Now He's Home

Michael Jackson may have had a strange relationship with his blackness, but his memorial put all the questions to rest. He was black.

By: jimi izrael | Posted: July 7, 2009 at 6:59 PM

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Michael Jackson's Beautiful Home-Going Service

Michael Jackson may have had a strange relationship with his blackness, but his memorial put all the questions to rest. He was black.

jimi.izrael

Michael Jackson may have had a strange relationship with his blackness, but his memorial put all the questions to rest. He was black.

07/07/2009 18:59

In a tribute to his status as a global icon, Michael Jackson’s memorial was streamed all over the world, but if there was ever any doubt, we know with absolute certainty that he was, in the end, a black man.

The memorial turned the Staples Center into a home-going like the world has never seen, the biggest black funeral ever. Commentators on every channel seemed bemused and flummoxed at the same time. (“No reports of any incidents,” they said with great surprise.) But I could look at the screen—from the gospel choir to all the tales out of school about the deceased. And the obvious: Middle America got dosed with a little black church on Tuesday. There was no denying, as evidenced by all the black royalty that lined up to pay him tribute, that Michael Jackson belongs to black America.

With all of his problems, we were right there for the ride. We have known that while white America is quick to love a singing and dancing black man, it has been just as quick to hang him out to dry at the slightest provocation. Michael’s soul never recovered from allegations of child molestation, and many were reluctant to believe his side of the story. Blacks ribbed him, but didn’t take kindly to jokes from others. We never gave up on him, never turned him away. It was ironic to watch the coverage, to hear all the testimony, and see Michael Jackson humanized in death more than he was in life.

The Pew Research Center for the People and the Press did a study in which it was revealed that most white Americans have no idea why Michael Jackson’s death is such a big deal. After all, said Rep. Peter King, “… this guy was a pervert.” I’ve heard that sentiment expressed in certain hipster circles, and I realized that for much of America, he was just the skinny black guy who looked like a skinny white guy.

For some of us though, even with all the shots we took at him, he was a child of the Midwest—where dreams go to die—who dared to take his show on the road. He was a little black child with a dream almost no other black child could imagine. Michael was an ordinary man with extraordinary talents, but he possessed many of the same frailties and foibles as the rest of us—the same propensity to make bad choices and missteps, the same uncomfortably, dichotomous relationship with the reality of race. It may be that black people will miss the man and that white folks will merely miss the music. Because he is a black American success story, with most of it still yet to be told.

We didn’t “discover him,” like white folks did with America and breakdancing and Dave Chappelle. It seems like he was always with us. Like many other black celebrities, we know on a first-name basis, Michael grew up in our households. He was as eccentric as any other cousin at the dinner table.

We all have that family member with strange, hard-to-articulate ways. We love to make fun of them, but strangers better not, because love them we do and love them we will. No matter how they treat us, we’d never deny them a thing, whether they are just out of jail or out of the hospital or off a nod, they are still family. Our people. And you love your people, no matter what. That was Michael Jackson—our people.

He was strange, funny-acting at times, and even if we weren’t always sure where he stood, we never stopped standing by him and claiming him as our own. We loved him first, best, last. And always.

He was not just the most exciting entertainer in the history of popular music, not just a song and dance man, not merely the embodiment of human conflicts and contradictions. He was all of those things. He was loved all over the world.

But Maya Angelou did not spit any verses for Farrah Fawcett. If there was ever doubt that he was black, it’s gone now. Now we know for sure.

He’s home now.

Jimi Izrael is a blogger for The Root on The Hardline.

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From age ten through twenty-one years old, Michael Jackson was an integral part of my life: much to my dismay for a good portion of that time.

At that tender young age, Michael seemed older than his years. His stage presence was polished, his dance moves professional and his voice stirring – think of those high notes on “Got to Be There.” All that to say Michael made my teen years miserable.

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I never dreamed I'd grieve this hard this Summer

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This is a thoughtful article. I personally do not believe Michael was a child molester, there are many who disagree with me and equally there are many who do not. It is perhaps not this, however, that is the issue. If one takes the view that Michael did harm children, did the treatment he received at the hands of Tom Sneddon and a collusive hostile media which engaged in the kind of ferocious fact-building that is now de rigeur, actually achieve any real rehabilitation for Jordan Chandler or Gavin? Or was the unprecedented destruction that was brought to bear on Michael actually an excercise in intent to harm? Sneddon spent millions of dollars searching the world for children to testify against Michael in a criminal trial and could only find one family. The credibilty of Evan Chandler, a known fraudster, who mistreated his own wife and Jordan himself, went on record stating that his aim was to ruin Michael's career and get as much money as possible. Speaking for myself, there isn't enough money in the world that would compensate me for the abuse of my child. It is perhaps a little known fact that Michael himself did not want to settle the case but had wanted to fight it. Who knows whether the events of 2005 would have even happened if he had. His mental and physical health had deteriorated to such a degree in 1993 that Elizabeth Taylor and Michael's lawyers advised a vunerable and frail Michael to settle, telling him they couldn't guarantee a not guilty verdict. Michael had waived his entire fee from the Dangerous tour to give to the Heal The World Foundation, but he had to cancel it 2/3rds of the way in to deal with the allegations. He was under enormous pressure from Pepsi and the promoters to pay back lost monies and was also dealing with his own addiction to painkillers and the agony of trying to prove his innocence. Put together with the context of Michael's lost childhood and the unquestionable truth of his legendary, peerless artistry, then suddenly we are talking about a tragedy of epic proportions. So when we're reading articles or opinions like mine or watching the news; know they are cold retellings of something of what, for Michael, was his life. He lived it. Everyday. Could any of us do the same and leave behind the glorious legacy he did?
Michael has indeed come home - to everyone who ever loved him.

And we are millions.

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Michaels blackness through death

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I hadnt thought about it, but my wife told me this morning that the funeral really proved Jermaines blackness. He is in the Nation, she would know, and probably arrainged it all. After the first few rows of family and friends from the beginnings, it was all white and latino from who came to watch.

Michael went to those funerals that were well known, perhaps not recognized by pop culture, but they were on the news, just not given much time, as they were RandB and soul singers. The tradition MJ came from, and who he came up with, though he left on his own tangent. Their deaths were well known, just not by those posting obviously

I dont think MJ was a bad person, just a weak and crazy one, if incredibly talented in the entertainment field. Just not of the creative arts. Thats a whole nuther world, the highest common denominator, his of the lowest, as can been seen from these responses. Both need to rise, we are at a low point culturally. WE need to do better.

The Age of Meism and Excess is over, the sequin gloves, the individual glofication is failed. As it always does, the time of balance and conservation is upon is, time to be responsible. And grow up. Neverland doesnt exist. Wendy and Peter need to get constructive jobs. And pay their taxes. Its about US from now on, or we will fail together. Artistes dont matter, art, and humanity, do.

It is time to put aside childish things

Posted: Friday, July 10, 2009

LOL!

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:) Really now, is he?

Posted: Friday, July 10, 2009

Now He's Home

Michael Jackson may have had a strange relationship with his blackness, but his memorial put all the questions to rest. He was black.

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Now He's Home

Michael Jackson may have had a strange relationship with his blackness, but his memorial put all the questions to rest. He was black.

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Slate

The Big Money

Double X

Foreign Policy

Washington Post

Newsweek