Michael Jackson’s Legacy Is Forever a Part of Black Culture!

by Betty Jean Grant

Betty Jean Grant

This writer cried within five minutes of watching the movie, Michael. There was nothing showing on the screen that caused the tears; it was just the realization that the talent that Michael Jackson shared with all of us was now relegated to watching this amazing man on a video screen and not in real life where he deserves to be.

The demise of this great musical genius and what he could have accomplished had he not been under the care of an incompetent doctor is one of this country’s greatest tragedy. Michael Jackson put his trust and his life in the hands of a man who signed a sacred oath of First Do No Harm. But harm he did do. By going outside the room for a phone call and to smoke a cigarette, was not only dangerous but was criminal as well! The action of that doctor caused us to lose the artistic talents of the greatest entertainer this world will ever know.

The movie was entertaining and if the storyline was hard on the father, I believe it was true to form and would not have been in the movie if the family did not want the truth to be told. Michael’s sister Latoya and all of his brothers, with the exception of Randy, were executive producers and had a huge say in what was allowed to be in the movie. Janet Jackson chose not to have anything to do with the making of this movie for a reason or reasons that folks are still trying to guess.

It is being rumored that Randy Jackson wanted no part of anything that had something to do with his brother, Jermaine. Those two are still feuding do to the fact that after Randy broke up with the mother of his two oldest children, Jermaine dated and later married her and fathered three children with her; one of whom is JaaFar Jackson, who brilliantly portrayed his uncle, Michael Jackson, in the movie.

I never understood the reason why Joe Jackson was so hard on Michael, often a target for berating or beating for the slightest misstep Michael. Some of those beatings were done behind closed doors. The movie showed the closed doors but did not address the old, ugly rumors that many of the Jackson children, including Michael, Latoya and Janet, were sexually molested by the father they were forced to call Joseph; not dad, not Joe but Joseph!

The movie ended at the junction of Michael Jackson’s life where he fired his father as his manager and solidified his standing as a solo artist. It did not address the issues of a man who had been demonized by being called Big Nose and ugly by his father and he becoming obsessed with the search for physical perfection through many slices of the surgeon’s knife.

Michael Jackson was not perfect, but he was a star performer. He was so talented and so gifted, and he is loved and admired by people all over this world; many of whom were not even born when his time on this planet came to such a heartbreaking and tragic end. The man may be gone but his musical and dancing repertoire is his legacy, and they will always be a part of not only the contributions of African Americans to the history of this country but to the whole wide universe.

Who among us can watch the music video Thriller being re-enacted by groups of children and grown folks across this country and not be moved by ‘Zombie Mike’ and his long dead friends? ‘The ‘Kid’ might not have been Michael’s, but Billie Jean was his musical baby! The white -suited ‘Idol’ of the 1980s and the heartthrob of girls and women from 10-90 years old, cried, danced and tried to imitate that moonwalking performance themselves.

Simply put; there will never be another human being like him, on this earth, forever more!