agreed!
1
Jack Johnson really did metaphorically kneel since he stood up to Jim Crow when he was wrongfully convicted of violating the Mann act. Just don’t tell Trump it’s too confusing for him.
5
"45" pardons a dead Black man almost 75 years after his death, and we're supposed to be grateful? Excited? Feel that justice has been served?
No disrespect intended toward Jack Johnson, but his pardoning--as a "political act," which it most certainly is--is a clear case of "Justice delayed is justice denied."
This pardoning is disingenuous, cynical, and vacuous, and makes a mockery of criminal justice reform.
22
Caption to the first photo is perplexing: it identifies Trump, Stallone and former and current boxers. Are we meant to think the woman standing there is or was a boxer--or is she just invisible somehow?
6
Though I am glad that Jack Johnson received the pardon he deserved, I am fairly certain that Trump had never even heard of him, seen "The Great White Hope" or had the slightest empathy for the injustices Johnson faced in his lifetime.
5
OMG! If it were anyone else, but President Trump, i could take it seriously. This is the thing about America these days. We have a leader who operates from the steam of consciousness thinking, wastes time battling a Russian interference, in our sovereignty, and this.
Truly, he lives on Fantasy Island. God, give us strength and protect us from this mad man!
2
This is good for Jack Johnson's legacy and family. But there's no illusion about Trump. He did this because: no downside for him personally, a "famous" person asked him to, and he could take a swipe at Obama while doing it. Meanwhile, he thinks living black athletes should keep their mouths shut.
68
Credit where credit is due.
22
I am pleased Mr Johnson received his long overdue pardon. My bookclub read "Unforgivable Blackness" and Mr Johnson's memoir, "My Life and Battles" and we had a good debate on whether times had actually changed or whether the practice of racism had changed in its execution. Anyway both books are excellent.
"a period of racial tension in the United States."
This is like saying the period immediately prior to WW II was a period of religious tension in Europe.
"A victory that sparked violent white backlash in the form of riots across the country."
That activity was not "riots," it was whites executing a reign of terror over blacks, on July 4 no less, for the "crime" of a black man defeating a white man in a boxing ring. I know Trump is lacking in intelligence but I expect better from the Times.
12
Folks, remember the Central Park Five...just an attempt at distraction from the failed NK summit.
23
Ah, who doesn't know about the NK summit being cancelled? It is not like it is not all over the news.
You nailed it. Saved in his back pocket for a news day so bad that even FOX can't spin it enough.
2
"Brash, ostentations and unapologetic". You mean he wouldn't stay small, quiet and humble about his great accomplishments.
5
I want to look to Mr. Trump's deeds, rather than boorish, insesitive statements to determine which side of the racial divide he is on. He has infuriated many with his words, which are then consumed by an industry which thrives on racial animocity.
He must be ever mindful of the fact that everything he says will be examined under a micrscope by that industry and will be used to stir up distrust, resentment and hatred.
Only by his actions can he convince people that he, in his own words is "the least racist" person. You have a long way to go Mr. President. If you are really the non racist you claim to be, show us by your actions.
4
Jack Johnson was the original Ali in terms of brashness and confronting societal norms. His book "My Life and Battles" is excellent. That guy could flat out write.
5
Anything that allows him to take a poke at President Obama, who had a valid reason NOT to issue the pardon.
4
What was the valid reason?
4
Trump's motive is obvious. He wants to be buddy-buddy with Stallone. Trump is as much a sycophant with "name" celebrities as he wants 'his people' to be with him. The man has a severe personality disorder. This has nothing to do with what is right. This is only for the Stallone connection.
5
This should give hope to all of Trump's cronies (Michael Flynn, Paul Manafort, Micheal Cohen, Jared Kushner, et al) that in a hundred years President-for-life Trump will eventually pardon them too
4
I can't read the article.
I can not believe that Trump ever does anything that somehow does not benefit himself or his family.
32
Belief is not required for reality.
2
Buried at the bottom of the story is this disgusting assertion:
"The Obama administration passed on pardoning Johnson, citing in part allegations of domestic violence against women."
So the Obama admin is unwilling to right a KNOWN injustice because of an ALLEGATION of domestic violence? What grotesque hypocrisy. Talk about pandering. I never thought I'd live to say it: Trump did the right thing, Obama got it wrong.
22
an ALLEGATION of domestic violence a CENTURY ago???
good grief!!!
1
Thanks, Mr. Trump, we know you are sooooo interested in racial harmony and justice. Am I the only one wondering if you're just trying to get us accustomed to the pardons you plan for associates and family members coming soon?
20
Black people won't fall for this. But white people will eat it up. It will license those who want to support and vote for the most race-baiting administration since Ronald Reagan ("strapping young bucks" and "welfare queens") to do so "in good conscience." "But he pardoned Jack Johnson."
Astonishing to see even so-called white liberals falling for this. "He has to be commended..."
24
way WAY more important that N. Korea, healthcare reform, the environment pillaging, female civil rights, school shootings and voter suppression/possible treason.
Time for a victory cheeseburg....salad. He only eats salad.
9
A grotesque spectacle aimed at seducing the black voter. In Trump's mind there is no difference between pardoning this black man (who until know he had no idea who he was), and pardoning the Thanksgiving turkey. Let's hope the black community knows better. Trump's moral turpitude knows no boundaries.
20
Next up next -- Shoeless Joe Jackson. Something tells me Trump only did this for Jack Johnson so he can tell people that he really does care for blacks. Just a symbolic gesture that he'll turn into a campaign plug.
11
Well, it's pardons and golf for this president. How lucky we are.
6
I refuse to be impressed by a president who is ignorant, self-absorbed, bigoted, misogynistic, considers himself the star of his own daytime soap and has the depth of a birdbath. Ever. He’s using you people. As always. Wake-up.
17
Better late than never.
10
All the while he has suppressed the rightful protests of NFL over social injustices that are happening now. To deal with the tough issues there would actually take a person of courage.
28
Exactly. What of the living who deserve such an act of pardon?
11
Whether this was warranted or not, this was a distraction from so many other things that make look bad - because he is bad.
12
I am sad for the cynics commenting on this article.
If ever was a free GET for all of mankind with nothing lost to any then this is it.
It gives dignity to all parties.
16
Gift? There's no free lunch with this administration. Especially to "all mankind." This is an essentially trivial act meant to burnish the image of the man who called Barak Obama's citizenship in to question, who has suggested that protesting football players should consider leaving the country, and who has made the systematic cultivation of racial resentment a cornerstone of his domestic policy. It gives dignity to no one.
7
Imagine, Donald J. Trump doing a single right thing for a change.
There is hope for us all.
5
A stopped clock is right twice a day.
Trump would never pardon someone like Kevin Cooper (a black man on death row for 30 years after being obviously framed by white police) while he’s still alive. Nope, pardon a guy who has been dead for 70 years and pretend that he’s for racial justice.
5
Well, I was wondering if Mr. Trump was ill until I read the part about Obama not granting a pardon because this boxer had a history of abusing women.
Then I understood why Mr. Trump thought this man a hero.
35
Wrong. Allegations. Not a history.
1
First and only good deed ever since trump won the Presidency.
2
Theres a show for everything. Why does he show concern for Jack Johnson when he can't show support for the "kneel"?
18
North Korea blather (as if we ever thought Trump could pull that off) ... look over here!! Jared gets security clearance ... now look over here!! Pardon a railroaded boxer a century too late ... now look over here!! Bombastic debate about calling people "animals" ... now look over here!! Paul Ryan chickens out of Gang of 8 meeting that was previously (and questionably) meant to be limited to only 2 Trump aficionados ... now look over here!! Look anywhere but where an actual investigation is turning up actual crimes against our democracy.
25
THURSDAY; The NFL announces it will fine any team whose players"take a knee" during the National Anthem. This move no doubt brought on by the cowardice of team owners in the face of Trump's ongoing campaign to label mostly blacks players as unAmerican. (Playing to his white, racist base.)
FRIDAY: Trump pardons a dead black athlete.
Such is the school- yard mentality of this president who thinks we won't see through this sophomoric effort to show us he is not the racist that he is.
20
Yes that part indeed
2
There is nothing more disgusting than this overtly racist man trying to pass for the antidote to racism. Talk about adding insult to injury! The falseness and utter contempt displayed in such pathetic dramas only goes to compound this man's destructive assault on us black people. I don't want this hideous man to save me from a burning building!
15
Are you kidding? Save you?
He'll push you out of his way at the exit.
8
Now we know how dead an African American has to be for Trump to pardon them.
60
Great comment!
2
Kind of gives lie to the racist accusations eh?
1
Yep.
Once you've been dead 100 years,
he'll stop demeaning you.
20
There's a first for everything - in this case the first thing Trump has done that I agree with. Long overdue.
4
Typical of the Trump administration's other stunning stands for religious and economic justice set nationally and globally, this long overdue act was ignored even by the Obama Presidency (and how many others?). Notch this as genuinely well and goodly in step with the rise of African American incomes and the simultaneous, precipitous drop in their unemployment. Let the sore losers pick this one apart as they further alienate themselves from a new America.
4
More bread and circus from Trump. Actually, just circus. Bread provides sustenance.
16
Trump is not the stable genius he claims to be.
Trump pardoned the wrong African-American. If he needed to pardon a dead Black man, he should have pardoned Chuck Berry. Period.
10
Now, if he would pardon a few wrongfully convicted living black men as he has living guilty white men.
26
even a broken clock is correct once a day
13
Maybe even twice a day...
I thought it was twice a day?
Perhaps, in Trumps case, once.
2
So there! Doesn't this show that Trump is NOT a racist? In his feeble brain it erases all accusations and his base will applaud and deny he is or ever has been a racist. Oops, what? You mean it was all for show? Look, the busier he is the more distractions he creates and today, he started with the N. Korean summit cancellation that no one knew about, then the pardon for Johnson, then the Medal of Honor award, all the while he's blathering about his campaign being infiltrated by truth seekers.
7
Proving again that Trump is not racist, at least if the black is dead 100 years and athletic. He's not so fond of black NFLers who want to express rights.
19
Wow ! Trump finally did something right.
1
Johnson "...was brash, ostentatious and unapologetic about his wealth and success. He taunted his opponents in the ring..." Hmmmm, let's see. Had Johnson been a black boxer who was modest and less braggadocios in the ring, does anyone think Trump would've given a second thought to pardoning him?
3
would Trump have challenged him on Twitter?
It wasn’t “race riots” that were started when Johnson won- these were lynchings.
9
Well, I'm sure Trump would say there were "good people on both sides."
5
This is trivia and a distraction from more important issues.
4
Then why are you still here? There's a ton of other stories in the Times today. Happy reading !
3
Listening to Trump’s limited vocabulary, simplistic phrases, and mangled syntax drives me up the wall. I used to love these ceremonies when Obama gave his eloquent, prepared introductions. Now I cringe and yell at the tv.
5
Anyone really can become president.
You'll note I left the grow up part out.
2
You simply cannot expect the D to learn proper English just for the likes of us -- especially when he knows he is so much better than the likes of us.
1
Yes Marie, anyone rich, or with the right connections.
Johnson actually was guilty of transporting a prostitute across state lines for "immoral" purposes. Not the first time that Trump has pardoned an objectively guilty person for his own selfish ends. The rule of law means nothing to him.
8
It’s so awful that Trump is using this historical travesty in an attempt to polish his excessively soiled image.
“It dropped so low in my regard
I heard it hit the ground,
And go to pieces on the stones
At bottom of my mind;
Yet blamed the fate that fractured, less Than I reviled myself
For entertaining plated wares
Upon my silver shelf.”
- Emily Dickinson
1
He's not polishing anything. He's trying to block a possible left jab with a right cross.
1
Well, if Jack Johnson were alive, he would have been very glad to have Donald J. Trump in the boxing ring as an opponent. Johnson's pummeling of bigot Trump would have surpassed the one he delivered to Jim Jeffries.
2
I'm glad that many readers are taking this at face value. As for myself, I see this as another display by our deranged President that he thinks he's above the law. Someday I hope to see him begging for a pardon from his acts of treason.
2
Can we go back for a second to the reasons why Obama didn't pardon him (as mentioned in the article)? Did he really miss an open goal? I doubt that. Maybe it was wiser than it looks now.
3
Obama preferred to pardon drug dealers.
4
I can't think of anything else that I've agreed with DT on, since he came into power.
And yet, sadly and scarily, the pardon doesn't seem to genuinely motivated by correcting a racist injustice; rather, it's another example of his twisted un-"undoing" (if you will) of all things Obama.
Since Obama hadn't pardoned Johnson, now DT can proclaim that he did what Obama hadn't.
It seems to be yet another example of his bizarre, harmful "anti-Obama-everything" obsession: to unyieldingly undo all the good that our first African-American President had accomplished - a sick obsession that wholly smacks of racism in itself.
Therefore, pardoning Johnson under the guise of "correcting a racial injustice" actually adds another belt notch in his own racist pursuit of destroying Obama's legacy.
Ugh! My head hurts.
21
Is it not possible that the true motivation for the pardon involves reminding those at risk of prison in the Russia investigation that the President has critical pardon powers??
As worthy as this particular pardon is, I think it may well be being used to send a subtle reminder to Manafort, Cohen and others -- that they too may be pardoned in the future. The high level of pardon activity in Trumps short time in office (remember he also pardoned the submarine sailor for taking photos in the engine room), may also be serving to condition the American public that its "no big deal" when the President uses his pardon power...
Am I the only one that sees this possibility?
10
Jack Johnson was not convicted of convicted of “transporting a white woman across state line.” He was convicted of transporting a prostitute across state lines for the purpose of engaging in prostitution. The Mann Act made it a felony to engage in interstate or foreign commerce transport of "any woman or girl for the purpose of prostitution or debauchery, or for any other immoral purpose.” Johnson was arrested twice on Mann Act violations. He was convicted on the second charge after a prostitute named Belle Schreiber testified against him. She told the jury that she had traveled across state lines with Johnson and that he paid her for sex. Schreiber also said Johnson financed her move from Pittsburgh to Chicago, rented her an apartment, and set her up as a madam in a house of prostitution. There is no doubt that Belle was a prostitute, but Jackson’s defenders characterized her as a jilted girlfriend. There also is no doubt that the Mann Act was selectively enforced and that authorities were looking for any excuse to arrest Johnson because he dated white women.
The Mann Act is still in effect but was amended in 1986 to apply to transporting anyone across state lines for the purpose of prostitution or illegal sexual acts. It’s now okay to transport women across state for purposes of debauchery as long as they are willing and above the age of consent.
45
The Mann Act was specifically designed to catch Johnson, because of his multiple affairs with white women and defeat of white men in the boxing ring. Johnson would never have been arrested if he was frolicking with black prostitutes.
16
Or had be been a white man.
6
Long before Jack Johnson came on the scene, there was already major concern in this country about "white slavery" a euphemism for prostitution. One of the major concerns was about young immigrant women, especially those from eastern Europe and Italy, who were pouring into the country with the rest of the mass of immigrants in the last two decades of the 19th century and first decade of the 20th. It was feared that many were being lured into prostitution without knowing what they were getting into and being transported away from communities where they might have relatives or at least have fellow countrymen.
It might have been used to punish Johnson but it wasn't an imaginary problem that the law was enacted to address.
1
Even a broken clock is right twice a day.
7
Next assignment: pardon Chuck Berry.
2
You mean when he was convicted twice for transporting a 14 yr old girl from Mexico so that she could "work" in a nightclub? Or for when he was putting cameras into the womens toilets in his restaurant? Just because he was convicted in the 60's doesn't mean he wasn't guilty.
5
the donald is the donald. Everything he does is for himself. Figure out what he gets out of it and you will know why he did it.
12
If only he cared about black athletes in 2018!
26
The Mann Act was passed at the turn of the century when high profile houses of prostitution were common. Those who were outraged by the prostitutes spread stories of good wives kidnapped and forced into prostitution. At the time, many of the houses were run by women, and high paying. Johnson frequented the best of the best.
The Mann Act was seldom used because investigators couldn’t find victims. The conviction of Johnson under the Act was a racist travesty against the biggest black celebrity of his day for being uppity. I really don’t care who pardoned him. True, he was no great friend of women. But the pardon relates to a racist outrage perpetrated by bigots and Christians. Jack Johnson was bigger than life. And in the long run he’ll probably be bigger than Trump. Restoring a part of Johnson’s reputation is a very big deal. I’m glad it finally happened.
2
That is all very nice. How can you complain?
But, and you knew there was a but, if Trump believes that this single act erases a racist past it will among all those who believed he wasn't a racist in the first place.
I wonder if the Central Park Five get a pardon?
4
They were still juvenile delinquents who rampaged central Park.
7
The charges against the Central Park Five were vacated, so no pardon needed.
3
@MCH
"They were still juvenile delinquents who rampaged central Park"......
.....for whom trump called for the death penalty.
5
The mean hearted reaction in these comments is noted.
12
Hey Donald, I knew that even though you're pretty clever there's some areas where you seem to be tone deaf. After all the insults you've plastered all over black people in America starting with trying to get the country to believe Barack Obama wasn't born in the United States do you really believe that pardoning Jack Johnson is going to get black people to vote for you? Really??
7
It's a great day for dead black boxers. Hopefully trump now will overturn the Dred Scott decision.
#calexit - america has become a joke.
4
I'm glad Jack Johnson is remembered and exonerated even by Trump. Shame on Obama that he couldn't do this!
Truth be told, not much has changed especially in small town America.
6
Is Trump going to pardon Chuck Berry too? He was arrested and served time for transporting a young girl across state lines.
Is there anything that Trump could do that any of you would find admirable? In your universal condemnation of his actions you reveal your own intellectual frailty and prejudice.
6
His motives are questionable given previous statements he has made.
If he is so concerned about injustice in the African American community, then why does he rail against NFL players for taking a knee in support of racial injustice? Why did he take out an ad claiming the Central Park 5 were guilty despite the DNA proof they were not?
I am happy for Jack Johnson and his family, but Trump does NOTHING without a personal payoff. That has been made clear since the start of his campaign for president.
If it doesn't feed his bank account, it feeds his ego. Apparently, this time he looking to make points with celebrity friends and the African American community.
6
"Prejudice" means pre-judging. trump has a record as long as King Kong's arm showing that his every decision is self-serving. So my best judgment is that this too is a self-serving action.
2
Why should we care about whether or not rich NFL players get to take a knee in front of all of us? If their causes (whatever they may be) are so important to them, they can pursue them on their own time.
Trump's PR folks pulled this one out of the "Low-Hanging-Fruit Things to Boost Approval Ratings on Rainy Days" folder.
16
Rats! Trump finally did something I agreed with. My winning streak is broken!
3
Just aa he panders to evangelicals on abortion, Trump goes against his own character here. In this case, he does a good deed solely for the purpose of siphoning off a few black voters. He is desperate for someone to praise him for something.
4
Clearly the man cannot possibly be considered a racist after such a bold display of vapidness.
9
Those two character flaws often co exist in the same person.
1
Great to see Trump doing so much good for the black community. He has leveled the playing field. Now I know there is not a "racist bone in his body".
7
And you said you were a dreamer...
#calexit - and make the dream a reality.
Let's not get carried away here, Trump was simply practicing the "Art of Pardoning" which he will need to perfect before he pardons all his Russian Agents, his family, his advisors, and cabinet. Not easy signing a ton of pardons with his polygraph looking signature.
3
What will never be pardoned is the need for these late pardons in the first place, after the injustice has served its purpose during the life of these individuals. Even worse than these travesties of the judicial system is a medal of honor that is denied to deserving soldiers until they are long gone, held back because of race when they should have been allowed to carry the recognition during their remaining years. Better late than never is meaningless to these individuals and only reminds us of the shameful practices people have had to endure at the hands of lesser individuals.
6
I don't even care what Trump's motivations are here. This was long overdue.
5
The 1913 conviction of Johnson for violating the Mann Act was racially motivated. The guilty verdict was determined by an all-white jury in a trial presided over by Judge Kennesaw Mountain Landis, who later as the Commissioner of Major League Baseball upheld the color line, preventing African Americans from playing in the Major Leagues.
In 2013, Obama had the opportunity to pardon Johnson but declined to do so. I guess he agreed with Booker T. Washington, who remarked of Johnson, "is unfortunate that a man with money should use it in a way to injure his own people, in the eyes of those who are seeking to uplift his race and improve its conditions, I wish to say emphatically that Jack Johnson's actions did not meet my personal approval and I am sure they do not meet with the approval of the colored race."
Thank you, President Trump, for doing what has needed to be done for a long time. I support the President. I support Trump. Again, he has triumphed!
11
Does it ring true that someone who chooses to align himself with the Confederacy also presents a negative viewpoint of the racially oppressive circumstances of Johnson's plight?
The second paragraph offers a false, invented premise (that Obama ascribed to Washington's opinion) which serves to denigrate Obama for being, of all things, a racist.
Finally, ignoring the fact that Trump is an avowed, virulent and proud racist, as revealed by his very own actions and words starting in the 1970s and continuing to this very day, the ridiculous suggestion is make that Trump acted out of a sense of decency and compassion for a wronged black man.
This comment is intended to poke the eye of people who see Trump for who he is, a dangerous pathological liar whose greed, narcissism and deep ignorance born of elective illiteracy. It trolls us. It is particularly reprehensible because it is offered in a purely disingenuous manner intended to mislead the reader into thinking the writer is concerned with racial equity and fairness, when in truth it is an attempt to obfuscate the reality that both this frequent writer here and Trump are reliably the opposite of how they portray themselves to an audience.
6
I have to guess Barack Obama eschewed making the pardon in deference to being the first "Black President", unlike the new bride of Prince Harry, Megan Markle, who is anointed as non-black, but rather "bi-racial". For a "black president" to pardon a most famous and controversial race-mingling black would have stirred a white racist reaction that Barack didn't see could help his attempt to never be seen as favoring blacks over whites.
3
I think the key sentence here was towards the very bottom, "The Obama administration passed on pardoning Johnson, citing in part allegations of domestic violence against women." What's the point of pardoning a long dead guy who may have been abusive to women and only served 10 months in the first place? Why? Simply for good press.
16
Wait, didn't Trump pardon Joe Arpaio and Scooter Libby a few months ago? If I were Joe Jackson's family, I would allow Joe to stay unpardoned a few more years, and wait for a president who respects the law of the land and understands the U.S. Constitution to pardon him. That would really mean something.
8
Good move for Trump.
He should use this, along with the nascent relationship with Kanye, to build lasting bridges to the African-American community.
3
A boxer and a singer-songwriter? Who knew?
1
How about Trump apologizing for persecuting the living Central Park 5, all done to put his name in the spot light of a tragedy.
22
This wasn't done in the past because dead people are not pardoned. In this case the man died in a time when a pardon would be unthinkable. It is sad a critter like Trump gets the credit.
10
There's nothing unusual about it just like there is nothing unusual about congress awarding medals posthumously.
1
GUANNA,
"It is sad a critter like Trump gets the credit."
Jeez, Trump can't catch a break even when he does something everybody agrees is good. Besides, I thought we just learned from the MS-13 affair that human beings aren't supposed to be referred to as "animals" (i.e. critters).
3
Posthumous pardons are issued all the time, genius. Nice try. Obama could have done this but didn't, despite being asked.
4
He served 10 months in federal prison “for what many view as a racially-motivated injustice.”
For what many view, who wouldn't?
4
And, today, which wrongfully convicted Black or Hispanic will Trump pardon? Or are his pardons limited to the Joe Arpaios?
30
I think the President should get the Nobel Prize for this. (From now on, this is going to be my comment on all articles mentioning the President.)
21
Who says that Trump is ignorant of history? He is just an ignominious ignorant person who imitates a president for his own wanton amusement. Dredging up foolishness is his pastime. Next up he will pardon Nathan Hale who he just learned about. Oy vey!
15
How about the racism in Charlottesville?
Trump also took this occasion to criticize Obama, his favorite hobby.
13
Yikes, Obama is above criticism? Such is not allowed?
12
What Obama did or did not do is irrelevant to Trump's pardons.
It's not that President Obama is above criticism, it's that Trump does it every chance he gets. What would you have said if Obama had spent so much timing criticizing Bush?
Trump is obsessed. Maybe because he is a fake president who desperately wants his base to forget how incompetent he really is.
What would you say if he really did shoot someone on Fifth Avenue?
12
I can't wait until the current POTUS pardons Michael Flynn and Paul Manafort, and Michael Cohen, and then to see the tsunami of exploding heads here amongst The New York Times commentariat.
And then, when James Clapper, John Brennan, Andrew McCabe, Jim Comey, Peter Stozok, and Sally Yates go to jail, there will be a second round of exploding heads, sure to be equally delicious.
And then, the aforementioned deep staters will have to wait until such time as a loony lefty becomes president to even hope for a pardon. Yum yum!!
5
I'm not holding my breath, waiting to see your "predictions" pan out...
2
Word up, Kosmic Karl K. Always gracious in victory art thou. I just hope that the ghost of Jack Joihnson never tries to kneel during the National Anthewm, cause that is still unpardonable
5
Sarcasm?
Clapper, Brennan, McCabe, Comey, Stzrok, Yates have protected us for decades as public servants.
Flynn, Manafort and Cohen will go to prison.
2
A pardon is only effective if it is accepted.
Jack Johnson is dead. how can he accept anything?
In addition, accepting a pardon is AN ADMISSION OF GUILT. So if this charade was supposed to purify Johnson's record, it does not.
Here is a link the controlling Supreme Court opinion, Burdick v. United States, 236 U.S. 79 (1915).
https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/236/79/case.html
Here is a relevant quote:
Acceptance, as well as delivery, of a pardon is essential to its validity; if rejected by the person to whom it is tendered, the court has no power to force it on him. United States v. Wilson, 7 Pet. 150.
This brings us to the differences between legislative immunity and a pardon. They are substantial. The latter carries an imputation of guilt; acceptance a confession of it. The former has no such imputation or confession.
8
It's symbolic. Get over it.
9
JK:
What I am saying is that these fools are so incompetent, they do not even undersatnd that a PARDON does not sweep away the conviction, but reinforces it. It washes away the PENALTY for the conviction (if you are still alive and the penalty has not been served in full). If you accept the pardon, you admit you are guilty.
If you want to erase the conviction, you have to EXPUNGE the decision by the court, not PARDON it. (Trump does not have the power to do that.)
These people are fools. They cannot even get the protocol right for such a simple matter.
I am laughing at the incompetence.
Jack Johnson was prosecuted and convicted only because he was black and successful. 100 years ago they had to "bring down" a black man. I get that.
Exactly. Symbolic. What's he trying to distract us from today?
1
For an interesting read about one of the 20th Century's least known black athletes, check out Jack Johnson's story on Wikipedia. I promise, you'll see that he had much more on the ball than most people of his era--black or white--and probably considerably more than the person pardoning him.
3
In 2118 this act will be remembered as the only decent thing the Trump administration ever did.
4
A number of folks have commented that trump should be given credit for doing the right thing.
The timing of this announcement by trump reflects the spirit in which it was given.
8
Stallone brought it to his attention and Prez Trump reviewed and acted on it promptly. Why do you have a problem with that?
3
Although I agree the Pardon is a good thing, it seems clear Trump did it for reasons other than principle.
Read the quotes of our president in this article and read them carefully.
"The president called Johnson “a truly great fighter, had a tough life,”.. but served 10 months in federal prison... “for what many view as a racially-motivated injustice.” Mr. Trump said the conviction took place during a “period of tremendous racial tension in the United States.”
When he says many view the conviction as a racially-motivated injustice, he seems to not include himself among the many who see the obvious because he is willingly blind.
"He was treated very rough, very tough." Not one reference as to why or the racial injustice of it all in his words because he's racist by nature.
"They couldn't get the President to sign it." Trump said, sarcastically referring to Obama and, surprise to Trump, others. Obama explained his refusal as the concern for a conflict of two injustices represented in one person, racial injustice inflicted on the boxer and evidence of domestic violence inflicted on women by the boxer in question.
Unless he said something the Times did not report, there is not one word of personal concern for the racial injustice of it all from Trump's mouth.
So why did Trump really do this?
I conclude he did it strictly for the promotion of self. It is blatant self-aggrandizement and a farcical attempt to look less racist than he really is to the black community.
155
"Although I agree the Pardon is a good thing, it seems clear Trump did it for reasons other than principle."
I read, "although the pardon is a good thing, I, as a New York Times reader am not allowed to say that Trump did something good. So let me quibble anyway."
Soon after he was elected, Trump went to see Obama and said that he had great respect for Obama, whom he called a good man. He also came to the offices of the New York Times and tried to have a friendly meeting.
But the hostility from the NYT has been unremitting. Why the NYT thinks that hostility is a good thing is something I have yet to understand.
19
So he said “racially motivated” injustice, which it was of course, and that’s somehow hypocricy?
It is always “heads I win, tails you lose” with The Left.
10
"Why did Trump really do this?"
That's a fair question. Equally fair is, "Why did so many other presidents refuse to do this?"
The answer is not pretty.
1
Pardoning Mr. Johnson is declaring him guilty, you cannot pardon an innocent person, this makes no sense, just a populist move by this shameless human being we have for president. No vindication for Mr. Johnson, just an acceptance of guilt that doesn't do him nor history any good.
21
Not following your “logic.”
Jack Johnson is dead. He won’t be standing for a re-trial. This must be the next best thing.
Now, I wish the President could issue pardons to Joe Jackson and Buck Weaver, both of whom were unfairly banned from baseball in 1920, but that is another subject.
2
I think the Commissioner of Baseball would have to do that one. To my knowledge, no court found Joe Jackson guilty of anything. It would be nice if the Commissioner lifted the ban and the sportswriters honored Mr. Jackson. Unfortunately the recent SC ruling on gambling likely made any move about a player rumored to be tied to gamblers a non- starter.
It is an unusual coincidence that the same judge, Judge Landis, that presided at Johnson’s trial, also banned Jackson from baseball. That was a hard man.
1
The heart of the matter lies in these words that Trump said, "... “for what many view as a racially-motivated injustice..."
"... for what many view..." tells me that he's not convinced Johnson's conviction was a racially-motivated injustice. His hypocrisy is astounding.
22
This is PR designed specifically to split “the black vote ”.
Fortunately, most non-white-Christian-Evangelicals have seen enough of the man to know how he really stands.
Let’s see Donnie “the Bone Spur” Trump pardon Muhammed Ali for showing true courage fighting against the Viet Nam war.
Ali risked all and gave up a hell of a lot, deciding he would fight the immoral, useless destruction of “the Rice Bowl of Asia” and lots of lives on all sides, with another two generations of Viet Namese fearing every walk may set off aging buried ordnance, mines to 599-pound bombs, while the horrors of war continue to destroy lives of American vets.
He took the true path of non-violent civil disobedience, and went to prison as protest.
He knew he’d never see combat - just take on a half-dozen half-drunk out of their minds guys at his special appearance visits, and promote the Army as a great place for tough guys,
He said “ no way” and He will always be one of my few heroes to come out of the anti-war movement 100% clean.
Trump only cared about himself - I never noticed his bone spur causing him any problems walking the campaign trail.
I can hear his brain ticking now - “I can pardon one of those (hateful word for “blacks”) without making trouble for my ‘war’ record, keep em home or on my side with Mueller and let ‘em vote with their feet in November - and pardon a guy accused of beating his wife too, so my base stays -The dealmaker wins again! More #MeToo gone”.
11
Trump can't pardon Muhammad Ali because Ali was never convicted of a crime. Have we become so blind in our hatred of Trump and his hypocrisy that we throw facts away if they get in the way of our arguments?
3
In 1967, Ali (Cassius Clay) was convicted of draft evasion and sentenced to 5 years in prison.
Incredible. Trump may have turned himself into the World's greatest political power. What in the hell is "Rocky" doing there? Why not invite "Captain Ivan Drago" to the meeting also? That would have killed two birds with one stone.
3
Not knowing who Jack Johnson was, I was expecting to read about Trump pardoning some racist hate crime crap. I'm actually pleasantly surprised by Donnie. Good job Mr. President.
8
Jack Johnson was ensnared by the Mann Act.
But he was a clean fighter, and as such requires no pardon by Trump, a low character who is everything but a clean fighter. Nor would he would welcome a pardon from a President with dubious racial sentiments.
What Trump urgently needs saving from at this moment are possible convictions under the still-applicable provisions of the Mann Act, which he -- as the owner of many hotel rooms in many locations and a former sponsor of beauty contests -- likely has multiple good reasons to fear.
Mr. Mueller, please get much busier.
9
You are wrong. Having read about Mr. Johnson, a man who habitually frequented houses of ill repute and made friends with shady characters, I can tell you without hesitation that he would have been overjoyed with President Trump’s pardon.
3
Houses of ill repute and shady characters?
Your underlying point being what?
That Johnson was a bigger transgressor than Trump who should excused for his likely violations of the Mann Act?
My point was that Johnson would have welcomed the pardon.
I believe President Barack Obama would have done this had it not been for Johnson's known abusiveness and mistreatment of women. I think that's what it came down to for Obama. That's my "educated guess".
12
As others note a Pardon admits the person was guilty. A better thing would have been to void the charge and invalidate the sentence.
2
My educated guess is that Obama figured that pardoning Johnson would result in criticism, much of it racially based, and so he ducked, using the domestic violence issue as an excuse because he didn't want into a fight tinged with racism.
That's my guess, and your guess, I think, is as good as mine.
3
Emperor Donald waves his Magic Wand of Benevolence
1
Just how far will this shameless, clueless, pandering moron go? Every day we think, we hope, we may have seen the end of his debasement of all things presidential. And then comes the dawning of a new day. Pfui.
6
So I guess this "Trump is a racist" narrative will go away?
Ha ha, I make funny joke. Does not fit Democrat narravitve.
9
We now know what kind of Black folks Trump likes to help: those who have been famous and dead more than seventy years.
5
Black unemployment is at an all time low.
No credit due to the President and his policies?
6
No, Scott, considering that it is part of an ongoing trend. Trump did nothing but claim the laurels. He's not responsible for this, at least not all by himself.
Unemployment of kinds started trending downward during President Obama’s first term, and continued to trend downward until his second term ended. I don’t expect partisans to admit it, but Trump came into office benefitting from an economy that had been stabilized under Obama and the Fed. The growth of the economy under Obama was slow, but steady. The same was true with the decline in unemployment, however, during 2016, Trump said the low unemployment numbers were fake. Suddenly, without orders to change how unemployment were calculated, President Trump loudly took credit the continued decline in unemployment as soon as he took office.
As far as unemployment is concerned, Black unemployment is still twice that of whites. If Trump could significantly breech that gap, he would deserve credit if he could point to policies of his that made up the difference.
2
Maybe someday he'll pardon a black person who isn't dead.
20
On this rare occasion that Mr. Trump actually did something right and long overdue, he still couldn't resist gloating that former presidents, including Mr. Obama, had not done it. I don't know why Mr. Obama did not pardon Mr. Johnson, but it's a small deed anyway, correcting something that happened 100 years ago. Will he next pardon John Brown?
5
It says in the article that Obama passed because there were allegations of domestic violence also.
10
Next, might I propose Chuck Berry? Similar charge.
1
I'm not sure how pardoning someone convicted over 100 years ago, who then lived 30 more years after serving the time, is helpful for minorities who are still suffering injustice today.
9
I have a feeling a lot of pardons are coming our way. But not for long-dead athletes.
4
Pardon me, but is this presidential Pardon, about a THEN, going to pardon, in any way, shape, form, color, texture,contrast, or other actual dimension, the dehumanizing, stigmatizing, excluding, hateful, marginalizing tweets, mantrafying-words, and violating-deeds of the Faux Commpassionate-
POTUS? Now?Will NFL players stand for and with Trump and his views NOW?Will Trump, the Great-White-Hope of many,MAGA, for ALL of US, in our enabled WE-THEY daily, violating culture and country?Under what conditions is publicly Righting a Wrong, which continues to stain a country, daily,in its known types, levels and qualities of violating selected people, neighborhoods, communities and menschlich values and norms an ethics-free parody? As an aside, were the various people-of-color, who voluntarily crossed State lines, to witness a twitterless, faux-love-your-neighbor “installation,”
in any way complicit in wilfull blindness? Wilfull deafness? Wilfull ignorance of meaning over visualized-mantra? Of wilfull exploitable “postured-silence?” Would Johnson, the THEN- “THEM,” accountable do-what-he-want- to heavy weight champ, have relished the pardon from the NOW lightweight, racially-sensitive, “spurred,” never-personally-accountable POTUS? Would Trump, as person and as Pres., invited “off-white” Johnson to the White House to apologize for...?
This "brave" act will get Trump exactly 3 Black votes, the 3 sellouts in the photo. After yesterday's NFL attack on Black lives that matter, this rings so hollow.
15
Whoever told Obama not to do this should be outed immediately.
6
Between pulling out of the meeting with the tyrannical, Rocket Man, and pardoning Jack Johnson, he'll definitely get the vote of Human Rights activists, and many African Americans in 2020! This President is a man of action, ripe for the America of 2018! Definitely, knows how to come out on top with his decisions! Trump landslide in 2020!!!
4
So easy to do posthumously, and an insulting attempt at currying black favor. These people are transparently shameless. Do they honestly think no one can see? Oh right, they could care less.
9
so he gets to obscure the fact that his administration is an overtly white supremacist administration? If I were the family I would say no thank you.
6
This is absolutely vile. A president who has done nothing but stoke racial resentment to secure his base, now offers them a meaningless gesture so they can tell themselves "I'm not a racist." Utterly cynical and sure to work with his stupefied followers. Stupefied, not stupid.
29
Another story that needs to be put to rest, about 2% of the readership cares about this silliness......
A rare good act, if for bad reasons and ulterior motives, by "covfefe". Stopped clocks, and so forth.
Sex work, where the worker and "buyer" can and do consent, shouldn't be illegal.[1] President Obama's refusal to pardon Johnson for his "crime" then, and his Dept. of Homeland inSecurity's raid on Rentboy for their "crime" now, were insults added to that injurious injustice, bizarre acts of a mostly sane presidency.
On the other hand, with this White House occupant's Nobel shoe-in (LOL) in trouble, this pardon is easily the peak of the "covfefe" regime. It'll only go downhill from here.
[1] But especially when no abusive pimp is involved.
At this moment, 8 comments have been posted, 5 of the using this as another opportunity to lambast Trump, most not even mentioning Jack Johnson.
Y'all are getting tiresome. Give it a rest.
14
Texas Liberal,
You have it exactly right, pardner. Knee jerk Trump hate has gotten as tiresome as Trump himself.
3
Pander much?
Just before the midterms, Trump will pardon Obama for not being a U.S. citizen.
5
Wow it only took a call from a white celebrity and overlooking some domestic violence allegations (no doubt not hard for this Pres) for Trump to decide to try to look like he's not racist.
10
The only black person Trump probably ever will pardon and - and he's been dead for 60 years.
9
I have bad news. Sylvester Stallone is NOT a boxer, he is an actor who PLAYED a boxer. I know, a pesky little fact, but if you're going to be the newspaper of record, get on the ball.
14
what about pardoning more minorities who are still alive, rather then political hacks like Libby?
6
After reading the comments. The one thing that can stand the test of time is the hatred that is in the blood of liberals.
8
Trump is an awful president. OK. I get it. We all get it.
But lordy.
He's done a good thing here. Why are people all so up in arms and eager to attack someone when they've done something right?
Liberals/progressives who howl at Trump no matter what are proving themselves every bit the intolerant ignoramuses they claim conservatives to be.
9
Because he also pardoned Joe Arapaio for engaging in RACIAL PROFILING the same reason why Jack Johnson was arrested, charged and convicted anyway, do you get that this is a meaningless gesture? no scratch that not meaningless, insulting.
8
I agree that Arpaio belongs in jail. But this pardon for Jack Johnson was not a meaningless, or insulting, gesture. Are folks who say it is the smartest people in the room? Do they dismiss out of hand the people of color who were at the White House today and who praised Trump for issuing the pardon? Do Trump haters have a monopoly on brains and empathy? Is Trump always wrong and people who dislike him always right? At least Trump did something here, unlike his predecessors who sat on their hands.
Think about. Honestly and truly--really think about it.
My gosh. I can't believe I'm defending Trump--I think he's the second-worst president in history, behind Dubya--but here I am. The only thing worse than a small-minded, lying, opportunistic president are people who get in the gutter with him and trade blows and hurl insults and engage in fights that aren't worth having.
Lord knows convictions and acquittals aren't based on one's character. If they were, every slimeball ever taken to court would be serving time or facing monetary damages. From what I've seen, Jack Johnson wasn't exactly a saint but his behavior was no worse than many of our own superstars today. And he was definitely the victim of statutory injustice which is what the pardon is for. It's not a validation of Johnson's character.
Trump's fearlessness to go with his gut reaction is sometimes welcomed as it is here.
5
And yet Trump wants to prosecute the exonerated Central Park 5 Our President is a terrible human being
4
I haven't seen the word "decimated" applied to a boxing match before, but I would expect the NYT to be the first to misapply it.
1
trump changed someones life. no wait, Johnson served his sentence for knowingly breaking the law and died over 70 years ago.
3
Of course he should be pardoned for "transporting a white woman across state lines for immoral purposes." It's a ridiculous charge, both racist and sexist. But tales of domestic abuse or mistreatment of women would surely make Trump more eager to pardon him.
3
Dotard Donnie would have been a great magician...or a card expert in three card monte.
While he is backing down on meeting with Kim Jong-un (Did ANYONE really think that he was going to put himself in “harm’s way?”) he says: “Nothing to see over there--Now watch THIS!
Worst self-serving president or politician ever.
He just LOVES holding up that “lie detector tracing” of a signature! (Oh Donnie! What a fine little boy I have!)
Donnie will NEVER fill that hole in his soul, a hole the size of the Grand Canyon.
5
Donald Trump has a very big soft spot for boxers and wrestlers. It's entertainment and especially loves WWE as it's faked.
"Trump’s relationship to pro wrestling dates back to 1988 when the then-casino magnate sponsored the then-WWF’s fourth annual WrestleMania. “I just wanted a piece of it,” Trump said on the WWE-produced documentary, The True Story of WrestleMania. “Everybody in the country wanted this event, and we were able to get it.”
The event was billed as being broadcast live from the Trump Plaza in Atlantic City; in reality, it took place in the Atlantic City Convention Hall, but it’s common in wrestling to embellish facts because it is real fake news. "
- By Eric Francisco on July 5, 2017
The Donald Trump "bodyslams, beats and shaves Vince McMahon at Wrestlemania XXIII", 2007 event was a perfect highlight in Trump's life. Fake entertainment. Fake drama.
Pardoning Jack Johnson was a treat. More fake drama.
2
"Johnson’s persona and race led to harsh coverage from newspapers over the years, which only served to further a negative image of the fighter."
Recently, the NYT in particular, has acknowledged openly its contribution to racism and sexism in history, such as not highlighting deaths of people of color or women, or both, in its obituary section.
The press has not always been the voice for justice. In fact, there was a time when the mainstream media, whenever citing a black person's name, they added "(negro)" after their name. Just so the readers knew.
At one time the press was so biased when it came to race that it warranted the start of the black press, which fought back by saying "(white)" after a white person's name in an article. Only later, in the 60s, when the mainstream media realized its egregious mistake, did things change, which ultimately led to the decline of the black press and more fair coverage by the mainstream media.
But there's still progress to be made.
Thank you Mr. President...a travesty of justice corrected
7
Unfortunately, I cannot view this as an altruistic moment where Trump is righting a wrong out of some heart-felt moral conviction
Why? Because at the same time Trump is making a big deal out of signing this pardon, his administration is doing the following:
1) Shutting down DOJ investigations of police departments suspected of abusing the constituional rights of minorities
2)Dismantling fair housing policies and ceasing investigations in possible housing discrimination violations
3)Ressurrecting war-on-drug draconian incarceration policies that disproportionately imprison minority youths for minor offences
4)Promoting laws that facilitate the banks' red-lining of minority borrowers
5) Dismantling the DOJ civil rights divisions responsible for preventing disenfranchisement of minority voters
6)Nominating candidates for lifetime judicial appointments who cannot say whether they support the landmark Brown versus Board of Education of Topeka decision
No Sir...the Trump wrongdoings are not negated by this pardon
And oh.....by the way...Trump has yet to apologize for taking out 1989 ads calling for the death penalty of the wrongly convicted central park five (see NYT Sarah Burns 10/17/16 column); all of whom were minority men who are still traumatized by their experiences
4
I am very surprised the Obama did not take this one and spike that football.
3
Obama pardoned people while they were alive and in prison serving long sentences for non violent drug offenses.
1
Nope, not just non violent drug offenses. https://www.justice.gov/pardon/obama-pardons
I'll be the wet blanket.
1. It's true that even now, we lay heavier penalties on black people than on white people for doing basically the same things. It was certainly true back then. I'm sure there were lots of white men transporting prostitutes across state lines and getting away with it. In that sense, I'm glad Johnson was pardoned.
2. BUT
"Prostitute" in a "steady relationship." So this was a john, frequenting prostitutes--and don't tell me he couldn't get a woman, that's nonsense--and we are supposed to feel sorry for him.
NOPE
He got his pardon. Be happy. But he was still a dirtbag.
And how typical, here we have *another* john pardoning him. They look out for one another.
3
Presidential power meets reality TV. The Constitution used as a PR stunt.
Now that the Nobel Peace Prize is on the back burner perhaps the NAACP would like to give it’s great friend the Prez a medal.
1
The man is dead! He's dead. It's a little late to try to make this racial injustice right. I can't understand how a pardon today issued by a racist President who himself is guilty of unpardonable sins is any comfort to the family or supporters of this athlete.
1
Feb. 20, 1999:
“Fifty-nine years after his death, the first black West Point graduate received a Presidential pardon today for a crime that most who studied the case say he did not commit.
President Clinton granted the pardon to Henry O. Flipper, who graduated from West Point in 1877 despite being ostracized by his white classmates. He was court-martialed in 1881 on thievery charges that appear to have been trumped up, then was drummed out of the service the following year.”
Perhaps this will help you to understand: It was the right thing to do....
2
This just in, trump has decided that Hester Prynne will no longer have to wear a scarlet A.
4
Good, this was long overdue
3
The timing for this is appalling. An hour after canceling a summit on denuclearization? He is truly the TV president. Stand proud, America. Cause if you don't you might be deported.
2
Trump doesn't care about this. He's just warming up his pardoning pen.
2
Was Trump saving this for when he needs to distract us, as from his North Korea failure?
1
Jack should be very happy (were he around). How about Trump apologizing to Joe Louis for hounding him about taxes, giving Muhammad Ali back the four years of his career lost to draft dodging conviction, and telling NFL players he was wrong, they should listen to the National Anthem on their knees, backs, heads, however they like as long as they play football fairly.
1
I'll be curious to see when this President starts to focus his efforts on the injustices of 'living' African-Americans trapped in the criminal justice system.
3
A mixed bag. He should never have been prosecuted for his relationships with white women, but then again, one of his wives committed suicide, partly as a result of domestic violence as far as I know.
2
Perhaps the right thing for perhaps a suspect reason. IDK.What do you all think?
A bright shiny object to district the American people from the North Korea debacle.
3
If Trump hadn't already established himself as a racist, this would mean more.
As it stands, this seems like a hollow gesture done for chest pounding.
6
Trump can now truthfully assume the title of "The Great White Hope."
1
See? Trump's not a racist. He helps out blacks who have been dead for over 71 years.
BTW, I have a copy of an advertisement of Johnson promoting "the White Steamer Touring Car". Johnson is quoted in the ad, which is entitled "The Incomparable White", as having said, "I'd rather run with a White Steamer than any other car because it pace me so smoothly, with no jerky jumps, and I'm not breathing gasoline fumes when running."
2
Why does the press allow Trump to blow out events like a pardon at just the right time to take attention away from real events like the North Korean fiasco. Keep your eye on the ball, folks!
1
Ironically, a day after his enthusiasm for demonizing black athletes in the NFL yields culture wars dividends with the base. A rare example of social justice from the Trump administration. Albeit over 100 years late, and unfamiliar to most Americans except for Ken Burns fans and boxing enthusiasts.
43
There are those of us who first learned about Jack Johnson from Howard Sackler and James Earl Jones.
Decades after no president could cite unpopularity as a reason for not pardoning Johnson--the legal case against him was a joke for decades longer than the fear of electoral backlash--President Trump jumped into the breech.
We are living in interesting times, indeed.
2
Trump has not demonized black athletes.
He has called out those that choose, while they are being paid by their employers, to show disrespect to the American flag.
Yes, the draft dodger that ridiculed McCain for being a POW is concerned by those who disrespect the flag. Confirmation bias at it's best with Trump supporters.
I'm glad for Johnson's family.
But this doesn't erase the fact that Trump was the lead pitchfork and torch bearer against the Central Park 5, the modern equivalent of Scottsboro, Groveland, Emmitt Till, and countless other cases of protecting white women's purity with false accusations.
2
I suggest he pardon Benedict Arnold. He can establish a precedent that applies more directly to himself.
3
Leave it to Trump to do something that has no real significance then demand credit for all his "hard work and effort" on behalf of the black community - that's coming as sure as the shine rises in the east - while he exercises maximum leverage on the NFL owners to crack down on an effort primarily by black players to draw attention to injustices to us all.
If I were black I'd feel even more insulted by this (than I probably would already).
3
Don's got a long, long history of using people to get what he's after. I have to say though, this is one of the weirdest yet.
With a swell WBC belt front and center to boot.
Using a dead African American from over a century ago to try to pick up some votes. Great for Jack Johnson's family and legacy. Seriously.
I'm real curious what the discussions will be amongst his ethnic-cleansing buddies from Charlotte and his down-homers from the deep South and elsewhere.
All while the rest of the world melts down thanks to him and his goofy circus.
Hope the folks he thinks he's outsmarting to grab their votes come out in droves in November and show him what they think of him and his carney administration.
Hey. "What have they got to lose?"
The Obama Administration passed on the pardon in part because of allegations against Johnson about domestic violence against women. Thank you President Obama- your thoughtful and caring wisdom is greatly missed. Trump probably pardoned him precisely because of the allegations! So sad to have such an awful human being as our president.
5
None of us is perfect. Domestic violence is bad. But not pardoning a black man who was sent to prison because of the color of his skin, regardless of whatever shortcomings he might have had, is neither thoughtful nor caring nor wise. It is disgraceful, and the worst kind of racial politics, every bit as bad, if not worse, than whatever racial politics that Trump is being accused of with today's pardon.
2
While this move is to be applauded, it should not absolve Trump of his ongoing and continuous doh whistle racism. His abject failure to condemn ongoing white supremacist activity, nativist and xenophobic rhetoric and refusal to recognize the actual issues underlying the NFL protests are far more instructive as to his true feelings with respect to the issues PoC face than a symbolic pardon for a man who cannot enjoy its benefits.
1
Hey, let's be fair. He also supports Mothers Day, the New York Yankees, and equal rights for most Blacks.
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This pardon isn’t for Jack Johnson, it’s for the president himself. Like a punch drunk pugilist, the president is telegraphing his punches. Like Johnson in his day, the president is “brash, ostentatious and unapologetic about his wealth and success. He taunted his opponents" in the political arena and even after he defeated them at the polls. The parallels between the two men are striking and today, after the two terms served by Barack Obama, the president is now the great white hope of Republican America.
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Now Trump and his supporters can point to this action when asked why he's supporting the NFL ban on kneeling during the anthem... how convenient!
1
Jack Johnson should be pardoned, make no mistake about it. But, it really doesn't change anything in the present state of affairs. Trump should pardon Leonard Peltier to get back at the FBI; now, that would truly be something.
2
Once again, Trump is using someone as a tool in order to chirp about Obama.
Trump likes to rile people up. If Obama had given Johnson a posthumous pardon, Trump would have been one of the first to shout that he was kowtowing to African-Americans, and he'd still be at it. Living people would suffer because justice was done for a long-dead champ.
What a difference there is between these two presidents. Trump cares only about Trump. Obama cares about us.
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Obama cares about Obama. If Obama cared about truth and justice more than he cared about his political fortunes, he would have pardoned Johnson. It really is that simple, and those who buy Obama's domestic-violence excuse can join the former president on his upcoming apology tour.
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"The president called Johnson “a truly great fighter, had a tough life,” but served 10 months in federal prison “for what many view as a racially-motivated injustice.” Mr. Trump said the conviction took place during a “period of tremendous racial tension in the United States.”"
My irony meter just broke.
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Your "irony meter" comment made me laugh. What's not so funny is that Trump might not get it.
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Also kudos to Sylvester Stallone for pressing the matter with the prez.
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Well, that did it, I'm convinced that Trump is a good dude. Upstanding guy. Good for race relations all around.
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Why can’t he pardon some of the thousands of prisoners who are alive today? They are waiting.
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I can’t complain about Jack Johnson being pardoned.
However, it would be nice for a President to pardon many others convicted of crimes based upon race.
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"This just in: Trump reverses his decision on Johnson's pardon. Wait...this just in: Trump reverses his reversal. Wait...this just in: Trump is now meeting with Kim Jung-un to discuss the reversal of his reversal on the Johnson pardon. Wait... this just in: Trump canceled his meeting with Kim Jung-un citing that North Korea should not have a say in Johnson's pardon. Wait...this just in...."
I wonder if Trump thinks Johnson will pardon *him*, not realizing of course the inconvenient fact that JJ has shuffled off the mortal coil.
The irony of the man who still claims the Central Park Five are guilty pardoning the great Jack Johnson is mind blowing. I can only imagine what Mr. Johnson would have said. With that in mind I'm going to quote what Brock Peters (voicing Jack Johnson on Miles Davis' Jack Johnson album) said "I'm Jack Johnson, heavyweight champion of the world. I'm black. They never let me forget it. I'm black all right. I'll never let them forget it." Johnson was the original Black Lives Matter spokesman.
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Make no mistake; this was purely a photo op, brought to by the “least racist person.”
Jack Johnson was guilty of stomping all over the color line—hence his conviction. His family may be grateful but I don’t see anything else here except blaxploitation.
Compared to his pardon of racist Joe Arpaio, this pardon of Mr. Jackson is both reasonable and justified. But I can’t help thinking that the hidden motivation here was not to right a wrong—which is not Donald Trump’s way—but to thumb his nose at President Obama’s failure—or disinclination to do so.
With Trump, it’s all about him.
What are the chances that up until a month or two ago, when he decided to flex his pardoning power once again, he had never heard of Jack Johnson? That's a rhetorical question!
This sounds like it would be good. Do it.
Btw...
"The Obama administration passed on pardoning Johnson, citing in part allegations of domestic violence against women..."
Is it legally justifiable to leave him convicted of something that never should have been a conviction, for reasons unrelated to that conviction, and were in any case only alleged?
I sure hope the "in part" in that paragraph refers to something more substantive than just "allegations."
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This is a wonderful thing to do for Mr Johnson's family (Mr Johnson himself passed away in 1946). But it doesn't cancel or offset any of the other racist things the president is doing or condoning.
At this rate Trump will do four good things during his Presidency.
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There’s a president sharpening his pardon pencil. Maybe no one will notice now if he uses it for Don Jr.
Good on Trump. I wonder why it took so long? Other Presidents had the opportunity.
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Finally, ONE thing on which I agree with Trump! (And now for our regularly scheduled programming . . .)
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Did Trump do this before or after he cancelled the meeting with North Korea? Just checking his priorities.
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How sweet. Trump safely pardons a man who has been dead for over 70 years, while, today, he presents more and more roadblocks to people of color as they try to navigate a society that is still unequal and, in so many ways, oppressive.
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“The Obama administration passed on pardoning Johnson, citing in part allegations of domestic violence against women.” I’m not sure how this Mann Act violation, i.e., transporting “a white woman across state lines for immoral purposes” who was also “in a steady relationship with the heavyweight champion” could be considered domestic violence against women. Belle Schreiber was a willing participant in the relationship.
Shocking that Trump’s actions in this case were as honorable as Obama’s were disgraceful.
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Seems like it was more than a symbolic of racism. It was an explicitly racist law.
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Can this be the first positive thing Trump has accomplished since becoming President?
Time to revisit the excellent Ken Burns film on Jack Johnson.
Even a stopped clock is right twice a day.
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Well done, President Trump. One in the plus column for you. You do have a lot of catching up to do though.
This is a good pardon. It doesn't excuse Trump's bigotry.
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While I applaud the pardon of a not very nice guy who was wrongly convicted, I find it amusing that this particular President signed it. Considering both of their attitudes toward women, it is basically the pot calling the kettle white.
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For those not familiar with Johnson, he was a unique kind of sports figure. His persona has become a template for the baller lifestyle. Miscengenation laws were passed across the country in direct response to the outrage over his consorting with white women. It's a shame that his pardon has been so long in coming (and that Trump, given his stance on current black athletes, would be the one to grant it)
It is just like Trump that the only time he shows leniency to a minority it is a man that has been dead for over 70 years.
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It's a shame that the President has created such a chaotic maelstrom of embarrassing mediocrity that my first reaction to this news was a cynical assumption that he needed an easy win.
1
Well, that offsets the cancellation of the nuclear weapons summit with North Korea.
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One good deed. Yet funnilly enough, I suspect that if Obama had made the pardon, Trump would have been the first to attack him. but I'm happy Trump did it, even if it's only to show Obama up.
Just saying.
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Good! Trump has officially done something I can't disagree with. More than happy to admit it.
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There is no question that Jack Johnson was railroaded. He was black and offended white boxing fans because they couldn't find anyone who could beat him in the ring.
But let's be honest here: Trump is pardoning Johnson not because he knows anything at all about who Jack Johnson was, nor because he has any strong commitment to justice, but because he is after black voters.
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Congratulations, Mr. President--this was long overdue. I hope to be able to say that again. Thank you for showing you are capable of an act of healing--may we see more of this DOnald Trump!
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Jack Johnson - great fighter, not a good person - which is why Obama didn't pardon him. The pardon was for an injustice, not for other transgression (which, I believe mitigate against a pardon for Jack Johnson).
There are many other injustices done to good people for which pardons have not been issued; but those men didn't have advocates in high places.
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BRAVO!
Even a so-called president, like a broken clock, will from time to time get something right.
(Odds from anyone he'll follow it up with something diminishing...)
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One should not impute too much in terms of deep thought and meaning to Trump's pardon of Jack Johnson. Most likely this action - which had been rolling around in the President's small mind since Sly Stallone called to educate him on the Johnson injustice and suggest the pardon - has been seized upon to distract from the failed Korean summit debacle. Perhaps Sly can help him there as well. But as to how this latest distraction might affect Trump's standing with the "Me-too" movement in light of Johnson's history of physical abuse of women? Well, that's when Trump may pivot back to the historic in-roads he claims he made in attracting black votes in his landslide election.
7
Well that was easy. Now let's see him do something a little more challenging.
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It's a pity Frederick Douglass couldn't attend. Well, doing an amazing job does make for a busy schedule. It's also a pity Trump can't find as much compassion for living NFL players protesting the ongoing injustices being visited upon black Americans as he found for Johnson. Or maybe he's just developed a passion for signing pardons, and plans much more of the same in the near future.
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It should be kept in mind that the US president in 1913 (from 4 March) was one Thomas Woodrow Wilson, one of the most active advocates of rolling back the gains that black people in the United States had made since that country's Civil War and during the Reconstruction period. His victims were manifold, even if the provisions of the Mann Act, which dated from 1910, were inapplicable to most. Isn't it about time, by the way, that this law was repealed ?...
Henri
4
How anyone can consider this in a negative light in any way is beyond me. This is justice that was a long time coming.
How consumed with hatred are those who would criticize the President for pardoning Jack Johnson? I am not saying the President should be praised for this, but certainly not criticized.
This was the right thing to do. What I don't understand was why it took so long (over 100 years) to actually get done.
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Rob,
Couldn't have said it better myself. Commenters here who are blasting Trump should look in the mirror before they level charges of intolerance and hatred against the president. When someone does a good thing, acknowledge it. Why is that so difficult for some people?
3
Read the article again and read why Obama passed on the pardon - then you may understand the criticism?
4
Really
You don't see the irony of a president whose motto is "divide and conquer"giving a pardon for someone long past? How bout acknowledging that NFL players have a point instead of smearing them with the fake charge that they are disrespecting the military?
3
It is amazing that President Trump relied upon the input from Sylvester Stallone before deciding to pardon Jack Johnson. With the plethora of documentation surrounding the circumstances of Mr. Johnson and the obvious injustices which it carried, how it is that the President could not determine on his own that this pardon was long, long over due.
Even though it is the President's signature on the pardon, a great deal of thanks, admiration and appreciation is due Mr. Stallone for his gallant efforts to right a heinous wrong which occurred after more than a century ago.
8
I don't much care whose counsel Trump relied on here. What's disappointing is that his predecessors didn't do it. And Obama's excuse, that Johnson had a reputation for violence against women, was extraordinarily weak sauce.
Let's be candid. Obama didn't do the right thing and pardon Johnson because the political calculus told him not to, and that's hardly the sign of a principled president. Granted, the political calculus in favor of a pardon is right for Trump, but he wouldn't have had the opportunity if his predecessors had taken it first.
8
@August West
Excellent comment! I agree wholeheartedly.
Thanks, Marge. Always nice, I think, when people can find common ground.
Stopped clocks are right once or twice a day.
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If Trump thinks black people are going to fall for this and start supporting him, he's nuts. Let's see him pardon a few black guys who have been locked up for smoking a joint and nothing else.
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Those black guys arrested for smokng a joint are needed to fill the private prisons.
3
Send some meth-heads from Kentucky and opiod users in the East Coast to fill the private prisons. Real Black folks got better things to do, now that the CIA is no longer supplying cocaine to Compton, CA.
I doubt this was for the black vote... more PR for everyone else I think
We can now count on one hand, or, more accurately, one finger, all the good acts this President has performed during his reign.
35
All the thousands of minorities hired in all the hundred or so businesses that the president has created over the years are just nodding their
heads when they hear this.
The left just has to hate.
4
Over what years?
He's been in office only 16 months.
We can go back and forth on what the president's motivation for doing this might be, but it was still the right thing to do.
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The use of Presidential pardons as political theater and distraction before the end of a term, is another way that this man has debased his office. I am all for justice and I am certain that it has been served in the eyes of many. I do not know enough about it to say. What I do believe, is that it is a shame that this has been tossed into the mix today, for apparent reasons. I am saddened by the loss of dignity that would have been preserved had this been done at the end of a term. Had he done so, there would be no question as to it being a genuine gesture of forgiveness and redemption. We are robbed of the ability to trust his motives due to the history and actions, that this President has shown. His willingness to use props and pandering to distract and manipulate are many. I honestly feel saddened by Jack Johnson, his family and his supporters for the loss of dignity that an unquestionably genuine pardon, would have provided.
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Ditto, as you have stated had he waited until the end of his term there would be no question as to it being a genuine gesture of forgiveness and redemption. This kind of pardon in this climate is manipulation and a distraction. The President just stated that NFL players who take a knee during the anthem should leave America. What about justice for the current everyday Americans?
40
That was beautifully written.
6
"Ditto." What an appropriate term.
As for waiting until the end of his term, Obama could have done it on his way out the door but no.
It is good that President Trump is rectifying past injustices to African Americans and it is during his presidency that abuses of women in different spheres of life for past several decades has come to light and the future looks brighter for all previously disadvantaged and marginalized Americans. One may not agree with everything that has been done during the past 16 months but this pardon was long over due and fully justified.
21
Agreed, but maybe there are some living people who deserve a pardon.
1
"It is good that President Trump is rectifying past injustices to African Americans. . ."
Seriously? A man who lied about Pres. Obama's heritage, and called for executing black youth who were wrongly accused of brutalizing a white woman (Central Park 5).
trump's cynicism and need to deflect has deprived Jack Johnson. . .his pardon will always carry an *
1
Vote getting? Trump is shameless!
As American's roads, bridges, airports, infrastructure and democracy crumbles...as its healthcare becomes more unaffordable......as its votes get suppressed and uncounted.....as its environmental and female civil rights get bulldozed....as its Oval Office gets defiled in excrement...and as its tax code gets further corrupted by rapacious Robber Barons....it's great to know that 'Frederick Douglass and Jack Johnson are examples of people who've done amazing jobs and are being recognized more and more, I notice.'
Civil Rights Champion and Progressive Superstar: Donald Trump
There's an idiotic American sucker born every minute.
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I guess I'm an idiotic American sucker, then.
I think that it is good that the president has pardoned someone who was convicted due to racism. Who on earth could argue that this isn't a good thing? Obama wouldn't do it, instead finding a way out based on allegations of violence against women. Violence against women is bad, of course, but so is sending someone to prison and ruining his life because of his skin color.
I'm no Trump fan, but sheesh, I'm getting tired of ad nauseum attacks against Trump no matter what he does, good or ill. It is, I think, disgraceful, and says more about folks who throw verbal rocks and engage in petty name calling than it does about the president. We know who and what Trump is. Sometimes, though, I wonder about the rest of us.
11
August West....I also think it's great that Jack Johnson was pardoned, too...and that a broken clock it right twice a day.
What we need to wonder about is the 63 million fools who fell for this clown in November 2016 and continue to fall for it.
Let's never be fooled again.
Yes, he did something right - hooray !
Objectively, it's actually one of his major 'Presidential' accomplishments.
Sad.
2
"Sixty-three million fools."
Please. Can we please stop calling people names? I am so tired of name calling, so tired of gutter politics and jingoism and senseless divisiveness.
I wouldn't vote for Trump, or any Republican, with a gun to my head, but I have friends who vote Republican, including at least one who voted for Trump, and I don't consider them to be fools.
Calling 63 million people fools only makes 63 million people not want to listen. We need to start listening to each other, not attacking so much.
Trump's racial hypocrisy knows no bounds.
How about apologizing for all of the racial statements and innuendos that he has proffered, from even prior to his campaign forward, from the Central Park men wrongfully convicted, to his Obama birther remarks?
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Although it is true that Jack Johnson was the victim of racial injustice and did not deserve the treatment he received in his lifetime, it is my understanding that part of the pardon process is an acceptance of guilt. I see no evidence that Jack Johnson or his descendants are interested in pleading guilty.
17
The Supreme Court case of Burdick is often misunderstood to mean that a pardon is an admission of guilt. The Supreme Court merely stated that a pardon carries with it an imputation of guilt- there is no legal condition that you admit guilt in order to accept or receive a pardon.
17
Richard...what was Jack Johnson guilty of ?
Liking white women ?
Lock him up !!
27
I’m sorry if you misunderstood my point. Johnson was convicted under the Mann Act under racially motivated charges. Therefore, no matter how unjust, there is a formal conviction on his record. I don’t think his descendants should accept a pardon because that is an admission of guilt which is a travesty of justice. The more appropriate step would be to have the conviction expunged.
1
I suggest you celebrate with the amazing Miles Davis fusion album, A Tribute to Jack Johnson.
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Especially the Complete Box Set. Miles championed the cause for Jack Johnson long before Rocky and Trump.
I will never forget the Brock Peters narrative:
"I'm Jack Johnson, heavyweight champion of the world.
I'm black.
They never let me forget it.
I'm black all right.
I'll never let them forget it."
Jack Johnson was railroaded and this would indeed be justice. However, Trump seems to spend most of his time not doing any real 'work,' but rather focused on PR stunts, showboating or appealing to his 'base.' Has Trump done an honest day's work since becoming President? Doesn't look like it...
346
Let's see..."Has Trump done an honest day's work since becoming President?"
Seriously? You seriously asked that question?
Well, here's a list as of the end of his first year in office.
100 percent vote by UN Security Council to sanction North Korea.
41 percent decline in illegal southern border crossings
97,482 illegal immigrant arrests, 70 percent convicted of additional crimes, 52,169 expelled
Adopted a resolute policy on Afghanistan
Advocated for practical tertiary education
Advocated for skills-based immigration policies
American companies now expanding rather than shipping jobs overseas
Announced sanctions targeting Iran’s Revolutionary Guards
Appointed a Transportation Secretary who is modernizing air traffic control
Appointed an Education Secretary who is correcting abuses of Title IX
Appointed an EPA administrator who has rescinded over 30 regulations
Appointed an FDA director who is facilitating generic drug competition
Appointed an Interior Secretary to improve forest management and expand users of public lands
Approved the Keystone pipeline
Called for international support of Iranian protesters
Canceled school lunch program that failed to force children to eat unpopular foods
Constructed test models of the border fence
Convinced Japan and South Korea to increase defense spending
Convinced NATO members to honor minimum financial commitments
6
Has he EVER done an honest day's work?
20
You have to be kidding. This president has more energy than a teenager. Almost every time we see him it is for official business, whether issuing a pardon or meeting, as he did yesterday, with a head of state on an important issue. Even during his golf outings we constantly hear he is working.
6
Symbolic gestures can be important, if the right context has been presented and understood, even if it means pardoning dead people. So I have no objection to this.
I just hope the spirit of symbolic justice can also be applied and felt by the living. Waiting until after someone has long since passed-away to look back upon the injustices of history, and then make amends posthumously, seems a model that can be vastly improved upon.
131
Oh, he’ll have a whole lot of pardoning to do just before the January Senate trial gets rolling, or maybe after the jury’s working on its verdict - all his friends who took plea deals - or WOULDN’T so they could take the 5th.
4
I am glad that Trump listened to the advice of his trusted friend, Frederick Douglass, on this matter.
493
Please, no more calls.
We have a winner!
9
America has 25% of the world's prisoners with 5 % of humanity.
And 40% of the 2.3 million Americans in prison are black like Jack Johnson. Even though only 13% of Americans are black.
Because blacks are arrested, tried, convicted and imprisoned for doing the same thing while black that whites do with no criminal justice consequences.
5
“There were 511 officers killed in felonious incidents and 540 offenders from 2004 to 2013, according to FBI reports. Among the total offenders, 52 percent were white, and 43 percent were black.” - From “Are black or white offenders more likely to kill police?” Washington Post January 9, 2015
This is terrific news for those who have followed Johnson's career and life, of which I am one. The injustice of sending him to prison for a year was beyond apocryphal.
68
But, coming from Trump is insult to injury.
1
I am not sure what you mean here. apocryphal: (of a story or statement) of doubtful authenticity, although widely circulated as being true. As far as I can tell, Mr. Johnson was sentenced to a year and a day. According to Wikipedia: "Johnson skipped bail and left the country, joining Lucille in Montreal on June 25, before fleeing to France. To flee to Canada, Johnson posed as a member of a black baseball team. For the next seven years, they lived in exile in Europe, South America and Mexico. Johnson returned to the U.S. on July 20, 1920. He surrendered to federal agents at the Mexican border and was sent to the United States Penitentiary, Leavenworth to serve his sentence in September 1920.[65] He was released on July 9, 1921.[6]"
1
I agree. Everyone should read Jack Johnson's autobiography.
1