Racializing Michael Jackson's Legacy: It Does Matter if You're Black or White

“We want to celebrate this black man,” Mr. Foxx said of Michael Jackson. “He belongs to us and we shared him with everybody else.” - Jamie Foxx, (from the New York Times)

I recently received a comment on my Facebook page from a relative, who seemed confused (and somewhat angry) as to why African-Americans were making a 'racial issue' of Michael Jackson's death. I didn't respond. It was early in the morning and I didn't feel like serving as a spokesperson for the entire black population that day.

The evening before the BET Awards had aired. Some people (yes, black folks too) were annoyed at the buffoonery of the show, criticizing that their tribute to MJ only consisted of 23 minutes of the three and a half-hour show. Also, some (like myself) were puzzled as to why Michael's father (and his physical and emotional abuser) Joe Jackson, was seated in the front row, smiling and basking in the attention. Some wondered why singer (and spousal abuser) Chris Brown did not take part in the tribute.

Now to be fair, the organizers of BET had only two days to pull this together. They are far from perfect, not a whole lot of people I know even watch the channel, so what's the big deal?

Race is an extremely sensitive issue. So sensitive that even what you might think is the most innocuous conversation can turn to a heated, bloody fistfight in a second. On the other hand, there is also is discomfort when people from ethnocultural communities - most often, black folks - discuss race. There are some that have such a hard time interacting with others who do not look like them, that when these people assert a differing opinion or a perspective that is 'uncolonized', they lose their minds: I.E Sonya Sotomayor.

When you raise an issue concerning race, has someone ever said "You are raising the issue. I don't see anything wrong with it?" It means that the person, like many others, would simply prefer that the issue remains unspoken and that it is your issue for raising it.

Some of the ire comes from (all communities) Jackson's appearance. His bleached skin, wig / weave of Caucasian hair and his altered appearance seemed to translate that he didn't like his afrocentric features. There is also the undeniable fact that his music, transmitted and celebrated globally was not specifically geared towards one ethnic group. He had white, Latino, Asian, South Asian fans. It did not matter what color he was to them, so why does it to us?

Blogging for CNN, Racialicious founder and the president of New Demographic ( a consultancy firm), Carmen Van Kerkhove wrote this:

Whatever drove this apparent self-loathing, I don’t believe we can separate race from the equation. Race cannot be separated with precision from body dimorphic disorder, hatred of his tyrannical father, or any potentially relevant theory being discussed right now.

Why?

Because if he hated his body, he was hating a black man’s body. If he hated his father, he was hating a black man. Race ran through it all; we cannot and should not dismiss its effect.

Does that mean we should take the alterations he made to his appearance as evidence that he hated being black?

Not necessarily.

The Daily Voice's Pamela D. Reed chose to - as many other did - to remember what Jackson's image in popular culture meant to her as a child growing up in rural Louisiana:

Yes, I know about his later years, his eccentricity, and all the accusations. But right now, I choose not to remember that--and how he was savaged by the media, who treated him like he was not flesh and blood, with human feelings.

What is bothering  to some is that some view African-American communities as having a selective memory. Accused murder and current convicted felon O.J Simpson, accused pedophile R. Kelly and most recently, abuser Chris Brown have all received an uncomfortable amount of support from black communities. Critics now see the tearful brown faces on television, the cries that the "King of Pop" is dead, the confessions from blacks who wax poetic about how much he meant to them and are puzzled.

Constructive Feedback at Politics, Policy, Pathology and HOPE Within the Black Community posted a picture of Jackson's two older (white)children and questioned the denial that they feel many have had about Jackson's allegiance to his ethnicity and culture: 

Keep in mind, however that - this post AIN'T about Michael Jackson. Its about YOU. How long are you going to be selective in your judgments regarding those who "offend" your racial dignity with their actions? We know that the wrong "thoughts" can get you excommunicated. What about the wrong actions in which a certain genetic market is extinguished from a man and those beings that come from his seed? Is this worthy of banishment?

So why is this a racial issue? Why are we seeing so many black folks support Jackson? Here's an example. I was speaking to a good friend about Jackson's 1993 trial and she was skeptical at why director Roman Polanski, who admitted to having sex with an underage girl, was never prosecuted for his actions. Granted, he fled the country but years later, received an Oscar Award. He has also had Americans petition for him to be allowed to enter the US and to be pardoned of his crime. She listed off the white actors and politicians whose sordid pasts included sex with underage girls and boys, and questioned why it seemed to be acceptable to white people that these men walk free, yet black men are (figuratively) hung and quartered.

Whether you like it or not, race and racism not only plays a huge factor on who we choose to love or hate, celebrate or scorn, how justice is laid. Justice is not blind, and for some, that is enough for them to be selective in their memories.