Michael Jackson: Black or ... what?

Ref : http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/article/657789

Lots of people loved Michael Jackson once. His strange life, though, made his relationship with black fans as complicated as it was long and intense

Jun 28, 2009 04:30 AM

Pop & Jazz Critic

Among the common refrains in the coverage of Michael Jackson's death has been how he and his music transcended and unified, crossing genre, culture, generation and in particular, race. He said it himself "It doesn't matter if you're black or white."

But he was black. And it was integral to his ascent.

Jackson came out of the African-American musical tradition of song and dance – of soul men like Jackie Wilson, Chuck Berry and James Brown. As a solo artist and with his brothers in the Jackson Five, he blossomed under the tutelage of Berry Gordy's hit-making Motown factory which brought black music into America's mainstream.

"He was a star to us before he was a star to the world," said Danyel Smith editor-in-chief of Vibe magazine, founded by Jackson mentor/producer Quincy Jones. "The Jacksons had the occasional pop hit in `70s, but he was leader of the most popular black male boy group" at a time when nightclubs, music charts and radio stations were segregated and black performers were a rarity on television.

Jackson's transition from national R&B star to a worldwide icon embraced as the King of Pop on the strength of the album Thriller was "a source of racial pride," said Toronto's Dalton Higgins, author of the forthcoming Hip Hop World. "On the heels of the post-civil rights movement's effort to get black musicians on mainstream airwaves, MTV, Michael blew the door down with music that had pop sensibilities with an R&B and funk subtext."

The achievements and acceptance of "a black man who came out of a working-class black family in Gary, Indiana accrued to us," posited CBC-TV national reporter and dub poet Clifton Joseph.

But that connection between Jackson and his nascent constituency frayed as the singer became reclusive and idiosyncratic. It was hard for anyone to relate to an adult who lived on a Disney-style Neverland Ranch in California and flaunted fetishes for toys and animals. And to the consternation of all fans, he was twice accused of inappropriate conduct with 13-year-old boys; settling out of court in 1993, acquitted by a jury in 2005.

Distinctly troubling to Jackson's black audience were the cosmetic enhancements and skin lightening which diminished his African facial features. Black comics joked about him turning into a white woman, but many devotees were pained.

"Are you asking `Do black people still love Michael Jackson even though he narrowed his nose and magically changed his skin colour?' responded Smith. "It's a complicated relationship. Michael Jackson bruised my heart several times – the child molestation charges, the changes in his appearance ...

"I think that for many black people, we acknowledge that being black in the United States of America is very complicated to deal with. ... He was clearly someone struggling with what it is to be African-American."

In the 2003 documentary Living with Michael Jackson, the entertainer told interviewee Martin Bashir that as a youth his father often ridiculed the size of his nose.

"Historically, black families have dealt with these issues – skin colour, good hair-bad hair," said MuchMoreMusic host Traci Melchor. "It wasn't unique to Michael Jackson. The difference is that he had the means to change and he was surrounded by `yes' people. He was insecure about the way he looked and he thought he was ugly."

How sadly ironic, since the pre-surgery Jackson was the pin-up idol of black youth.

"He was beautiful (into his mid-twenties)," said Smith. "As a boy, he had the shyest of smiles, beautiful brown eyes and a huge bouncy afro. He was the type of guy girls would respond to."

Growing up in Antigua in the `70s, Joseph, 50, said Jackson "set off the Afro craze" among his peers. Meanwhile, the thirtysomething Higgins said the entertainer was responsible for the jheri curls he and his friends sported in the `80s. "I don't know if non-black fans can relate to that part of his iconography."

Common as plastic surgery is among celebrities, blacks were bothered that Jackson's skin colour morphed from nutmeg to vanilla, and remained skeptical about his claims that he suffered from melanin-diluting vitiligo. Many believed that he intentionally bleached his skin to look white – an indictment of their shared ethnicity.

"My dad had vitiligo and the way he and Michael looked were two different things," said Will Strickland, president of the Urban Music Association of Canada. "As a community we always talk about racism, but we tend to be the biggest self-haters ourselves."

Support diminished, but never abated for Jackson among blacks. Some were more forgiving than others, unwavering loyal in the face of the criminal allegation, in the way other famed African-Americans such as O.J. Simpson, Mike Tyson and Kobe Bryant were unquestioningly defended in some quarters.

"I think of him as an idiot savant," said Melchor. "When you're a genius, other things suffer. He didn't have a normal life."

"It's one thing to say `It doesn't matter if you black or white,' but another to say I'm going to be less and less black every time you see me," said Joseph. "For me he faded away. And I think as Michael left us, it's as if he lost his power, he become anchorless, he lost that element of his core creativity ... Remember, he'd been on this comeback trail for awhile."

Higgins disputes suggestions that Jackson distanced himself from his African-American roots.

"He always seemed overwhelmed by emotion to be embraced as his own," said Higgins recalling the entertainer's appearances on BET and Soul Train award shows. "He was still tied back into African-American political and social leaders like Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson (who supported him publicly during his clashes with his label Sony Music and his molestation trial, respectively). `I'm black and I'm proud' James Brown was his idol."

Indeed, Jackson sent the predominately black Augusta, Georgia crowd into a frenzy when he turned up at the Godfather of Soul's 2006 funeral. His last great singles were assembled with black collaborators like producer Rodney Jerkins; 1995's No. 1 hit "You Are Not Alone" was penned by R. Kelly.

And as a gifted songwriter and arranger himself, the first black artist played on MTV didn't hit the mainstream by discarding his musical roots: he incorporated rock and pop, but was always based in funk and soul. With crotch-grabbing, chest-thumping swagger most rappers can only rhyme about, Jackson set the stage for a range of African-American musicians, from obvious descendants like Usher and Chris Brown, to rocker Lenny Kravitz, said Smith.

"He opened the door for African American performers to feel comfortable making the type of music they wanted to make, and not be boxed in by standard definitions of black music."