i thought they were against big, bad government intrusion. i thought they wanted people to solve their own spats. wanted the local fellas to step in when there's a problem. the fbi and peace and war has to figure out who left their cell phone on record and mitch mcconnell's jungle book meeting to match his opponents. the story is not the fbi, the fire department, or the rescue squad. it's desperate, politically unbalanced senator big shot who figured the best way to spin this story was to call in a false alarm. and that's "hardball" for now. "politicsnation" with al sharpton starts right now. thanks chris, and thanks to you for tuning in. tonight's lead, making progress on guns. today, a lead on background checks and a key vote set for tomorrow. the prospects of gun reform have never been brighter. but it was the first lady today going back to her home town of chicago who showed what the

debate is all about. the first lady talked about hadiya pendleton, the girl who was shot days after attending the funeral. asked if we are doing enough to protect our kids. >> it was the question weighing on my heart when i met with hadiya pendleton's classmates on the day of her funeral. dozens of them later spoke at the service, each referring to her as my best friend. and let me tell you, whew, it is hard to know what to say to a room full of teenagers about to bury their best friend. but i started by telling them that hadiya was clearly on her way to doing something truly worthy with her life. >> now our leaders must do

something to honor hadiya, to honor the students and teachers at newtown. today we saw activists reading the names of all the people who have died since the newtown shooting. we saw the sister of victoria society soto. she was overcome with emotion before victoria's name could be read. >> age 7, december 14th, 2012, newtown, connecticut. >> victoria schl oto, age 27, december 14th, 2012, newtown, connecticut. >> that's what this debate is all about. it's about people, not politics. but some republicans still don't get it. today, john boehner, the speaker

of the house, was asked point blank if he'd allow a vote in the house once the gun bill passed the senate. >> bipartisan-control bill comes out of the united states senate from do you see a vote on the house floor? >> we're going to review it and in the meantime we're going to continue to have hearings looking at the source of violence in our country. but i'm going to wait and see. >> wait and see? boehner's going to wait and see if he'll allow a vote? at the state of the union two months ago, boehner stood and applauded when the president called for a vote. >> gabby giffords deserves a vote. the families of newtown deserve a vote. >> when the entire nation was watching, speaker boehner stood and applauded and now he won't stand up for the victims?

starting with the vote tomorrow, americans will want to see a little more political courage and a little less political cowardess. joining me now is julian soto, who you just saw on that tape. jillian traveled to washington with president obama and she was there to lobby and stand for gun reform. and we are also joined by karen finney. thank you both for your time. >> thank you. >> miss soto, also, our condolences on your loss. >> thank you. >> karen, this was a big day but there is more work to do? >> yeah. there is absolutely more work to do. and look, i think for those members of the senate and anyone in the house who does anything to try to block movement and just the discussion and a vote, that is, you know, reverend al, that is to me voter suppression

of a whole new kind because that is really trying to suppress the will and the voice of the people like miss soto who deserve a vote and these members of congress, part of what they are trying to do here is protect one another so that they don't have to be on record as taking a vote that they know will be hard to explain to their constituents back home, given the numbers of people who support very simple commonsense measures, like background checks. >> let me talk to jillian a minute. you've shown real courage stepping out, bearing the pain that i don't -- i couldn't imagine. and being there in washington, not a politician, not a lobbyist, all of this brand new, what gives you the strength and motivation to bear that pain and be there and stand up and say the things you're saying about gun legislation?

>> none what happened to my sister. my sister was brutally murdered on december 14th, fighting to save her students' lives. and i find my strength in that, knowing that she died fighting for her students. now, i will do whatever i have to do to fight for change, speak to every senator who is against doing something about this. i will speak to. i will do as much as i can to tell them we need change, to demand them allow us to have a vote. >> now, your sister did nothing short of what was heroic. she literally put herself in danger's way and lost her life to protect her students. she didn't run to hide to protect herself. and she showed great courage and great heroism and you're demonstrating that kind yourself. all you're saying is you want to see a reform and to give your vote. am i right? >> yes. >> now, what do senators say to you? how do you look at someone's

sister who died the way your sister died? what can they possibly say to you? i just can't understand how they can look at you in the eye and say, no, i don't want a vote. >> i say the same thing to myself and all i can do is tell them what happened in my sister's classroom and remind them that my sister was brutally murdered, going to school on a friday, to make ginger bread houses with her first grade students, her 6th and 7-year-old students. tell them that we need change before this happens to them. because if it can happen to me, it can happen to them. that's all he can do is remind them every time i talk to them what happened to my sister, what happened in sandy hook and remind them that if it can happen in connecticut, it can happen here in washington and it can happen to anybody. if it can happen in a first grade classroom, it can happen at anyplace in this country and we have to do something before we lose anybody else. >> let me ask you this, jillian,

and then i'm going back to karen. did anyone persuade you or the other newtown family members to come forward, did anyone convince you to be political, or is this something that you and the other family members that you know want to do? >> i can't speak for anyone other than myself. i have stood up on my own. i have not been advised by anyone of what to say and what not to say. everything i have said is from my heart and how i truly feel. nobody has advised me with anything that has ever come out of my mouth regarding this issue. and i will continue to stand by myself and do what i have to and speak my mind and only my mind. >> you know, the reason i ask that, karen, is texas senator ted cruz accused the white house of taking advantage of the newtown shooting. >> yeah. >> listen to this. >> you've got the horrific tragedy in newtown which the administration is i think trying

to take advantage of. >> is it exploitation, senator? is this the exploitation of the democrats of the horrific deaths of children? >> i think it's certainly taking advantage of a horrible tragedy. >> karen, taking advantage? you have family members, you have jillian here saying, i'm saying and doing what i believe. how is this about any party taking advantage of it? it's like people don't love their own sisters or their own children? >> right. and this is not a partisan each. i mean, a bullet doesn't know the difference between whether or not you're a republican or a democrat. senator ted cruz, unfortunately in the center of jillian's courage, underlines the cowardness of ted cruz and what he's threatening to filibuster and that is to not even have the conversation athen to take a vote. that's really something. the other thing that we're seeing here, reverend al, in

terms of the politics, you've got john boehner. i think part of the reason today he refused to say what he would do is, you know, they are trying to ofiscate and say the white house is making people do this he and they are trying to skirt the issue. he's hoping he doesn't get a bill he doesn't have to deal with because then the question is going to be whether or not he has to go with the hassert rule. there's a lot that the president has talked about very he will kwe eloquent and the own personal pain. >> karen finney, thank you both for your time tonight. and miss soto, thank you for your courage. >> thank you for having me. >> i hope the people in washington vote and i hope they vote not for the president, not

for the party, but for people like her sister that stood in danger's way and lost their lives. they deserve a nation that responds to protect people. remember her when you decide to vote tomorrow and what your vote is going to say. ahead, rand paul's epic fail on minority outreach at howard university. you won't believe what he said about president obama. and his own record on civil rights. and he's back. republicans are asking dick cheney for advice on how to avoid war. i'm serious. and buzz today about the man who was once one of the most passionate voices in progressive politics. can anthony weiner stage a comeback? you're watching msnbc, "politicsnation." [ male announcer ] there are only so many foods

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le have you joined the "politicsnation" conversation on facebook yet? today everyone was talking about rand paul's speech on his support for the civil rights act. patricia says, he has an acute case of romnesia. sherry wonders, who is he trying to fool? nicky says his speech was full of references to the past republican party. the problem is, that party does not exist anymore. but that wasn't the most controversial comment paul made today. stick around to find out who he's blaming for the black community struggles. but first, we want to hear what you think. please head over to facebook and

sear search "politicsnation" and join us to keep the conversation going long after the show ends. hey. they're coming. yeah. british. later. sorry. ok...four words... scarecrow in the wind... a baboon... monkey? hot stew saturday!? ronny: hey jimmy, how happy are folks who save hundreds of dollars switching to geico? jimmy: happier than paul revere with a cell phone. ronny: why not? anncr: get happy. get geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more. governor of getting it done. you know how to dance... with a deadline. and you...rent from national. because only national lets you choose any car in the aisle... and go. you can even take a full-size or above, and still pay the mid-size price. this is awesome. [ male announcer ] yes, it is, business pro. yes, it is. go national. go like a pro.

days like today are why president obama was re-elected and why it's so important. he crossed the court fighting for justice for victims of newtown, for hadiya pendleton, for gabby giffords. it looks like they'll get a vote tomorrow. we're also on the verge of immigration reform for the first time in 30 years. a bipartisan bill is expected next week. today, tens of thousands flooded washington to rally in support of that change. also today, the president called

for a sweeping budget that would protect the middle class and tackle our debt and he's calling the gop's plbluff. >> if anyone thinks i'll finish the balance of budget deficit on the backs of middle class that hurts our economy short term, they should think again. i've already met republicans more than halfway. so in the coming days and weeks, i hope republicans will come forward and demonstrate that they are really as serious about the deficits and debt as they claim to be. >> republicans might not be serious but this president is. and the progress he's making speaks for itself. joining me now, ryan grim and ma rear yeah teresa kumar. thank you for coming on the show tonight. >> thank you for having me. >> guns, budget, the economy. the president has been busy. how has he been doing balancing

so many priorities in his term? >> i think he has an incredible team and he's using his presidential bull p presidential pu presidenti presidential pulpit and saying let me settle with you. i think he demonstrates how increasingly irrelevant that the house has become that the only way he can get stuff done is at the senate side. >> ryan, a lot of people, including me, have concerns about what we're going to give up in order to get things moving forward in this budget. and the president has said that he has compromised, he's gone more than halfway and that is he willing to do something about the deficit but he wants revenue. and putting things on the table, frankly, that many don't want to

see on the table. but when you look at the other side, ryan was asked today, the congressman paul ryan, well, what are you willing to compromise? what are you willing to do? let me show you what he says. >> what are you willing to put on the table that your base won't like? >> look at what we -- we put a budget that balances. this is how you structure medicaid and medicare. republicans have already done things to move to the middle to get to common ground that have not been entirely popular but we have not seen reciprocral moves on the other side of tthe aisle >> that's a compromise? not one dime in revenue did he mention, not any of the things that are required to help us from the other side. we put on the table everything you don't want on the table. that's what ryan said to us,

ryan. >> yeah. that's what the republican party wants. saying that they are offering that as some sort of a concession is a strange thing to say. that's like the president saying, i've put the buffett rule out on the table and that's not popular with everybody but that's the concession that i'm making here. it just doesn't make any sense. ryan's budget in general, you know, doesn't make sense, the numbers just simply don't add up. so the idea that that is at all a meaningful contribution to the conversation they are having is a fanciful one. the debate is going to happen within the narrow confines. you're going to talk about tweeting the way that social security benefits are calculated and those types of things. these ideas about getting ready of medicaid and medicare, that's not exactly a serious contribution. >> no, it's not. and it's not a balanced contribution, maria, when you look at the fact that the

president is talking about the rich paying more in taxes, more revenues, closing loopholes, and the republicans are talking about going after people that need medicare, people that need the stability of their social security. i mean, it's like a ham and egg sandwich saying it's equal contribution from the pig and the chicken. the chicken drops an egg, the pig drops a leg. that's not equal, maria. >> you're trying to -- i'm trying to keep my face straight with that analogy. but in all seriousness, the biggest problem with the ryan plan is he basically leaves the future behind. when he says he's not going to touch medicare today but he's going to for future generations and he's going to cut future education. what the president has done is said we have to make compromises all armed. he's coming into the middle between the senate plan and republican plan. he said there are compromises

but i'm not going to hold back the future and that's one of the reasons why he's funding one of the -- he announced that it was so important to him. i think the more the ryan plan can talk the truth to people and that he's holding back with this type of budget, he's going to be at least leveling with him and you can't say that you're going to strip out medicare and say that with a straight face. >> you know matter what he does, it's not enough or it's going to be enough. he hasn't done it tonight with some of the gop senators and clearly they are not interested in outreach. his meeting has not been mocked by reince priebus. he issued a statement on tuesday to complain that the president and senate republicans will be dining at an up scale restaurant

and offered to order the lawmakers pee lawmakers pizza even though the dinner is at the white house. it's that kind of contemptible kind of no matter what they are not going to reach back and they are not going to give him credit for reaching out. trying to work something out to move this country forward. >> there have been a couple republican who is have welcomed his social security cuts but the two major responses have been to say, hey, it's not enough. it's not a serious cut. we want deeper cuts and then on the other happened to attack him for cutting social security for the elderly. so republicans are hitting him from the right and the left here. which does make you wonder, what is he going to get out of this? he's proposing cuts to social security and for what? he will call the republicans' bluff as he did because they said this is not enough and

didn't come back with any of their own cuts but at the same time now they are going to go into 2014 facing republicans calling democrats the party that wants to cut social security and it doesn't really help for them so say, well, we would only cut your social security if we can also raise taxes. just from a purely political short-term perspective, that doesn't seem like something that would work too well. >> and that's the problem, when you look at ways that have moved him on this gunfight, on immigration we're moving forward and now they have a choice. they have a choice of saying, we're going to deal with revenue or we're going to tell the world that we are the ones that would not deal with trying to salvage social security and medicare and medicaid because we were not willing to go up one penny, one penny on rich people paying their taxes. >> right. >> how is that slowly goigan go help in you 2013 and 2014?

ryan and teresa, thank you for your time. >> thank you. still ahead, rand paul talking about civil rights at a black college? what could go wrong? the answer is plenty. but first, why is the gop still dick cheney's party? that's next. asional have constipation,

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there is new word that north

korea appears closer to carrying out a test. >> from this young and experienced leader. >> what's difference is the capacity and intention and the fact that no one has been able to stop north korea. >> we're hearing a lot about north korea as the court signals it may launch a missile. it's a serious situation and the u.s. is watching closely. but guess who house republicans are looking to for expertise? it's literally the last president that should be advising anyone on foreign policy. go ahead. one guess. if you guessed dick cheney, you're right. i mean, can you believe this? republican majority with kevin mccarthy invited cheney to speak to lawmakers yesterday about north korea. his thoughts, quote, we're in deep doo doo.

there's that hard-hitting analysis. he also said that the north korean leader sun predictable and like suddam hussein, you could never know what he was thinking. is this kind of late april fool's joke? haven't i heard this somewhere before? >> simply stated, there is no doubt that suddam hussein now has weapons of mass destruction. >> what we did in iraq was exactly the right thing to do. if i had it to recommend all over again, i'd recommend the same course of action. >> things have gotten so bad. my belief is that we will be greeted as liberators. >> greeted as liberators. it's like asking karl rove to predict an election or asking marco rubio how to get through a speech or donald trump how to keep a low profile. i mean, do you get what i'm

saying? cheney is the last person they should turn to. especially since he still won't admit his mistakes. >> what do you consider your main fault? >> my main fault? well, i don't spend a lot of time thinking about my faults, i guess would be the answer. >> no faults. cheney still won't admit all he's done wrong. but did the gop think we wouldn't call them out for continuing to take his advice? nice try but we got you. e you s? e you s? just wanted to check and make sure that we were on schedule. the first technology of its kind... mom and dad, i have great news. is now providing answers families need.

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university rewriting history and claiming president obama has failed african-americans. >> the poor have gotten poorer in the last four years. black unemployment is 14%, nearly twice the national average. this is unacceptable. >> unacceptable? tw what is unacceptable is that they have ignored recessions and the gop's attack on the poor. but it didn't stop there. he's also rewriting his own history. >> no republican questions or disputes civil rights. i've never wavered in my support of the civil rights act. >> i've never been against the civil rights. ever. >> that's not true. did senator paul think that we had forgotten about his infamous interview with rachel maddow? >> sir, just yes or no. >> what i think would happen -- what i'm saying is that i don't

believe in any discrimination. there's ten different titles, you know, to the civil rights act and nine out of ten deal with public institutions and i'm absolutely in favor of one deals with private institutions and had i been around, i would have tried to modify that. >> he'd like to modify the civil rights act? rand paul is just not being honest about himself or his party. >> the republican party has always been the party of civil rights and voting rights. how do the republican party, the party of the great ee man pat for, lose the trust and faith of an entire race? >> good question, senator. how did the republican party lose their support? maybe it was all that talk about welfare queens and blog people and free stuff and obama and birthers and voter i.d. laws and state's rights and 50 years of

cold war and policies designed to roll back the clock on progress. maybe that's why the gop lost 93% of the black vote in november. joining me now is mark, president of the national urban league. today the league released its state of black america report. carl redeem the dream, jobs, rebuild america. thank you for your time tonight, mark. >> reverend, thank you for your advocacy. >> what's your reaction before we get into the report? >> you know, you question whether it was drive by politics or a sincere effort to reach out. and i think that a symbolic gesture of one speech at a great historically black university does not constitute reaching out. and the real question is whether policies will modify and policies are going to change and that 50-year history of cold

wars is going to be something different. and i just see it as drive-by politics. we appreciate it and think that people are going to reach out. coming to howard a saying i've always been for civil rights when the record is otherwise is not the way to begin a serious new relationship. >> no. it's like a man and a woman have been married 30 years and the last ten years he's been verbally abusing her and he says, remember how i was 25 years ago? that's not a reason to reconcile now. and the fact is, right now we have two voter rights case, two cases for the supreme court on affirmative action. one on voter rights. he didn't address any of that. he did not address section 5 of the voting rights act. he did address the fact that republicans in his party stopped the jobs bill as the president fut forward which would have significantly reduced black unemployment. he didn't address health care

that we disproportionately are uninsured and needed the pre-existing conditions. he talked about civil rights 50 years ago, none of the challenges today. and i think that's an insult to our intelligence. >> well, you know, it's interesting that this is the day we released our state of black america report and i was over on capitol hill with general for gillibrand, congressman fattah and fudge as well as members earlier in the day and in the middle of the day and we were introducing a new urban jobs act. we were introducing an act and the best example for reaching out would be for rand paul to put his name on those two bills and to be serious about those things that he suggested today at howard university. so this year's state of black america report, reverend, was very important because in the context of this recovery, somewhat of a difficult recovery for many, people in our

community, it's also important that we took that 50-year retrospect. and people have been looking at how far we have come since 1963. our state of black america report reequiflects a reduction black poverty, increase in education, college enrollment rates and still a great disparity when it comes to jobs, wealth, and income in the case of the supreme court and attacks on the affirmative action. >> and what was compelling about the report that you released today, it shows great progress in the last 50 years since the march on washington with dr. king made the famous i have a dream speech that you and i and ors in the civil rights community will be dealing with this august. but you also at the same time showed the lack of the center progress and that right today

every dollar that whites earn, blacks only earn 60 cents to every dollar whites earn. so the economic gap, which was the thing dr. king was working on upon his assassination, is still there. >> and let me say this. we came on today on capitol hill with our new initiatives jobs rebuild america and i was pleased to see the president's budget with an emphasis on jobs. because his budget and a number of his proposals dovetail with the things that we've been detailing. so the president got out there in his budget bill in favor of early childhood education, promise zones, emphasis on manufacturing where you have better paying jobs, a significant new investment in workforce, development, those kinds of things. they are things that we applaud because they say that the president has heard the

recommendations we've made over the past two years on the issue of jobs. >> and he's talking about building infrastructure creating some of those jobs and infrastructure. you used to be mayor of new orleans. you know needs repairs. we're not creating jobs that are not needed. we're not talking about handouts. we're talking about what is needed, necessary, and would provide jobs. >> when you build roads, bridges, community senators, libraries and schools, you put people to work but you also improve the quality of life. what we've got to make sure is that you have a mechanism to train people in our community for those kinds of jobs in these construction and trades industry. so this is an important part of this jobs rebuild america but an important part of the state of black america that we've come armed with solutions. we think that the president has offered some ideas. our jobs to rebuild america initiative is going to include efforts in some 30 communities across the nation to expand job

training, after school programs, and entrepreneurship. we've come on with solutions. we're not just at the complaint desk. we're at the solutions desk. >> martin, thank you for your time and we will continue to monitor as we go forward on the anniversary of the march in washington. >> thank you, reverend. >> thank you for your time. >> thank you for having me. ahead, anthony weiner's revealing interview. he's talking about the scandal, his marriage, and, yes, getting back into politics, next. [ kitt ] you know what's impressive? a talking car. but i'll tell you what impresses me. a talking train. this ge locomotive can tell you exactly where it is, what it's carrying, while using less fuel.

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talk to your doctor. anthony weiner, a disgraced politician? anthony weiner, a politician? could be. we'll see next. [ male announcer ] you are a business pro. omnipotent of opportunity. you know how to mix business... with business. and you...rent from national. because only national lets you choose any car in the aisle.

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i haven't told the truth and i've done things that i deeply regret. i've brought pain to people who love me and support me and for that i'm deeply sorry. >> nearly two years later and former congressman anthony weiner wants redemption. he talks about what he calls that one fateful tweet. he and his wife reveal their personal struggle to keep their

marriage alive and talk candidly how the scandal unfolded. weiner says, "i sat down with humor and said, listen, i can't. i don't want to lie. i just didn't want to lie anymore to her." here his voice cracks and tears well out. she's given me another chance and i'm very grateful for that and i'm try to make sure i get it right and now he's eyeing the new york mayor's race. can he get redemption? joining me now, lauren ashburn and joe madison. thanks to both of you for being here tonight. >> thank you. >> lauren, there was a lot of tears in this interview from anthony weiner. how do you think people will react to it? >> people love to forgive once they have ripped them down, which is exactly what the press and the people in his district

did by voting the bum out but what is happening now, when people and if i were a media strategist, i would say they picked a perfect venue to ask for forgiveness. you can't look at his facial expressions, you can't tell if he's really, really truly sorry and you get your message across, obviously. >> not only is it a perfect place to do it, we are in a climate of governor sanford who had an affair and other than the way he was and he was a republican primary for congress

and on and on and there's a lot more serious morally. >> a partisan issue because we've seen it on both sides, haven't we? you know, i live in a town, washington, d.c., where marion barry can walk into a room and people still recognize him as mayor for life and he's been re-elected to every office that he has run for. i think you're absolutely right. question live in a society where people do get a second chance. we'll watch the masters soon. look what tiger woods has done. he's reinvented himself. charles barkley. he did the same thing. reverend, it's a question of, one, is this the best that new york democrats will have to offer? so that will depend on his

competition, his opponents. the other thing, of course, is, remember, he's got a lot of money in his campaign treasury so he can buy a lot of time and then the third and final point is what does he offer the people of new york? you know, his problem is with he and his wife and, of course, yes, he lied to the world but the reality is people really want to know, do you have qualities of your characters that will do us good? is he good for new york? that's what people want to ask. >> lauren, isn't that going to be the issue? one, do we believe in redemption? if a governor can get redemption in the bible belt, can you get redemption in new york when you have no real physical acts here, you just have the photo? second, what role will his wife play and, third, the crowd he's

up against, are there any strong enough candidates in the democratic primary that would stop him from having a strong showing, if not a victorious showing? are those the three things we really have to look at, lauren? >> i'll go backwards. he's got the cash, the name rec k cognition, the beautiful wife that has forgiven him. rarely have we ever got a full look at any politician like we did this one and i have to agree 100%. he has it all and right now he has told all. there are to surprises here. it's almost like a therapy session reading this and hearing how he's in therapy and he struggled with this and his wife and he and their 13-month-old

child are staying together as a family. because of his media strategy, because of who he is and how he has conducted himself, by giving this interview, by giving all of that money, he has a very good shot at this. >> joe, if you were honoring his opponents, are they taking great risk if they came in the race for them to raise issues, one, because it will look like their polls to redemption and every reporter in new york would start going through their lives to see if they can come up with anything that they would not want to have in a middle of a campaign? >> i don't know. you know mrs. madison. she wouldn't vote for him and she made sure i knew that before i came on this show. >> you're talking about mrs. joe madison? >> that's right. she will not -- she wouldn't vote for him. so your opponents know that no matter how much redemption might

be out there, no matter how forgiving the white, there's a large segment of the voting population that simply will not vote for him and that's who they will play to. that is who they will actually play to. >> joe, i think that's a lot more true in the south even though the south does believe -- >> that's in the bible belt. look what's happened to republicans. >> and look at louisiana. >> but i have to go. in fairness to mrs. madison, she would forgive him. she probably wouldn't vote for him but -- >> she would forgive him but not vote for him. >> and that's a good woman, right? >> yes, she is. >> lauren and joe madison, thank you. ahead, one of the greatest fighters of all times, america's first black heavyweight champion. that's next.

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one of america's greatest fighters was also a great fighter for change, even if he never meant to be. jackson john became the first black heavyweight champion of the world. back then, blacks faced severe restrictions on their civil rights and was subject to violence at any moment. but johnson was determined to live his life the way he saw fit. he didn't care about what anyone said, black or white. he constantly sparred with white supremacist and openly dated and married white women. in 1913, after years of trying, the u.s. government used an obscure law to knock jack johnson out. he was convicted of bringing a

white woman across the state lines for, immoral purposes" and sentenced to a year of prison. "unforgivable blackness" was a documentary. >> jackson was unprepen dent. i have a right to choose my mate without the dictation of any man, he said. i am not a slave. >> it's long past time that this injustice is corrected. last month on what would have been jack johnson's 135th birthday, his family renewed a call for presidential pardon to clear the record for the history books. duane wickham of usa today said it was an unrelenting pursuit of jack jackson. this misuse and manipulation of