“I am very disappointed at this blog post…”

I understand. I’m disappointed with your comment as well. You see, I have family members who have suffered with vitiligo. It never made anyone I know of go completely white. It never straightened their hair, keened their nose, deflated their lips, put a cleft in anyone’s chin, or resulted in white children. I have seen vitiligo happen and so I fail to understand how it can completely explain Mr. Jackson’s appearance. Many people who deal with the disease and want to hide the lack of pigmentation will wear makeup to blend their skin to its natural dark color and not to use it as an excuse to become something other than black.

But nevertheless, even if that was the case for Mr. Jackson’s appearance, I must admit that I find the idea that a skin disease can explain away Mr. Jackson’s behavior is rather ridiculous as well. Mr. Jackson’s children do not share his genes and appear to be all white from white egg and sperm donors. Mr. Jackson’s wives didn’t come from the black community.

Yes Mr. Jackson wrote some lovely songs about the unfairness in the world. Just the other day during one of those many program paying tribute to the King of Pop, I watched the Man In the Mirror video and was moved emotionally. It is a powerful statement. But what was the practice? Yes Mr. Jackson donated to charities. Many of us do. Does that mean we’ve done all that we could? I’ve written a few articles about disparity. Does that buy me a pass to go off the deep end and turn my back on my blackness? Does the fact that I’ve written other articles mean you will no longer be disappointed in this one?

But like you said, it is sad to see how we turn on each other. You should listen to yourself sometime.

Peace

Michael said over and over again, “I am proud of being a black American.” He raised money, he brought awareness to causes, he wrote songs about social injustice. He did more than one person can reasonably be expected to do for the black community. It should not have been his job to be the representative for the entire culture. What mistakes might you have made over the course of being in the public eye for 35 years??

In fact, I am glad that the world got to see a singular example of the suffering the so many black men and women go through in silence. It is devastatingly sad to me how we turn on each other, forever judging who and what is “too black” (BET) & who and what isn’t black enough (MJ). Attitudes like this are lending to the destruction of the psyche of African-Americans.

http://www.prweb.com/releases/ztarlet/star-registry/prweb2584534.htm

Digg this!

Peace.

I might miss some of the music, although anytime I want, I suppose I could download it, or go find an album if I really wanted to listen to the stuff. The man himself was nothing more than a big circus for the media to cover over the last decade or more.

His “Thriller” album was one of the select few my mom used to play on a near-daily basis when I was real young. (She also played some Prince album, an Elton John album, and some Ragtime music stuff). Of course back then, while others had moved onto cassettes, we still had the luxury of a turntable to play our music on. I loved the Thriller album.

But I think as Michael’s skin started changing color on its own, he somehow lost his identity mentally (nevermind the always brought up child star syndrome thing)…and from there on out, he slowly transformed into oddity of late that overshadowed his early years.

I’m not sure we can actually imagine the amount of pressure and stress he was under at the time. I don’t know. I know i can’t because i am white for a start, and only 21. You are presumably black and a lot older, and therefor understand a lot more than i ever can. But what mass media, money and pressure from authoritarian positions within the industry in those times could have done to a 5 year old boy, is crazy. I think it would be arragont to presume you are aware of what trully went through his head. It is obvious what he took upon himself, his body as his temple, was a social mistake, irrespective of what he thought. But we all make mistakes. But perhaps it is simply easier for me to forgive his mistake being white. But he was a tortured individual that was never given the oppotunity to feel comfortable with who he was, on a scale with actually no comparison.

A sad story indeed.

Peace.

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