Did you see what Michael Jackson’s family did?

Jul 09, 2009 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

If you watched the Michael Jackson Memorial in which the speakers’ list (not the choreography of the event) was arranged by his family, you are forced to opine that it was a deliberate choice to infuse the moment with an African-American presence. That is my opinion and I will cling to it tenaciously.
I believe the Jackson dynasty said to themselves that Michael Jackson came from a Black world, Black people made him a success, Black music started him out, Black people loved him and in his hour of death, he should go back to his roots
Why I make this judgement is because the predominance of the African-American presence (they dominated the proceedings) contrasted conspicuously with the Caucasian world that Jackson seemed to be happily ensconced in. Only two white persons took the stage. One was Brooke Shields, his sweetheart, and guitarist John Mayer. Don’t you find this strange for the plethora of Caucasian friends of strong intimacy that Jackson had in real life?
There can be no denying by any reasonable human being that Michael Jackson was an extraordinary artist that could easily be classified and has been so categorized as a genius in the creative arts. The difference with Jackson and the other three giants, the Beatles, Elvis Presley and ABBA is that he transcended cultural boundaries. Secondly, he successfully experimented with several genres of music and was fantastically good at it. The other three were incapable of such heights.
If you were a Hindu in India, a Chinese Buddhist monk, an Arab in the Middle East, you could not fail to be attracted to at least two of Jackson’s songs and really love them. I honestly do not think the Beatles, Presley and ABBA had such a global influence. However unimaginable was the talent, the other side of the man was on display on Tuesday afternoon and into the night on global television.
Some programmes brought out amazing information about Jackson’s life. Before we go to that, a word about the performance of Rev. Al Sharpton. There is certainly a global adulation for Michael Jackson. The hundreds of millions who adore Jackson cannot be that naïve to think he was not a controversial, eccentric, strange man.
To deny that is to deny that the world’s existence.
During the ceremony, the Rev. Sharpton turned to Jackson’s children and said to them that their daddy wasn’t strange, but what he had to cope with was strange. How factual is this? This is where celebrities want to eat their cake and have it too. Princess Diana comes to mind.
Celebrities do the most mysterious, strange, esoteric, weird, eccentric things to get into the world’s press. When they make it on the front pages of every newspaper, they seem to forget the consequences – the press will follow them for the rest of their lives.
There have been rock stars that did the most outlandish things on stage, like biting off a snake’s head. Madonna does extremely curious things when performing. Princess Diana loved to court the media but when she wanted the media to stay out on certain occasions, they did not. It cost her life.
One of the television networks interviewed Jackson’s former wife, Debbie Rowe, on Tuesday night. She made some startling statements. She intoned that Jackson wanted children badly and said to her that he wanted kids with blonde hair and blue eyes. This was a repeat of an interview she gave three years ago. Is it possible that the Jackson family was reacting to such things when they made the memorial service almost an all-Black affair?
Then Rowe said the stupidest comment that could come out of the mouth of a woman. This was an incredible moment for any viewer. Once I think about Michael Jackson, I will remember these words of Debbie Rowe.
Rowe sat in front of the cameras speaking glowingly of her two children with Jackson. Then the interviewer trapped her and the lady was so dull that she couldn’t see it. She was asked if Jackson ever consummated the marriage. She was visibly annoyed. She was enraged. She rudely fired back by saying it is an inappropriate question which she would refuse to answer because it is too personal.
There is nothing personal about saying if your marriage is consummated if you bore two children for your husband. Was Debbie Rowe thinking of parthenogenesis? Are those the biological kids of Jackson’s? The experts dispute that. But does that matter? He brought them up and loved them.
Whatever were the faults of Michael Jackson, he was a human being capable of immense love for others.

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Did you see what Michael Jackson’s family did?

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