To understand what Michael Jackson has meant in American culture we might start with his debut on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1969. The clip shows a pint-sized Jackson in cocked hat and purple vest spinning around while piping, "I Wonder Who's Loving You Now. "During the act, the grade schooler banters with his older brothers about the girl he met "in sand box" and how he shared his milk and cookies with her. Alas, the break up came during "fingerpainting".
We ate it up. H
ere was a tiny, harmless, delightful version of all we thought we knew about black men. Jackson and his brothers were an instant success.
At age fifteen, an adolescent Michael would be tested again before a mostly white audience on the Merv Griffin Show. In crisp white bell-bottoms, he won them over again by dancing through the audience and getting members to echo his calls in "Dancing Machine." Any doubt as to whether Jackson's career could survive his childhood could now be laid aside. In fact, his popularity soared. We wanted to sing with him, learn his moves, be part of his world. He had become our connection, our bridge to that "other" America we had both feared and longed for.
In the years that followed, Jackson maintained his own on-stage mix of vulnerability and "cool" as lighter skin and a more androgynous look became part of the act. Whether it was a call to "live your life off the wall," or a vow tostart "with the man in the mirror," the audience was a fundamental part of theshow. "Don't matter if you're black or white," he chanted at Super Bowl '93 as a banner unfurled displaying black and white hands firmly clasped.
By combining a savvy, urban persona with a broad based appeal, Jackson gave his fans a sense of place in an increasingly interracial society. He was hip, he was "bad", but most importantly he was friend to black and white alike -even as he continued to feed our worst stereotypes of African Americanmen.
In light of this, his fans were not prepared for the discovery of Jackson's own sensitivities - his love for animals, a home that was also an amusement park, and an evident longing for childhood. This was not at all the macho kid who first appeared on Ed Sullivan nor the gritty, defiant youth in "Thriller". It did not take long at that point forJackson to become fodder for late night comedians. Charges of child molestation, which he denied, and hisincreasingly strange appearance contributed to a gradual erosion of hispopularity and his eventual isolation from the public.
Like so many public icons, we did not know Michael Jackson. From childhood he had expertly mirrored our unspoken hopes and fears about race, while his own emotional needs seem to have been unmet. In the years to come, we will likely remember him at his best - his moonwalk, toe stand and circle slide, the amazing energy and finesse he put into every performance, and a real love for his craft.