Jack Johnson's story named ?Unforgettable Blackness? and produced by Ken Burns which will air on PBS January 17^th and 18^th is without a doubt one of the best documentaries that you will ever see. No fan of boxing, American History, and of change for the better, should miss this show. As a fan of boxing not only was this piece a cold and harsh history lesson of the sport but also of our country's past history. Looking back on it, it's hard to fathom how screwed up and out of whack this country and its belief system were. Many a wiser man will point out that maybe still in many areas it remains as messed up but the racism and horrible race crimes aren't as openly accepted as they were at the beginning of the 20th century.

It struck me with sadness as I watched this documentary that whites were living in fear of black people after the Emancipation Proclamation freed them. Whites handled this fear was by lynching close to 750 blacks in the first ten years of the 20th century and committing countless other untold acts of cruelty against them. Don't let me forget that the very day the KKK was ruled illegal, outlawed, ?disbanded? or whatever happened in this country, the NRA was founded, but that is a discussion for another day.

In the early stages of boxing in America there was an understanding that the Heavyweight championship belt was for white men and white men alone. Other than the President, and the Pope, being Heavyweight champion of the world was the most prestigious title a man could have at the time. It was clear that white supremacists wanted to keep it that way so a lot of the ?great? early champions including John L. Sullivan, Jim Corbet, Jim Jeffries and even Jack Dempsey, who fought after Jack Johnson, wanted nothing to do with giving a black man a shot at the title, out of pure ignorance and being afraid of ?letting down the white race.? Watching this documentary, I can understand why a lot of older blacks, who really had to deal with lowest of low coming up, don't have a lot of respect for younger generations because we take for granted a lot freedoms t they had to work so hard for. This issue in itself I could go on and on with, from lack of emphasis on education, the need to reinvest money in the community, to moral and ethical issues, times have truly changed and that is for another discussion and writer.

Jack Johnson fought for 16 years before he was given his first and only shot at the heavyweight title. In those 16 years he fought every fighter that he could find and beat them all, white and black. Johnson wasn't a one punch KO artist because he didn't have to be, but make no mistake about it, when he needed to take you out (Stanley Ketchel) with one shot, he could.

Instead of the power approach he seemed to wear down his opponents with great defense, a solid jab and when needed, a right hand or a vicious uppercut. Had he been given a fair shake, there's no doubt in my mind he'd have put the record for title defense up around 60-70 fights and that would have dwarfed Joe Louis' current record of 24.

Jack Johnson beat Tommy Burns for the heavyweight title and white America couldn't deal with it, stopping the film before the final punch landed and disbanding the film for years to come. It was too much for white America to deal with and accept, and they didn't see him as the champ until he fought an old Jim Jefferies who had ducked Johnson 6 years before, came out of retirement and got his ass handed to him. After the fight Jefferies went on record saying, "He was better than I ever was." Now truly white America couldn't deal with this and riots ensued and unfortunately blacks were -as usual- on the receiving end. Also, unfortunately, at the time people in power could have cared less how good of a fighter Johnson was and were more concerned with the fact that he had a taste for white women, and this and this alone, white society couldn't accept. Influential whites, like senators, governors, church figures and others felt they had to attack him on that issue because they couldn't find any one to do it in the ring.

In connection with one of his marriages, Johnson was convicted in 1912 of violating the Mann Act in transporting his wife across state lines before their marriage. He was sentenced to a year in prison and was released on bond, pending appeal. Disguised as a member of a black baseball team, he fled to Canada, made his way to Europe, and was a fugitive for seven years. This is the truly sad part of the documentary for me, the fact that basically because he favored the company of white women he had to serve time in jail, lost countless amounts of money which he could have made fighting and had to leave his own country.

I completely understand that it was a different age when Jack Johnson was around but the thing that this documentary really captures is how truly racist America was at the time. When you watch the program you will notice the same thing that really surprised me, which was the open racism exhibited in a lot of the major newspapers ranging from the New York Times to the Los Angles Times. I can't believe that it took the Black Panther Party as long as it did to say this is where the line will be drawn. Nowadays if an announcer comes close to offending any person, of any ethnicity, they are made to apologize and usually rightfully so. However, at the time these major papers could have cared less who they offended.

Another thing that I'm learning is how awful of a president Woodrow Wilson was. He misled a nation to get elected (sound familiar?) and once in office he re-established the Jim Crow laws that the country had worked hard to overcome. Another black eye for this country was the film ?Birth of a Nation? which made KKK member seem like good people looking out for the best interests of America. If such a piece were to came out now, it would be burned and tossed out and the person who wrote it would never work again and may live in fear of his or her life. I know we have a long way to go in this country when it comes to race relations, but watching this documentary I can tell you we've have definitely come a long way.

Trust me when I tell you this story is worth a watch; it's 4 hours long but is so interesting that you won't notice how long it is, and it will probably be shown over 2 days. Ken Burns left no stone unturned in telling this story, covering from Jack Johnson having a patent on a wrench, to his race car hobby, and even his disagreements with Booker T. Washington and other civil rights activists. If you don't get PBS wait for the DVD or VHS tape to be released and get it. Trust me, it's worth every cent. In closing I thank a higher power that we don't have the race problems we used to have and I know everyone can agree with me that we are by no means where we want and need to be, but the times certainly have changed.

1-14-2004

Editor's Note:

Jack Johnson was born March 31, 1878 in Galveston, Texas, he died June 10, 1946 in Raleigh, N.C.

Johnson fought professionally from 1897 to 1928 and engaged in exhibition matches as late as 1945. The first black to hold the heavyweight championship of the world, he won the title by knocking out champion Tommy Burns in Sydney, Dec. 26, 1908, and lost it on a knockout by Jess Willard in 26 rounds in Havana, April 5, 1915.

He defended the championship three times in Paris before agreeing to fight Willard in Cuba. Some observers thought that Johnson, mistakenly believing that the charge against him would be dropped if he yielded the championship to a white man, deliberately lost to Willard. From 1897 to 1928, Johnson had 114 bouts, winning 80, 45 by knockouts.

In 1920 Johnson surrendered to U.S. marshals and served his sentence, fighting in several bouts within the federal prison at Leavenworth, Kan. After his release he fought occasionally and appeared in vaudeville and carnival acts, appearing finally with a trained flea act. He wrote two books of memoirs, Mes Combats (in French, 1914) and Jack Johnson in the Ring and Out (1927; reprinted 1975). He died in an automobile accident.