This Is It!
Michael Jackson: Beyond Genius
By Leslie Wilson
The June 25th death of Michael Jackson, evoked a range of emotions. Grieving for Jackson consisted of two parts, one commercial and another personal. Commercialized mourning of the “King of Pop” focused on his life, death, and legacy. The media gave it a full court press with Jackson dominating the news for weeks. Questions focused on the cause of death, an alleged homicide; the paternity and fate of his children; division of his estate; and his final resting place.
While the media televised tributes, reissued his musical catalogue, and the replayed his videos, merchants hawked Jackson paraphernalia. Fans in contrast, offered less sophisticated responses with makeshift memorials, dedicated web tributes and impromptu crowds gathering to listen to his music. At the same time, individually and collectively, they reflected on the things that connected them to Jackson.
As a fan and historian, I came to several conclusions. First, that in death, all of our great cross-over stars are returned to the soil with the issue of race dominating their celebrations. As Professor Melissa Lacewell-Harris suggests, they are born black and die black.
Second, that through the lens of race, we tend to look at events in different ways. While blacks forgave Jackson for his alleged crimes, whites continually praised him but did not let us forget what he had done.
And finally, that despite the title of “King of Pop,” we continually underestimate the impact of Jackson in an era of great artists. Jackson’s passing dwarfed those of Barry White, Isaac Hayes, Marvin Gaye, Rick James and James Brown, each an icon in his own right.
In considering Jackson’s impact on my life, I realized that he is one of the most influential people of the twentieth century. He was a phenomenal performer, but equally a philanthropist, civil rights activist, and generational role model.
For my generation, those born between 1950 and 1970, this is a terrible loss. Jackson’s life highlighted an era of social, political and economic change. He embodied the psychological experiences and pressures associated with being Negro, black and then African American, and finding a space in an integrated America. His very personal and public ordeals with physical and verbal abuse, self-image, education, color consciousness, good hair, relationships with children, and ultimately, interracial dating and marriage, reflected discussions that took place on the street corners, in living rooms, and in minds of most blacks of this period.
He was born on August 29, 1958, when social integration was beginning to be seen as more than a forced experiment. By the time Jackson made his first major television appearance in1969, more than ten years had passed since the 1955 murder of Emmett Till, the Montgomery Bus Boycott, and the rendering of the Brown decision. The “Jackson era” consisted of more of Vietnam and Watergate than of civil rights.
While a child of a revolutionary era, when Jackson gave a black power salute, it was on the stage. Jackson watched the more political action from the sidelines. He was biding his time, waiting for his moment. When he decided to enter the fray, he found a new medium for social justice in the emerging media technologies. And when he mastered it, Jackson became a revolutionary in his own right.
The Jacksons were an illustration of the blending of “Good Times” and “The Jeffersons,” hit television shows featuring African-American family life. Joseph and Katherine Jackson and their children were participants in the struggles that characterized African-American life during the end of civil rights movement. Their migration from the heavily black industrial community of Gary, Indiana, to fame and fortune in Los Angeles mirrored the physical and economic movement of blacks from the less privileged to an aspiring middle class.
I think black audiences drew strength from the visible failings and social challenges confronted by the Jacksons. Blacks, however, knew that the Jackson family was neither typical nor perfect. They were caught in a world between assimilation and integration and working class and rich values. The strict and dominating Joe Jackson did not seem like the All-American compassionate father. He was portrayed as brash and unsophisticated. Katherine Jackson, while presented as extremely loving, took a secondary role in the development of her children. It provided the perfect scenario for charges of physical and verbal abuse and adultery. The Jackson children also offered their own accounts of family abuse. La Toya, Janet and Michael spoke ill of their father and his controlling personality. Each tried to escape his dictates. Later stories emerged that the older Jackson boys accepted some of these behaviors and joined their father in sexual escapades on the road. Eventually only Michael was not a participant in these adventures.
The senior Jackson seemed to ignore the value of education at a time when most blacks coveted knowledge. Michael’s autobiography, published in 1988 and edited by Jacqueline Onassis, suggested that his writing skills were far from perfect. The Jackson children had unique names that seemed more Latino than African American. There was La Toya, Sigmund Esco (Jackie), Toriano Adaryll (Tito) and Jermaine Lajuane. With their colorful outfits and big Afros, the Jackson’s presented a different sense of style from more conservative black perspectives. The ability to have “good hair” for long Afros awakened an age old controversy. And as some members of the family joined the Jehovah’s Witness, they did not belong to a more traditional religious denomination. Each issue drew them further away from the centrist audience.
To make them more appealing to blacks and whites, Motown’s handlers pressed countless buttons. They refused to let the Jacksons play their own instruments in the studio and pen their own songs. They also tried to create a fairy tale love affair between Jermaine and Hazel, the daughter of Berry Gordy. They attempted to romanticize the boys and “sell” dates with them through magazines. Such problems continued even after leaving Motown and joining Epic Records in 1975. For instance, while they were the first African American family to have a variety television series (1976) and a cartoon series (1971), it was difficult to pinpoint the core audience. Mixed messages were associated with each venture. The variety show was designed to compete with the white bread Osmond’s Family show, which featured fan-friendly Donny and Marie. And, the Jacksons’ cartoon series embraced a several rodents as companions for the boys, hardly allowing them to escape images of the rat infested ghetto.
However, it was Michael that made the Jacksons’ acceptable. And as the youngest Motown prodigy, Michael had to sell the new ideas of race, class and social acceptance. It was his stage presence that shined above the rest, but none of the family including Janet, seemed comfortable with the audience when the music stopped.
Yet, Jackson transformed traditional black ideas about style. From colorful outfits, large Afros and lengthy boots, Michael pushed a new “mod black” fashion. Big Afros were a symbol of racial pride, but also associated with the legacy of “good black hair” equally awakened dying thoughts in the black community. Later bouts with complexion lightening and plastic surgery became major issues for a community that would shortly embrace skin lighteners, colored contact lenses and blonde hair. More often than not, Michael aroused the African-American consciousness in selling a new vision of “blackness”.
Michael succeeded in spite of his father and Berry Gordy. The Motown 25 celebration showed him at his best. The careful discarding of the old songs leading to a triumphant “Billie Jean” moonwalk, showed why he, rather than the other Motown headliners, became our hero. On stage Michael was fearless, dynamic and powerful. He demonstrated why we waited patiently to watch him on the Ed Sullivan Show and other venues that typically showcased white performers. And he demonstrated why we spent small fortunes to see the “Victory” Tour and why we would have paid hundreds of dollars if the “This Is It” Tour came to America. We paid attention to everything he wore, did and said. And while white audiences fell in love with his precocious face and child-like innocence, blacks saw him as a representation of W.E.B. DuBois’ concept of duality of two souls at war within one body.
Michael gave hope to black boys that were shy, had acne, and doubted their physical appearance, making them sexually vulnerable to stronger and more dominant women. He proved that you could be a “gentle” man. However, Jackson’s outward persona equally challenged race relations at a time when black parents were still afraid of their sons being lynched for associating with white women. He dated Broke Shields and Tatum O’Neal and would later marry two white women, including Lisa Marie Presley. At a time when whites were still protesting interracial romances on television dramas, the nationally televised Jackson-Presley kiss was a milestone. Jackson taught our generation how to co-exist between races. Many times, he got away with things because he seemed so innocent or even asexual.
A more masculine Jackson emerged following his performance in “The Wiz.” The release of “Off The Wall” signaled a change in black music. It was not just soul music or R&B but something evolutionary. “Don’t Stop Til You Get Enough,” with Quincy Jones as producer and Jackson as songwriter, was the first song in forging this rock assisted sound. By the time Jackson released “Bad,” the now croutch grabbing Jackson had officially conquered the American racial divide. He had emerged victorious as the first black artist on MTV and had gathered the hardware to demonstrate his place as an artist.
And if the common people could identify with him, it meant that the rich and famous had no choice. Jackson recorded with Slash, McCartney, Jagger, Wonder, Ross, and Madonna. Celebrities including Liza Minnelli, Iman, Magic Johnson, Eddie Murphy, Michael Jordan and Elizabeth Taylor were in his videos. John Landis, Spike Lee, John Singleton, and Martin Scorsese, crafted his videos. World leaders, including Princess Diana, Ronald Reagan, Jimmy Carter, and Nelson Mandela wanted photo opportunities. Such power enabled Jackson to traverse the media as a star and voyeur. Jackson personas varied between victim, watcher and protester. It also gave his causes and ideas legitimacy. His love of children, his personal and professional contributions to charities providing aid to children, and his campaigning on their behalf forced Americans to look outward. Africa, a continent largely neglected in human aid, gained a strong advocate in Jackson.
Jackson emerged as a force for change in the post-Civil Rights era. His songs spoke about gangs, sex, love, illegitimacy, the environment, and world peace. While whites ignorantly considered him just an entertainer, he taught a younger generation of blacks how to conquer the world. He played a key role in the social transformation that made black entertainers moguls and made Barack Obama’s election possible. His music videos, whether fictional or documentary, placed Jackson as a centerpiece to human experiences. The videos were his speeches, swaying opinions, allowing him to become a champion of the oppressed.
Jackson was the first African American who learned how to manipulate the media. He was a shrewd businessman who made millions outside of the industry. His dissemination of self-created rumors led the press to consider him crazy, but he profited from each orchestration of the news. His ultimate manipulation of the fans and the media, the marriage to Lisa Marie Presley was a stroke of genius, and a breakthrough in race relations.
Through shyness and isolation, Jackson made a nation and the world feel sympathetic and empathetic for a black man in a way never imagined in American history. A force on stage and reserved in private, America never knew which personality was the real Michael Jackson.
In life, Michael Jackson as musical hero is easy to recognize. However, in death Michael Jackson as an activist and mirror of black culture might be the reason he should be considered an icon.
Happy Birthday Michael!!!
By Leslie Wilson
The June 25th death of Michael Jackson, evoked a range of emotions. Grieving for Jackson consisted of two parts, one commercial and another personal. Commercialized mourning of the “King of Pop” focused on his life, death, and legacy. The media gave it a full court press with Jackson dominating the news for weeks. Questions focused on the cause of death, an alleged homicide; the paternity and fate of his children; division of his estate; and his final resting place.
While the media televised tributes, reissued his musical catalogue, and the replayed his videos, merchants hawked Jackson paraphernalia. Fans in contrast, offered less sophisticated responses with makeshift memorials, dedicated web tributes and impromptu crowds gathering to listen to his music. At the same time, individually and collectively, they reflected on the things that connected them to Jackson.
As a fan and historian, I came to several conclusions. First, that in death, all of our great cross-over stars are returned to the soil with the issue of race dominating their celebrations. As Professor Melissa Lacewell-Harris suggests, they are born black and die black.
Second, that through the lens of race, we tend to look at events in different ways. While blacks forgave Jackson for his alleged crimes, whites continually praised him but did not let us forget what he had done.
And finally, that despite the title of “King of Pop,” we continually underestimate the impact of Jackson in an era of great artists. Jackson’s passing dwarfed those of Barry White, Isaac Hayes, Marvin Gaye, Rick James and James Brown, each an icon in his own right.
In considering Jackson’s impact on my life, I realized that he is one of the most influential people of the twentieth century. He was a phenomenal performer, but equally a philanthropist, civil rights activist, and generational role model.
For my generation, those born between 1950 and 1970, this is a terrible loss. Jackson’s life highlighted an era of social, political and economic change. He embodied the psychological experiences and pressures associated with being Negro, black and then African American, and finding a space in an integrated America. His very personal and public ordeals with physical and verbal abuse, self-image, education, color consciousness, good hair, relationships with children, and ultimately, interracial dating and marriage, reflected discussions that took place on the street corners, in living rooms, and in minds of most blacks of this period.
He was born on August 29, 1958, when social integration was beginning to be seen as more than a forced experiment. By the time Jackson made his first major television appearance in1969, more than ten years had passed since the 1955 murder of Emmett Till, the Montgomery Bus Boycott, and the rendering of the Brown decision. The “Jackson era” consisted of more of Vietnam and Watergate than of civil rights.
While a child of a revolutionary era, when Jackson gave a black power salute, it was on the stage. Jackson watched the more political action from the sidelines. He was biding his time, waiting for his moment. When he decided to enter the fray, he found a new medium for social justice in the emerging media technologies. And when he mastered it, Jackson became a revolutionary in his own right.
The Jacksons were an illustration of the blending of “Good Times” and “The Jeffersons,” hit television shows featuring African-American family life. Joseph and Katherine Jackson and their children were participants in the struggles that characterized African-American life during the end of civil rights movement. Their migration from the heavily black industrial community of Gary, Indiana, to fame and fortune in Los Angeles mirrored the physical and economic movement of blacks from the less privileged to an aspiring middle class.
I think black audiences drew strength from the visible failings and social challenges confronted by the Jacksons. Blacks, however, knew that the Jackson family was neither typical nor perfect. They were caught in a world between assimilation and integration and working class and rich values. The strict and dominating Joe Jackson did not seem like the All-American compassionate father. He was portrayed as brash and unsophisticated. Katherine Jackson, while presented as extremely loving, took a secondary role in the development of her children. It provided the perfect scenario for charges of physical and verbal abuse and adultery. The Jackson children also offered their own accounts of family abuse. La Toya, Janet and Michael spoke ill of their father and his controlling personality. Each tried to escape his dictates. Later stories emerged that the older Jackson boys accepted some of these behaviors and joined their father in sexual escapades on the road. Eventually only Michael was not a participant in these adventures.
The senior Jackson seemed to ignore the value of education at a time when most blacks coveted knowledge. Michael’s autobiography, published in 1988 and edited by Jacqueline Onassis, suggested that his writing skills were far from perfect. The Jackson children had unique names that seemed more Latino than African American. There was La Toya, Sigmund Esco (Jackie), Toriano Adaryll (Tito) and Jermaine Lajuane. With their colorful outfits and big Afros, the Jackson’s presented a different sense of style from more conservative black perspectives. The ability to have “good hair” for long Afros awakened an age old controversy. And as some members of the family joined the Jehovah’s Witness, they did not belong to a more traditional religious denomination. Each issue drew them further away from the centrist audience.
To make them more appealing to blacks and whites, Motown’s handlers pressed countless buttons. They refused to let the Jacksons play their own instruments in the studio and pen their own songs. They also tried to create a fairy tale love affair between Jermaine and Hazel, the daughter of Berry Gordy. They attempted to romanticize the boys and “sell” dates with them through magazines. Such problems continued even after leaving Motown and joining Epic Records in 1975. For instance, while they were the first African American family to have a variety television series (1976) and a cartoon series (1971), it was difficult to pinpoint the core audience. Mixed messages were associated with each venture. The variety show was designed to compete with the white bread Osmond’s Family show, which featured fan-friendly Donny and Marie. And, the Jacksons’ cartoon series embraced a several rodents as companions for the boys, hardly allowing them to escape images of the rat infested ghetto.
However, it was Michael that made the Jacksons’ acceptable. And as the youngest Motown prodigy, Michael had to sell the new ideas of race, class and social acceptance. It was his stage presence that shined above the rest, but none of the family including Janet, seemed comfortable with the audience when the music stopped.
Yet, Jackson transformed traditional black ideas about style. From colorful outfits, large Afros and lengthy boots, Michael pushed a new “mod black” fashion. Big Afros were a symbol of racial pride, but also associated with the legacy of “good black hair” equally awakened dying thoughts in the black community. Later bouts with complexion lightening and plastic surgery became major issues for a community that would shortly embrace skin lighteners, colored contact lenses and blonde hair. More often than not, Michael aroused the African-American consciousness in selling a new vision of “blackness”.
Michael succeeded in spite of his father and Berry Gordy. The Motown 25 celebration showed him at his best. The careful discarding of the old songs leading to a triumphant “Billie Jean” moonwalk, showed why he, rather than the other Motown headliners, became our hero. On stage Michael was fearless, dynamic and powerful. He demonstrated why we waited patiently to watch him on the Ed Sullivan Show and other venues that typically showcased white performers. And he demonstrated why we spent small fortunes to see the “Victory” Tour and why we would have paid hundreds of dollars if the “This Is It” Tour came to America. We paid attention to everything he wore, did and said. And while white audiences fell in love with his precocious face and child-like innocence, blacks saw him as a representation of W.E.B. DuBois’ concept of duality of two souls at war within one body.
Michael gave hope to black boys that were shy, had acne, and doubted their physical appearance, making them sexually vulnerable to stronger and more dominant women. He proved that you could be a “gentle” man. However, Jackson’s outward persona equally challenged race relations at a time when black parents were still afraid of their sons being lynched for associating with white women. He dated Broke Shields and Tatum O’Neal and would later marry two white women, including Lisa Marie Presley. At a time when whites were still protesting interracial romances on television dramas, the nationally televised Jackson-Presley kiss was a milestone. Jackson taught our generation how to co-exist between races. Many times, he got away with things because he seemed so innocent or even asexual.
A more masculine Jackson emerged following his performance in “The Wiz.” The release of “Off The Wall” signaled a change in black music. It was not just soul music or R&B but something evolutionary. “Don’t Stop Til You Get Enough,” with Quincy Jones as producer and Jackson as songwriter, was the first song in forging this rock assisted sound. By the time Jackson released “Bad,” the now croutch grabbing Jackson had officially conquered the American racial divide. He had emerged victorious as the first black artist on MTV and had gathered the hardware to demonstrate his place as an artist.
And if the common people could identify with him, it meant that the rich and famous had no choice. Jackson recorded with Slash, McCartney, Jagger, Wonder, Ross, and Madonna. Celebrities including Liza Minnelli, Iman, Magic Johnson, Eddie Murphy, Michael Jordan and Elizabeth Taylor were in his videos. John Landis, Spike Lee, John Singleton, and Martin Scorsese, crafted his videos. World leaders, including Princess Diana, Ronald Reagan, Jimmy Carter, and Nelson Mandela wanted photo opportunities. Such power enabled Jackson to traverse the media as a star and voyeur. Jackson personas varied between victim, watcher and protester. It also gave his causes and ideas legitimacy. His love of children, his personal and professional contributions to charities providing aid to children, and his campaigning on their behalf forced Americans to look outward. Africa, a continent largely neglected in human aid, gained a strong advocate in Jackson.
Jackson emerged as a force for change in the post-Civil Rights era. His songs spoke about gangs, sex, love, illegitimacy, the environment, and world peace. While whites ignorantly considered him just an entertainer, he taught a younger generation of blacks how to conquer the world. He played a key role in the social transformation that made black entertainers moguls and made Barack Obama’s election possible. His music videos, whether fictional or documentary, placed Jackson as a centerpiece to human experiences. The videos were his speeches, swaying opinions, allowing him to become a champion of the oppressed.
Jackson was the first African American who learned how to manipulate the media. He was a shrewd businessman who made millions outside of the industry. His dissemination of self-created rumors led the press to consider him crazy, but he profited from each orchestration of the news. His ultimate manipulation of the fans and the media, the marriage to Lisa Marie Presley was a stroke of genius, and a breakthrough in race relations.
Through shyness and isolation, Jackson made a nation and the world feel sympathetic and empathetic for a black man in a way never imagined in American history. A force on stage and reserved in private, America never knew which personality was the real Michael Jackson.
In life, Michael Jackson as musical hero is easy to recognize. However, in death Michael Jackson as an activist and mirror of black culture might be the reason he should be considered an icon.
Happy Birthday Michael!!!
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