A post in which I ponder the accolades for Michael Jackson

This is a post I have waited to write. I’ve been trying to turn it over in my head and figure some things out, but I remain confused.

Michael Jackson died on June 25, 2009. He was a gifted entertainer, a vastly talented singer, a living legend, and a pedophile.

I’m not going to waste tons of time arguing this truth, but I will briefly address the nay-sayers, most of whom probably stopped reading the post after the above sentence. I have read the declaration given by Jordie Chandler, the first molestation victim to come forward. If this child wasn’t telling the truth, his family sat down with him and had him memorize a book on how pedophiles seduce children, all of which he remembered, step by step, in giving a deposition to social services. I have given a deposition to social services myself, and I know what that is like. I think it unlikely to the point of impossibility that a twelve year old boy could give such a detailed and consistent story to the authorities seamlessly.

I saw the Bashir documentary. At the time, the footage of MJ with Gavin Arvizo alarmed me. I was more surprised that he had actually come forward than I was that Michael Jackson molested him when his allegations finally became public. His family is poor, dysfunctional, and his mother seems to be borderline of some kind of disorder; but none of this changes the facts, although they most assuredly did change the outcome of the court case.

Both boys supplied the police with drawings of Michael Jackson’s genitalia that matched the unique skin patterns (caused by vitiligo) shown in photographs taken of Jackson’s privates during the Jordie Chandler investigation. This to me is the equivalent of (or stronger than) the 'Hansel and Gretel' blood trail left by OJ Simpson from Nicole Brown Simpson’s house to his own on the night he killed her. There was an additional settlement with a maid over the molestation of her son for $2.5million that Jackson’s people quietly made go away, and which was not broadly covered in the media.

I followed the trial extensively. I have read about his life; most notably the series of articles Vanity Fair did about him. These articles are by far the most informative, and in my opinion illuminating, look into his private life (if not in possession of the most attributed sources). I have tried to think about things from his perspective, and it makes perfect sense within the framework of a molester who is sexually arrested. From what I have read about his life I do have a measure of sympathy for him (as much sympathy as I can have for any molester, anyway). He didn’t have much a childhood and his father was a bastard by all accounts. But I am also a firm believer that at some point in your life, you become more than just a product of your childhood. You have to step into adulthood and begin to make decisions about where you are going from here. You don’t write the beginning of your story, but you certainly write the end. MJ had every advantage. He was talented, beloved, enormously wealthy, and had the world at his feet. He didn’t have to pursue young boys. He certainly had access to any of the best treatment offered in the world. Instead, he built what has been referred to as a real-life version of Pinocchio’s Pleasure Island, where young boys are trapped in a fantasy and exposed to vice.

I understand why fans don’t want to believe the truth. This man was tremendously talented. He changed music, and practically invented the music video. He was non-threatening (if you weren’t around him personally). Many children grew up with the image and presence of Michael Jackson and his music in their lives. To tarnish his image is to color their young memories with a cynicism, a taint of the real world, which they resist. Hell, for that matter, I was a teenager in the 80’s – I would love to be able to believe he was innocent. For hardcore fans, of course, it is always hard to realize that your idol has feet of clay - some simply refuse. If even your hero is faulty, what is left to aspire to in this world? People naturally resist the idea that something they have long admired and respected is unworthy of said respect. It means they have squandered that admiration and respect. No one wants to think they have wasted part of their life and affection on an unworthy object. It invalidates part of your self.

I can understand, to an extent, why the parents couldn’t (or didn’t want to) believe it when it was happening. Denial by a parent is very common in molestation cases. Parents don’t want to believe that something like that can happen. They don’t want to have to accuse someone and deal with the anger, the guilt, the reality that their child has been assaulted and damaged. They don’t want to disrupt life as they know it. And that’s just in average cases that don’t involve a perpetrator that buys new cars, expensive watches, jewelry, or dream vacations. Arvizo’s family lived in the barrio. Visiting Neverland was like a dream world to them. They would have to be really, really sure of his guilt to accuse him. And the fact that he had a pattern of separating the boys from their parents on the grounds of the huge estate made it really easy to maintain a denial mindset.

I understand why the Jackson family has rallied round and denied everything through the years. MJ was the gravy train - the most talented star of a talented family. The rest of them basically lived on his coat-tails. He was making the payments on the Jackson family home. Even Janet, the close second (some would say superior) talent in the family, can sure attribute her start, at least, to her brother. The Jacksons are all poorly educated. They have no marketable skills besides entertainment. You don’t kill the goose that lays the golden eggs. Far better to believe what is convenient.

There are things, though, that I don’t understand. I don’t understand the media’s white-wash (no pun intended) of all the allegations against MJ since his death. I’ve seen numerous documentaries about his contribution to the entertainment industry, his genius-level talent, and his life. But most either skip (or make the most fleeting mention of) the single most defining issue of his notoriety. I suppose that this isn’t what fans want to see, and non-fans aren’t watching. I suppose that the not guilty verdict at his trial does give them plausible deniability. I suppose that to some extent you’re not supposed to speak ill of the dead – although if the media is behaving with restraint and good taste now, that is certainly an unusual phenomenon. But it’s as if society has breathed a collective sigh of relief and decided now that he is dead, we don’t have to deal with the unpleasantness. We can just sweep it under the rug and pay homage.

**OK here comes the section that would force me to resign office or ruin my career were I famous**

I don’t understand why the black community has rallied around his memory and appears to completely buy his ‘innocence’. Rev. Al Sharpton reportedly spoke directly to his children, saying “There was nothing strange about your daddy.” And he knows this how?

While I have to admit that MJ did break down racial barriers (with MTV in particular), you could also argue that he did so by being an Uncle Tom of sorts. He broke those barriers by being the whitest and least threatening of black people – someone who wouldn’t offend white sensitivities. He was also reportedly a racist. He had private names for black people like “jivebos” or “spabooks”. He definitely used a skin bleaching cream, called Benoquin, on his face, and at least once on his genitals (officially to help treat his vitiligo, but he personally admitted to one maid that he used the cream for cosmetic reasons, because he didn’t like being black). He had a white woman artificially inseminated by a white sperm donor rather than father his own children – reportedly because he didn’t want black children. Even his victims (or "special friends" in Jackson parlance) were a parade of similar-looking caucasian boys. I don’t understand how any black celebrity could reject their race more than MJ did.

And yet, the community lauds him as a demi-god. One after another, notable African Americans came forth to praise him in memoriam. People like Rev. Al Sharpton I kind of take with a grain of salt. My impression of him is that he’s always looking for the latest cause célèbre to link his name and image to and get his face out there; although I must admit after listening to him speak during his presidential campaign, he is more intelligent than I previously suspected. But Queen Latifah eulogized him! I have to say that my respect for her took a blow when I saw her up there. She has always seemed like a no-BS kinda gal, seemed to have a healthy self-respect, and certainly didn’t need the fame of being seen. She read a poem written by Maya Angelou in honor of Michael Jackson – another noteworthy personage who certainly didn’t have to lend her cache to further her fame.

I just don’t get it. There are so many laudable and admirable role models to choose from within the African American community. Why this reverence?

This is yet another example of what I have come to privately refer to as 'Clarence Thomas Syndrome'. During the Clarence Thomas hearings, the rank and file of the black community staunchly threw their support behind Clarence Thomas. Why? By all accounts, the only thing black about Clarence Thomas was his skin. An arch conservative, he had taken a position against Affirmative Action, among other issues germane to the black community. The NAACP opposed his nomination, for heaven’s sake! But the average black person asserted repeatedly in the media that if he was not approved it would be a racist act. They believed that Anita Hill was lying. Why would she? To ruin her career? To become a national laughing-stock and pariah? There was another woman Clarence Thomas had harassed who refused to testify. This was not an affair. This was systematic and misogynistic harassment of women by a powerful man who didn’t think they would be believed if they came forward. Turns out they weren’t. At least by the ones who mattered. And this man now sits on the highest court in the land, administering and interpreting laws he has flouted.

The same thing happened during the OJ Simpson case, which much more closely parallels the MJ hearing. Both cases were an indictment of the American criminal justice system. The question in both cases was – if you have enough money, can you buy a verdict? The answer in both cases seems to be yes. I guess white people have been doing it for a long time – it’s no secret that many times court procedures reflect which side has the better lawyer rather than actual justice. We waited to see if black people - traditionally at a disadvantage if accused (as can readily be seen by conviction rates – blacks make up about 10-12% of the population, but about 47% of the incarcerated population as of 1997) could buy a verdict as well. Apparently they can. Despite an overwhelming amount of physical evidence, a lack of alibi, and a history of domestic abuse, OJ was acquitted as we all know. Black people were reportedly jubilant. Why? He also had long abandoned the black community that so fervently supported him. When he became famous, he left his black wife to marry a white woman many years his junior. He lived in an affluent white suburb.

I don’t understand this, coming from the gay community. Admittedly, homosexuals aren’t as readily identifiable as a group as black people are. We don’t have a physical marker that immediately sets us apart from the community at large. Many of us can “pass” when we need to, or when it’s convenient. In some ways this has held us back. It’s easier to justify not pushing for your rights when you can live your life without risk in the closet. That’s not an option most black people have. I can say though, that when we choose a spokesperson or idol in the gay community, we make damn sure he or she is beyond reproach. If they haven’t supported the community, or are a poor representative, they are fair game. The best example of this is the community’s treatment of Harry Hay. Hay was one of the co-founders of the Mattachine Society – the forerunner of the modern gay rights movement. He had been a part of things since the beginning, and had done a lot of important work for the community. You can still find footage of him speaking out on behalf of the homosexuals, as in the documentary Before Stonewall. When Harry Hay began to use his voice to advocate NAMBLA, however, the community swiftly took that voice from him. He didn’t represent the community as a whole, and was showing the gay people in a bad light, therefore, he was removed from his role of spokesperson/idol/hero. You'd be hard pressed to find a young person now who has heard of him. (But in fairness you'd be hard-pressed to find a young person now who has heard of the Mattachine Society either - that's already been covered in another rant.)

Advocating Michael Jackson as a role model for black children would be like advocating Larry Craig as a role model for gay children. I just don’t see it, and I doubt I ever will.

I’ll say this at the risk of being accused of condescension. African American community – you can do better. You don’t have to cling blindly to lascivious traitors, murderous ex-football stars, or child molesters as notable black figures. You do a disservice to your people when you do.

I suppose I have focused on Michael Jackson because of my own experience in coming from a background of molestation. It is very common for molesters to get away with their crimes. I suppose it shouldn’t come as a surprise that so rich, famous, and well-connected a person as MJ should get away with it. But I can’t help feeling for those boys he left broken in his wake. Chandler lives as a recluse – a rich recluse, but a recluse all the same. Arvizo faced the media rape of his family, and re-lived one of the most profound and personal traumas of his life on the stand; and all for nothing.

At the time of the trial, I thought it would be a huge step forward for the molestation community as a whole if Arvizo was vindicated. Instead, I now think about the children who have seen this case and been afraid to come forward. I wonder what message we have sent to molesters. They are held up to ridicule and derision when caught, but they are the wiliest of perpetrators. How many were emboldened by MJ’s ‘victory’?

I take comfort in the fact that MJ faces a higher Judge now, in a court where money and lies won’t stand; although there is definitely a part of me that wishes he had faced some earthly retribution for his crimes. At the same time, I have sympathy for the broken child that became this broken man. I’m glad that God has the wisdom to sort this all out. I’m quite sure that I don’t. So I have to give my confusion and conflict over to God (and share the process with you, gentle reader), and trust that He’s going to fix it.