Part V: Analyzing an Argument   Directions : Read the Following

question 61

Multiple Choice

Part V: Analyzing an Argument   Directions : Read the following selection and answer the accompanying questions.
Righting an Old Wrong
"I loved him because of his courage.He faced the world unafraid.There wasn't anybody or anything he feared." (Jack Johnson's 3^rd wife, Irene Pineau)
¹In his 2005 documentary, Unforgivable Blackness , movie maker Ken Burns told the story of Jack Johnson (1878-1946) , the first black, heavyweight fighter in American history.Smart, fast, and physically powerful, Johnson ruled in the ring between 1908 and 1913.He beat every fighter, white or black, who got in the ring with him.But in a country still tainted by racism, Johnson's triumphs outraged many white Americans, who longed for a "Great White Hope" to put him in his place. To make matters worse in their eyes, Johnson also openly courted and married white women.For those who wished to believe in the myth of white superiority, the two together were just intolerable, and they found a way to make Johnson pay.He was imprisoned on trumped up charges that ended his career.
² Although Burns's close up of Johnson's life and career produced a good deal of buzz, it wasn't until 2008 that the talk led to action.That was the year the House of Representatives passed a resolution urging then president George W.Bush to grant Johnson a pardon.The resolution claimed that Johnson's conviction had been racially motivated.Therefore, he deserved to be pardoned.
³ The resolution went nowhere.Still, an unlikely group of people forged an alliance to promote the idea that Johnson deserves a pardon. Among those involved are the rapper Chuck D, the Republican Senator John McCain, and the Democratic representative Charles Rangel.So far there's little sign that Johnson will get justice, but his supporters are not giving up.Nor should they.Johnson's conviction is an injustice that needs to be remedied with a full pardon.It doesn't matter if the recipient isn't alive to appreciate it.As Johnson's great-great niece has correctly said, "This is about righting a wrong."
⁴  Johnson after all, did nothing illegal.Although he was convicted of taking Belle Schreiber, a white prostitute, over state lines, he had done so in 1909 when there was no law against it. What Johnson did only became illegal after the fact, when the Mann Act was passed in 1910.The Mann Act officially forbade the transportation of women for immoral purposes.This Johnson had indeed done.But he hadn't done it when it was a crime.
⁵ Johnson was arrested in 1912 and convicted retroactively in 1913, mainly because too many people in powerful places wanted to see him punished for triumphing over white opponents and taking up with white women. Forced to flee the country to avoid imprisonment, Johnson returned to the United States in 1920.He spent close to a year in jail.By the time he got out, he was forty-three years old.His career as a fighter was over.He continued to fight exhibition matches and make guest appearances at small gatherings.But as a boxer, he was finished.A biased justice system had finally managed to take him down.
⁶ Surprisingly, the injustice with which Johnson was treated hasn't carried much weight with the White House.So far at least, no one in the administration appears to have taken up Johnson's cause.In addition, there are those outside the administration who don't think Johnson's pardon is a cause worthy of effort.
⁷ Typical of those who oppose the pardon is P.S.Ruckman, Jr.a political science professor from Rock Valley College in Rockford, Illinois.Ruckman writes a blog on pardons called "Pardon Power." The blogger thinks a pardon for Johnson serves no real purpose, especially since Johnson himself never even attempted to get a pardon on his own.But for Ruckman, there is an even bigger reason why getting Johnson pardoned is a bad idea: So few presidential pardons are given, it would be a waste to grant one to a dead man.As Ruckman puts it, there are plenty of innocent people in prison here and now, and they are the ones who should get a shot at a pardon: They  are alive right now .They are suffering right now .And their suffering is not symbolic.It is real .You want to "right" some "wrongs," do you? And this [pardoning Johnson] is the best you can do?
⁸ What seems to be missing from those who oppose the pardon is a strong sense of the injustice that was done.Johnson's career and, to some degree, his life were destroyed by racism.But for those who don't support the pardon, timing is everything.For them, pardoning Johnson long after his death accomplishes nothing.They don't understand that leaving Johnson's crime on the books gives it a credibility it doesn't deserve.When it is possible-and it is possible in this case-injustice has to be remedied.
Source of quotation http://www.pardonpower.com/2011/02/sports-illustrated-on-jack-johnson.html#more
In which paragraph does the author express the central point or main idea of the argument?

• A) paragraph 1
• B) paragraph 2
• C) paragraph 3