Jackson Was A Study In Black And White

Pop Star Broke Racial Barriers, Even As He Sought To Obscure His Own Racial Identity

(CBS)  Call him a study in black and white.

Michael Jackson was a study in contrasts - a black performer beloved by white Americans, but one who later seemed to erase his blackness, as CBS News correspondent Priya David reports.

Jackson started performing at a conflicted time. At 10 years old, in 1968, young Jackson was auditioning for big shows, just four years after the nation passed the Civil Rights Act and legally ended segregation.

Vibe Magazine's Danyel Smith calls Jackson the first black musician to truly cross over into the mainstream.

"People forget that there weren't always African Americans on television and there weren't a zillion black athletes and black doctors and lawyers and teachers," Smith said. "Michael kicked down that door. He kicked down that door."

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Complete coverage of Jackson's death

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Jackson moved from his R&B roots to pop music, and in 1983, he became the first black artist to appear on fledgling MTV with his blockbuster song "Billie Jean."

"It really broke down the barrier and it proved that music fans don't necessarily think in these kind of black-and-white terms - especially when there's music that's so compelling and so great, that they didn't care," said Rolling Stone's Micheal Endelman. "They loved Michael Jackson. It didn't matter what race he was."

But race continued to matter to Jackson as he grew into his title as King of Pop.

In 1991, he came out with "Black or White" - the clearest expression of his philosophy on race, singing, "I'm not going to spend my life being a color."

"He was mostly trying to transcend race and, in his own case, un-define race," said Bill Bottrell, who co-produced "Black or White."

But Jackson's message about race, and his own racial identity, came from as much from his appearance as his music.

A video on YouTube shows the changes in his appearance from childhood to adulthood. Jackson attributed the lightening of his skin to a disease called vitiligo. But some felt Jackson was denying his black identity.

"Sometimes people would think because of the changes in Michael's hair, and his skin tone, and his facial features that he wasn't proud of who he was, of what he was born as," Smith said. "He struggled with it openly and in a way that was painful for many African Americans to watch."

Jackson played out those struggles on a global stage. But his legacy is that fans from every nation remember the magic of his music more than the color of the man.

[briant123]

Quincy Jones has no idea what he is talking about, making comments about Micheal Jackson?s Vitiligo. I have Vitiligo and guess where it started. On my hand! If I could have gotten away with wearing one glove, I would have. My Doctor?s advice was to keep your skin as light/white as possible so the effects don?t show up as badly. That includes staying out of the sun. It included depigmentation as a solution. (Perhaps you understand his umbrellas now.) There is no cure. Quincy Jones would do himself some good if he looked into the disease before insulting his ?friend? publicly. And also insulting everyone else who understood Michael?s struggle.

[John_Merritt]

The bottom line, Michael Jackson was ashamed to be black. Why then did he 'get treated' for his condition? Why then did he have white women bear his children? Why then did he bear (misnomer) white children instead of black? There are two many questions that we may never know.

I will say he was a great talent. To say he broke down the doors is a far stretch. We have Chuck Berry, Tina Turner, Ray Charles, Count Bassie, Little Richard, Sammy Davis Jr., and the list goes on......

The one thing we do know he will be remembered by many, for many things. I just hope that he is not glorified for anything he is not deserving of.

SAVE THE CHILDREN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[airboatboy]

Before he died about the only time you heard about Michael Jackson was when he did something weird or if someone was telling a pedophile joke. Now he's god's gift to the planet. He was an entertainer and he died, time to move on.

[vielmann]

I agree, but I am glad that he is now being remembered for the good things he did do. It is often forgotten that he contributed a great deal to many worthy causes.

[vielmann]

Michael Jackson's preocupation with his looks probably had very little to due with race, and more of his distorted view of his own image. Anorexics have the same problem. In fact, child abuse has a great deal to do with such distorted self images. Jackson was reported to be on a stict vegetarian diet and to be someone who spent hours at dance daily. The more weight he lost, the worse his plastic surgery made him look.

[HiTor15]

He was a great performer, but I really think that a lot of his later work was terribly over hyped by the big studios that put a lot of money on him...

[far_point200]

Yeah, I was really turned on by a cute black (later white) guy who sang like a girl and played with his crotch on stage.

Give me a break. Enough already. The guy was a freak.

[newerdeal]

And all that black and white talk ? That talk is for politicans and preachers. Quit trying to divide us up like that !

[newerdeal]

or Little Richard, Otis Redding, Ella Fitzgerald, Count Basie, ect.


.

[fred-mertz]

"Vibe Magazine's Danyel Smith calls Jackson the first black musician to truly cross over into the mainstream."

"People forget that there weren't always African Americans on television and there weren't a zillion black athletes and black doctors and lawyers and teachers," Smith said. "Michael kicked down that door. He kicked down that door."

Black People have been kicking down that door FOREVER. Michael didn't do very much in that regard. The path was paved for him by countless men and women who sacrificed tremendously to achieve the gains that Michael Jackson just took advantage of.

Is Danyel Smith too young to remember Jackie Robinson, or Hank Aaron, or Arthur Ashe, or Wilt Chamberlain, or Julius Erving, or Magic Johnson, or Michael Jordan, or Charles Barkley, or Cassius Clay aka Muhammed Ali, or Louis Armstrong, or Harry Belafonte, or Chuck Berry, or James Brown, or Ray Charles, or Nat King Cole, or John Coltrane, or Miles Davis, or Aretha Franklin, or Marvin Gaye, or Jimi Hendrix, or Lena Horne, or Etta James, or Quincy Jones, or Wynton Marsalis, or Smokey Robinson, or Stevie Wonder, or Josephine Baker, or Sidney Portier, or Sammy Davis, Jr., or Bill Cosby, or Ossie Davis, or Laurence Fishburne, or Morgan Freeman, or Whoopi Goldberg, or Gregory Hines, or James Earl Jones, or Spike Lee, or Eddie Murphy, or Richard Pryor, or Oprah Winfrey, or Frederick Douglass, or Martin Luther King, Jr, Sojourner Truth, or Harriet Tubman, or Andrew Young, or George Washington Carver, etc. etc. etc.?

I know I've left out many, many people who made significant contributions to the acceptance of black people as PEOPLE in the US of A. But the point is, Michael Jackson was NOT the first, and he did NOT knock down that door. Many people, far more dedicated, intelligent, talented, sincere, and worthwhile than MJ, have worked long and hard to "kick down that door", and it's still a work in progress.

[tmoore25]

Agree to disagree. What MJ did for pop culture will be tough to emulate for performers to come, but the progress he made followed the initial progress and breakthrough that others spent their lives pursuing before his time. Dr. J, Ali, Chamberlain, Abdul Jabbar, Jackie Robinson...the progress these gentleman made during their respective sports careers and beyond their retirement will echo for eternity. They faced extreme adversity and succeeded in establishing their dominance in sports which were once deemed the "white man's game". Their legacy continued past the retirement from their respective sports which is a reflection of these athletes characters. Ex: Both Dr. J and Kareem have pledged to dedicate every dime of their earnings in the Sports Legends Challenge to their respective charities. These athletes are first class...and still make a difference.

Nothing I said was stated for the purpose of tarnishing Michael Jacksons legacy, rather to show where Michael Jackson started (right where these guys left off). America lost a legend and a performer, one can only hope that another will come along that was anything like him.