•
Dear Michael - The Eyes of Innocence
Yes. I truly believe that. A cacophony of events leading up to and surrounding Michael’s birthday brought all this together for me and I can make that statement with a great deal of certainty, judging by what I’ve seen regarding the way he was treated in his life, and by what I still see now in the current political, legal, and social landscape.
Besides Michael’s impending birthday, there were other things swirling around, which mixed current political events with our nation’s civil rights history in some very untoward, abusive, disingenuous, putrid, and sneaky ways. It made me realize how very little has changed when it comes to true racial equality and the civil rights movement.
First, there was Glenn Beck and the Tea Party’s attempt at “reclaiming the civil rights movement” on August 28th, the day before Michael’s birthday. Now, Beck claims he didn’t know that this was the 47th anniversary of MLK’s “I Have a Dream” speech. Once he found out he stated that his intent then was to “reclaim” the movement – a movement that he and the Tea Party initially had absolutely nothing to do with (thus “reclaiming” it is nonsense) and which we are very much not done with, thankyouverymuch. No, Mr. Beck you may not have it and you will not have it.
Whether Beck knew or did not know that August 28th was such an anniversary, his ignorance and/or arrogance is in my opinion astounding but nonetheless befitting a well-to-do white mouthpiece for a racist movement which is busily fomenting the kind of ignorance, hatred and division we’d hoped to be done with by this time in our history – and which Michael Jackson fought against all his life.
I share below a quote from another article about another anniversary on August 28th which many people are not aware of:
What people have not recognized is that Dr. King’s 1963 speech itself fell on another significant anniversary–the August 28, 1955 lynching of Mother Mobley’s son, Emmett Till, who was accused of whistling at a white woman on his visit with relatives in the Mississippi Delta.
. . .
Eight years ago, I visited her on the anniversary of Emmett’s lynching. I brought flowers because, well, it just seemed like the right thing to do. She was despondent and told me that people always called her on the 28th of August. They would say, “You know what day this is, don’t you?” And she looked at me deeply with eyes that long ago had run out of tears and said, “I don’t need reminders. I can never forget this day.”
She would want us to remember, too. Not just the event. But its meaning.
That is why Mother Mobley, a Chicago teacher who mined her grief for a mission in life, would see Saturday’s collision of symbols as a teachable moment. She understood the politics of difference, the politics of place. As an African American whose family had barely escaped Southern atrocities, she recognized the potential pushback when you stepped out of place. Like whistling at a white woman. Or living in the White House.
So she would see parallels between then and now. She could interpret the code, the messages of hate and racism that get embedded in the vocabulary of patriotism. Years ago, she tuned into what we all now recognize, in the parlance of Politico.com, as “dog whistle politics,” that perfect pitch of the rabid right.
-SOURCE: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/chris-benson/beckapalooza-tramples-on-_b_696715.html
Second, there are the Koch Brothers. These two very rich white guys are major funders of the Tea Party movement, though they don’t like it when their names are mentioned or seen in connection with it. Judging by the blatantly racist signs we’ve seen them waving at their rallys, I guess I don’t blame them for wanting to keep their support a secret. They have been by far one of Obama’s biggest detractors on virtually every issue, having waged a veritable political war against him since he took office. They covertly fund various think tanks such as Americans for Prosperity and the Cato Institute and many others, though their names are difficult if not impossible to find in connection with those organizations – and that is just the way they like it. These guys own oil companies, carpet manufacturers, paper towel brands, and many other corporate interests. Much like the Carlyle Group – they are one of the most influential owners and controllers of our society and political discourse you’ve never heard of. They’ve paid for busses to bus people to Tea Party events such as the one last Saturday, and one of the Koch brothers himself spoke at Beck’s rally along with Americans for Prosperity’s President Tim Phillips. Much more detail on these guys, their background, their covert political tentacles, and their modus operandi can be found here: http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/08/30/100830fa_fact_mayer?currentPage=all
Third, I watched in horror as Mr. Alan Simpson of the “Deficit Reduction Commission” railed nastily about Social Security and those who depend on the program. His remarks seemed very typical of an out-of-touch well-cared-for politician who will never have to depend on that program for survival. What was worse than what this guy said was what didn’t happen after he said it. It took less than 24 hours for Shirley Sherrod to be ousted from her job within that administration – no questions asked – based upon a chopped-up, taken out-of-context YouTube video created by a notorious racist which was meant to frame and target Ms. Sherrod (and whom she is now rightfully suing). But Mr. Simpson got to keep his job – no questions asked. Racism? Sexism? Or just “politics“? Hmmm…
Fourth, various stories I picked up on during the week: An article I read recently in an independent paper talks about ‘backlash‘ – that seeing a black man in the White House is something that some people simply cannot take. I think there’s a lot to that, unfortunately.
Another story I got wind of was one where a Muslim man helped save some of his neighbors after Katrina in New Orleans. His “reward” for his kindness to his neighbors was being targeted by police, arrested for no reason other than being Muslim, being accused of being a terrorist and working with Al Queda, being put in prison for no reason other than he was Muslim, and denied communication with his wife and children the entire time.
This is just exactly the kind of ignorance, hatred, and fear Michael railed against, sang against, and fought against all his life.
We must learn to live and to love each other before it’s too late. We have to stop the prejudice, we have to stop the hating, we have to stop living in fear of our own neighbors.
-Michael Jackson
And lastly, while threats against a newly elected president usually increase right after an election, Barack Obama was the first black president ever elected. Because of that and because racism is still rampant in the United States, the threats against newly-elected President Obama spiked a shocking %400 percent or so. This is unprecedented in the history of the United States. Anyone harboring the idea that just because we managed to elect a black President, that racism is over, or that things have even improved that much, had better think again. This very obviously is far from the truth.
While there were other factors such as individual and corporate greed, pure jealousy, typical corporate parasitism and abuse (the modus operandi of disaster capitalism), and sheer competition for power and money, the destruction of Michael Jackson and his life is also tied inextricably into all this racist mess, past and present. Michael married Elvis’s daughter – a white woman. Emmett Till whistled at a white woman. Both were destroyed – lynched for it (and for other reasons too, in Michael’s particular case of unforgivable blackness).
Emmett Till
Michael Jackson was lynched because he had the talent, money and power to change the world and he tried. He was lynched because he not only whistled at a white woman, he married one – the daughter of a white rock-and-roll icon no less. He was lynched because he had the audacity to buy and own white iconic group The Beatles, and own half of $ony. He was lynched because he had the integrity, the power, the money, the worldwide magnetism and the worldwide following to change this world and he tried. And those who benefit most from the status quo – those who profit so handsomely from the hatred, ignorance, division, and from the parasitic corporate greed under which we live – weren’t going to have any part of that being changed – especially by some black man who can sing and dance. And as soon as Michel started noticeably selling records singing and dancing in the 1970s, the media started on him, and it spiraled out of control from there. The more famous and rich and powerful Michael Jackson became, the worse the abuse and attempts at control and/or destruction became.
All Michael Jackson was ever ‘guilty‘ of was ‘Unforgivable Blackness‘, of having unprecedented talent, a heart bigger than he was, an innocent mind, and an astute knowledge and unwavering focus on his purpose here on Earth. They didn’t lynch Michael Jackson with a noose but he was damn well lynched nonetheless.
The powers that be which benefit mightily from the status-quo, from things staying just as they are, weren’t going to have any part of allowing him any of this without a fight – without making him pay for what he’d done and was trying to do; for what they saw and evidently still see as an affront to white power and social, political, legal, and economic domination in this society. Thus, the the edict was simply: Destroy Him. And so they did. Our political, legal, propaganda (media), capitalist, and social system was brought to destroy Michael Jackson emotionally, spiritually, professionally, and economically. They can’t use rope anymore or hang them from a tree. Now, they simply use different means to lynch black men these days – and some white people too if they get too close to the truth and/or have too much power to change things from the status quo.
The strange fruit still hangs from the trees in the garden of hatred, division, ignorance and greed. Not that much has changed, except the methods they use.
Martin Luther King’s dream is not realized yet. NO — Glenn Beck, you cannot “reclaim” the civil rights movement because you or this “Tea Party” were never part of it to start with, and because we are not done with it yet! The dream hasn’t yet materialized. Far, far from it.
There is so much work yet to be done. This backlash is backwards and that’s where these pitiable hungry ghosts want to go: Backwards. They want to reverse what little forward progress has been made on this issue, and as we can see it’s much less than we might wish, and much less than we might think.
If MLK’s dream had been realized, Michael Jackson might have been alive today to celebrate his 52nd birthday with his beautiful children. But it hasn’t. And just like Emmett Till, Michael Jackson was lynched – for whistling at a white woman, and then marrying her. The marriage was defined as “fake” and a “publicity stunt” by the largely white-owned and controlled media, which could not deal with the fact that a white woman and a black man could actually love one another in a romantic sense. And just as significantly, it fed their ratings and profits to print and broadcast negative stories about Michael. The fact that he was black just made it that much easier.
Oh yes, they still lynch black people. And nothing has changed except the tools they use to do it.
Ladies and gentlemen, we are not done. We have so much work to do, and on and in between all of Michael Jackson’s birthdays that he isn’t here to celebrate because he was lynched just like Emmett Till only with a different kind of rope and for more reasons, we need to keep that in mind.
Diane, a friend of mine, said “Michael was much more than a man of “song and dance.” Michael was a heart that beat for the love of humanity.”
On Saturday August 28th, I spent 25 minutes talking to someone about these dots and how they all connected. This daft Glenn Beck thing, The Koch Brothers and their covert operation to destroy Barack Obama’s Presidency, the contrast between how Shirley Sherrod and Alan Simpson were treated and the racist and sexist connotations of that, about Emmett Till and MLK and Michael Jackson and what was done to all of them and why; about how when you want to destroy someone you find the one thing that is most near and dear to them – and that’s where you insert the knife. For Michael, that was children. They used what he loved most to destroy him. And it was intentional. And it was because he was a billionaire black man with power and influence who loved (literally and figuratively) all races and owned the music of some of the most prominent white icons of our times – and married one of their daughters. I talked about how ever since Michael bought the $ony/ATV catalog, it seemed that $ony declared war on the entity that was Michael Jackson in order to get and keep control of that catalog of music. He was too powerful, too loved, too loving, too rich, and had too much influence – and he was unforgivably black.
When they blather on about how Michael ‘hated being black‘ and so wanted to bleach his skin: Well, it wasn’t Michael Jackson who hated his blackness or his race. It was the people accusing Michael Jackson of hating his race – who hate his race. They are the one who hated Michael Jackson’s blackness. There was, IMO a whole lotta projection going on there. They wipe their filthy racist feet on Michael Jackson, their projected hatred smeared on his face like so much shit.
By the time I was done with my little rant, someone said to me:
“You know, there was a shadow of doubt in my mind about whether Michael was really innocent of the allegations against him. There was a part of me that still wasn’t sure. But now that I’ve listened to you, I am convinced he was innocent and I can see how all this ties together and it makes sense – what they did to him and why.”
I just smiled. I don’t normally talk that much. Unless I’ve got something to say. Well, I had something to say. And I changed a mind about Michael that day and made someone who was believing a lot of the media crap and propaganda about him – see the truth.
Happy Birthday Michael. It’s not much. But, it’s my gift to you.
•
_ _ _
{ NOTE: I am personally and intentionally not a member of any political party and my political views vary depending on the issue. I call it as I see it. Period. If comments on this article become too heated or divisive I will SHUT them down. This is not a political forum. Discussion of racist treatment as pertains to Michael Jackson is allowed. Discussion of political ideologies are not. Also, THANK YOU to Diane and iJay for the awesome videos and support for this piece! -Seven }
