Tragedy

Buzz of the Day

We have tragic things that happen everyday. There are wars going on, crimes being committed, and people dying everyday. I want to speak a little about Michael Jackson.

I saw a friend of mine this weekend and he seemed really interested in how I felt about Michael Jackson passing away. I was on my way to one of my meetings that day and a friend of mine called with the bad news. It was crazy to hear that. I immediately called my wife and that was about it. I was almost at my meeting so I didn't have a whole bunch of time to think about it.

The next morning I was listening to the radio and people were sharing their opinions. Normally in the morning I go back and forth between WJLB (Hip Hop and R&B, although I normally turn it off when the music starts) and The Ticket (Sportstalk radio, but not from 6-10am). So The Ticket has 3 white people that DJ. 2 guys and a woman. WJLB has (depending on the day) 3-5 black people that DJ. 2-3 guys and 2 women. I'm always very interested to hear what each station has to say, especially if they're talking about the same topic. The demographics of the listeners are very different and I love hearing those differences.

Let me tell you this: Black folks are very protective of black people. We sometimes defend people that shouldn't be defended. It's like we can talk about our people, but you can't. The reason that you can't is because we don't know if there is a hint of or a whole bunch or racism. And even if it's a black person who's criticizing, black people will get just as defensive.

I try not to be that way, but sometimes I get very protective also. We don't have many black heroes/role models and we don't want them to be knocked down.

Which leads me to my point: Michael Jackson was a hero to many of us. Black and White. But when he got into trouble and was being talked about by everyone, black people embraced him and supported him. It was almost as if everyone else had chewed him up and spit him out and he ended back up on our front porch. And we took him in! White folks talked about his nose. Blacks folks talked about it too. White folks talked about the allegations. Black folks talked about it too. But when it seemed like the entire world was against him, the black community gravitated towards him, patted him on the head and told him things would be okay.

He destroyed barriers like he was in a video game. He represented the American Dream. Making it out of the hood and becoming a big star. He just happened to become the biggest star ever. He was one of our heroes! And right or wrong, many black people were not going to let you talk about Michael right after he died. It wouldn't be right!

It's still tough being black. Period. Is it as tough as before? No. But it's still tough. We are still dealing with all types of inferiority complexes. And if we brag too much sometimes, that could be the reason. If we buy the biggest car or the biggest piece of jewelry, that could be the reason.

We want so bad sometimes...to let you know that we're okay, but we are not. Michael made us feel like we were okay. That we could dream big and those dreams just may come true. He was selling out stadiums...and he looked liked us. And even when he stopped looking like us, we remembered him as that big nose kid from Indiana with the afro. And we felt like he still represented us. He had some flaws and I'll never defend what someone has done in their personal life when I don't know them personally, but we all have some problems. Have we had as many problems as Michael? Probably not. But when he died, many fans black and white were not going to stand around and let people bad mouth him. That wasn't the time for it. Those that considered Michael a hero, wouldn't stand for it.

That's all I have to say about that. RIP Mike...