Michael Jackson: Victim of Extreme Celebrity

To the People,

I hung out with Michael Jackson (MJ) and his brothers during the recording of their TRIUMPH album, and I must say that MJ was very, very kind and brotherly-like to me.  (Mind you now, this was a secret and off-limits recording session, and his brother Jackie did not like the fact that I was there).

But MJ insisted that I stay, and he and I spent about 2 hours (while waiting for a piece of recording equipment to arrive) – just talking about beautiful world destinations like Hawaii, Africa and other places.

More importantly, I have been very critical of and dismayed by MJ’s physical transformation that from my view, disrespected the tens of millions of Black brothers worldwide and their bold and beautiful African features and hair.

My  verdict?  MJ was guilty of dissing his original Africa features for Europeans ones.

Min. Farrakhan blames MJ’s issues on “extreme celebrity” that negatively distorts a person’s clarity.

Still others say that the childhood “beatings” by his father Joe Jackson were too many and were too brutal causing MJ to carry this fear/hate/love of his father to places that afforded him an escape from his reality.

Maybe MJ physical change to “white” was his attempt to dare the world to love him (and everyone) despite his (their) skin color or physical attributes.

Or maybe MJ did not want his children to face the same racism and the multitude of other problems Black people have to deal with is another possible reason MJ only wed and befriended white women (some of whom supposedly mothered his three children).

In conclusion, I just want to confess that I love music.  But I also detest how music, sports, and celebrity are used to program the masses into a state of ignorance and servitude.

To his credit, MJ did leave the confines of the brutally racist entertainment industry to address world hunger, racism and the lack of basic human rights for various people of the world.

This, for me, is what makes MJ stand apart more than what any melody or lyric can ever do.

RIP my Brother.  And please scout out a place for me in the other world.

In Love With My People,

Fige Bornu, Chairman – Positive African Image Institute