RIP Michael Jackson
Out of context: Reply #383
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- mikotondria30
I hear on msnbc earlier the comment that he was 'the dna' for the black community... I was talking about that with my wife last night, in that I never thought of MJ as being a 'black' artist, or in anyway being a figurehead, spokesperson, representative or proponent of black culture or the black point of view - but of course growing up in a town that literally had only about 10 black families, and going to a school where there wasn't one black child until my final year, I guess I grew up somewhat sheltered. The first black viewpoint that claimed itself as such that ever really made an impact on me was Nation of Millions, which I literally wore to unplayability in the same way that everyone now claims they did with Thriller. I don't know what point if any there is to make about that - if he is an icon to the black community as a black man who was astronomically successful then brilliant, thats a viewpoint I could never share, but growing up in one of the whitest towns in the western world, he was still an icon of success, and musicianship and enormous talent to us all - the fact that he was black was never even spoken about or really thought about, he was just Michael Jackson. Dunno.. Would really be intersted to hear from any black folks of about my age (nearly 40) opinions on what he meant to you when you were growing up..