by Hazel Trice Edney
NNPA News ServiceEditor-in-Chief

WASHINGTON - After the last song had been song, the last tribute given to beloved music icon Michael Jackson at the Staples Center on Tuesday, for some, there was one nagging question remaining: Why didn’t the Rev. Jesse Jackson speak?

The civil rights icon, a long time family friend, supporter and defender of the late Pop star was there, seated near the family and was seen greeting them during the televised moments after the memorial. He had even participated in the private ceremony at Forest Lawn Cemetery early that morning.

Yet, among the throng of seasoned speakers and entertainers who graced the stage with words of honor for Michael and encouragement to his family, friends and fans around the world, Rev. Jackson was conspicuously absent. And even more strange - Jackson himself seems oblivious to what happened.

“I don’t know what happened. I don’t want to make it any issue,” Jackson said in a telephone interview with the NNPA News Service immediately following the two and a half hour service Tuesday. “Mr. and Mrs. Jackson had asked me to speak, but I guess the program got real tight… I assumed that. I don’t know.”

While Jackson sought to play down questions about why he didn’t speak, others thought his absence to be a sin of omission.

“I couldn’t help it,” said Dr. Ron Walters, University of Maryland political scientist who has been a long time associate of Jackson’s. Walters was commenting on how he anticipated Jackson’s address before the crowd, but was surprised when it never came.

“Jesse has been very close to the Jackson family – to Michael Jackson…It was strange,” Walters said. “For somebody who has been a part of that family for many years, I would think that they owed him the opportunity to say a word.”

Walters continued, “When you have someone who is not a ‘Johnny Come Lately’, but someone who has been with the family over I don’t know how many years, this is their time. And he has defended him and fought for Michael Jackson. I just kept looking for him and he didn’t show up and I just thought it was a tremendous loss.”

Rev. Al Sharpton, another close friend of the Jackson family who has been a protégé of Rev. Jackson’s, gave an electrifying tribute to Michael Jackson that has been referred to as the eulogy.

In his address, Sharpton referred to Rev. Jackson’s long time relationship with the Jackson family, saying, “I first met Michael around the 1970 Black Expo, Chicago, Illinois. Rev. Jesse Jackson, who stood by this family till now...”

But, Sharpton said he doesn’t know what happened either.

“I don’t know,” he said when asked what he thought about Rev. Jackson’s absence from the program. “I don’t know if it was intentional or not. I really don’t want to comment on it,” Sharpton said. He noted that he was unaware of the full order of the program.

Graciously dodging any controversy, Rev. Jackson described the musical, poetic and oratory tributes as powerful and awesome.

“I was with them the day after Michael died. I was with him through his crisis at Neverland. I was with him through all of his business. I’ve been with him for a long time. But I was very comfortable doing what I did, trying to interpret the best that I could the significance of his legacy and this family,” Rev. Jackson said.

“I was pleased to do just what I did. Let Michael rest while we work on the unfinished business. That will be challenging enough.”

(Hazel Trice Edney is NNPA Editor-in-Chief)