The Great White Dope

By Michael – Louis Ingram, Editor

BASN

(first presented March 12, 2008)

SAN DIEGO, CA: — Jack Johnson, Negro, former heavyweight champion pugilist, crossed the boundary line from Mexico near this city today and was arrested by a deputy United States Marshal. He is under sentence in Chicago for violation of the Mann Act.

— New York Times, July 21, 1920.

PHILADELPHIA  (BASN/BASN NEWSROOM)— While heavyweight champion of the world, Jack Johnson flaunted his presence to society like a close quarters body shot to the ribs.

His epicurean lifestyle and determination to live on his terms outside the ring created a groundswell effort to not only take his title, but his manhood as well.

Johnson’s antithetical, desirous abusing of White opponents and lusting for White women put him at loggerheads with current society, prompting the passage of a nebulous piece of legislation called the Mann Act.

The act, designed to prevent women from being transported across state lines for “immoral purposes,” also spawned a sinister sobriquet — The White Slavery Act.

Johnson transported one Lucille Cameron to Chicago, triggering the invocation of the act which called for his arrest.

No one bothered to ask Ms. Cameron if she had been so violated; and if they did, it was after she became Mrs. Jack Johnson. So the “immoral purpose” — was matrimony. Either way, the system exacted its payback on Johnson, prompting his fleeing to Mexico before finally crossing back to the States to stand trial – for fucking his wife.

“I hate to tell you all what followed; the Lawd was most upset;

Saw them making love and hollered, ‘What have you two et?’

And when they made a full confession, the Lawd said, ‘Hmm, I see;’

I guess I’ll have to teach you a lesson about not minding me.”

— “Forbidden Fruit” lyrics by Oscar Brown Jr., sung by Nina Simone.

That Eliot Spitzer, the ex-governor of arguably the most important state in the Union would get trick-bagged by an escort isn’t an issue — because he wasn’t. Governor Spitzer, married with children and the presence of morality incarnate, wasn’t just a member of the ‘Head Club For Men’ – he was a client.

For years. While going after the bad guys as Attorney General by day, he apparently went after the bad girls at night. Or was it they after him?

Actually, it was the Emperor’s Club, but what do I know. The club offered ladies of the evening (noon, morning and night included) to dispense their ultimate favor for what now seems to be the ultimate price.

Spitzer became front and center as the Internal Revenue Service was following the Emperor’s New Cash trail, and the subsequent digging produced Spitzer’s voice on tape (listed in the Club file as ‘Client No. 9’) asking for an order to go…to Washington, D.C..

Now since the escort is making the trick — er, trip — at the behest of the agency and not against her will, the Mann Act may not apply in this case. As of this writing, no criminal charges have been filed against Spitzer, but he still will end up in jail (aka, the Dawg House)…

For fucking his wife.

According to the textbook, “American Cultural History: The Twentieth Century 1910 – 1919,” the average annual salary throughout the decade was $750 a year, over 2.1 million unemployed nationwide, and there were 76 recorded lynchings.

Johnson, who ruled over all in the heavyweight ranks from 1908 – 1915, earned over $220,000 for the fabled “Fight of the Century” over Jim Jeffries on July 4, 1910. Jeffries, who was urged out of retirement to fight Johnson to “save the White race and prove its supremacy” lost the fight, which triggered race riots throughout the country.

Johnson would continue to dominate and aggravate opponent after opponent and garner as much resentment as acclaim. In spite of the fact Johnson would eventually lose the title, he showed no undulation in his approach to life, which eventually caught up with him when he sent for a paramour to meet up with him in Chicago.

What parallels these public figures are the pretzel logic of a puritanically pious power monger and a focused force of nature fervently feeding his desire to elevate his perceived status beyond three fifths of a human being.

Well, shit — I coulda also said they just wanted to get their freak on.

always outnumbered…never outgunned.

michaelingram@blackathlete.com/basneditor@basnnewsroom.com