Saturday, May 26, 2018
Jack Johnson gets a pardon
On Thursday, President Trump granted a pardon to boxing champion Jack Johnson, who was convicted of a trumped-up and racial crime in 1913.
It was a good thing to do. Johnson was the victim of explicit racism, and this correction of the historical record was overdue.
It's not enough, though. Yesterday I talked to NPR about it-- and the fact that clemency should not just be for celebrities or those connected to them. It makes me sad that mercy would be so constrained.
