WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — President Donald Trump says he’s considering a posthumous pardon for boxing’s first black heavyweight champion more than 100 years after the late Jack Johnson was convicted by all-white jury of accompanying a white woman across state lines. His great-great niece has pressed Trump for a posthumous pardon, and Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., have been pushing Johnson’s case for years. He then mowed down a series of “great white hopes,” culminating in 1910 with the undefeated former champion, James J. Jeffries. Haywood has pressed to have Johnson pardoned since President George W. Bush was in office, a decade ago. The general DOJ policy is to not accept applications for posthumous pardons for federal convictions, according to the department’s website.

Source: National Post April 21, 2018 20:13 UTC