The last week has been awash with just about every interpretation of Michael Jackson’s life, legacy and impact that you could imagine. One of my friends commented how she remembers getting suspended in high school for standing on a table and singing “Black or White” during lunch. We’ve seen tons of people crying on the street.
Unlike a lot of people, I don’t have many memories of Jackson directly. I liked his music as much as the next person, but I always found Michael Jackson the “image” as interesting as I found his music. From movies to television to stand up comedy, Michael Jackson was a punching bag for America’s race, sex and class issues, and I can only hope that in death he’s finally found some peace from the hell that must have been his life.
When I heard of Jackson’s death the first thing I thought of was not a song, or a performance, but a quote from the movie “Three Kings”. For those of you who may not remember, “Three Kings” starred George Clooney, Ice Cube and Mark Wahlberg as three Gulf War soldiers who went AWOL searching for what they believed was hidden cash by Saddam Hussein. Mark Wahlberg’s character was caught by an Iraqi soldier and they had the following fascinating exchange:
Iraqi Soldier: What is the problem with Michael Jackson?
Sergeant Barlow: What do you mean?
Iraqi Soldier: He come to Egypt, I see picture in newspaper. “Hello” with the white glove. I’m Michael Jackson in my auto room, with my chop up face. Your country make him chop up his face.
Sergeant Barlow: No, that’s (expletive) he did it to himself.
Iraqi Soldier: You are the blind (expletive) my main man. It’s obvious, a black man make his skin white and the hair straight, and you know why?
Sergeant Barlow: No.
Iraqi Soldier: Your sick (expletive) country make the black man hate himself, just like you hate the Arab and the children you bomb over here.
When I saw this scene for the first time in 1999 it shocked me that it was one of the few times that anyone dared speak the truth about what “we” Americans did to Michael Jackson rather than how he influenced us. For all of his faults this man was tortured, infantilized and de-racialized by the American public so that he could be a convenient moment in entertainment that was non-threatening and acceptable.
Within an hour of his death I already caught on the news how the revisionists were telling a new tale of who Michael Jackson was and shrugging their shoulders about where his racial and sexual issues may have stemmed from. Sheppard Smith, a reporter on Fox News said, “For many whites in the Mid-West. Michael Jackson was the first… I mean, people saw this 8-year-old performing and said – This one’s okay! At least it was like that in my home. He wasn’t black, he was Americana.”
This is of course a blatant lie. While Michael and the Jackson 5 were immediate hits with the black and urban communities since the 1970’s much of white America resisted him as they did many other acts of color for years. In fact, many musical historians suggest that the “Osmonds” were created as a bit of acceptably white “counter-programming” to the Jackson’s similar to how New Kids on the Block was created to be a white version of New Edition.
Despite his popular influence Jackson was forced to forgo his race and sexuality in meaningful ways to make a career for himself. He could grab his crotch on stage because Americans knew he wouldn’t use it, he could buy the rights to the Beatles music because they never thought he could keep it. At every turn he was a safe man-child.
Eddie Murphy summed up much of America’s relationship with Michael Jackson perfectly in his second comedy special “Raw” way back in 1987.
Eddie Murphy: (Michael said) “I don’t have sex because of my religious beliefs…. And the public believed it….You know how I knew y’all believed it?....Y’all didn’t get mad when he took Brooke Shields to the Grammys. And Brooke Shields is the whitest woman in America….
“If I took Brooke Shields to the Grammys, y’all would lose your mind. Because y’all know Brooke would get (expletived) that night. And Brooke knew too.”
We may never know if Michael Jackson hated himself the way that Iraqi soldier said, or if he knew the role he played in the way Eddie Murphy depicted him, but one thing was clear: No matter how he may have fought it, it always mattered whether HE was black or white.
(Dr. Jason Johnson is an associate professor of political science and communications at Hiram College in Ohio. He can be reached at johnsonja@hiram.edu.)
