My Reaction to Michael Jackson's Sudden Death

    Today is a very sad day for many.  First, Farrah Fawcett, one of the leading actresses of the TV show, Charlie's Angels, died yesterday of anal cancer.  That show was one of many popular shows during the mid 1970's.  I never was into the show, but my adopted family was.  Still, for many Farrah Fawcett fans who admired her, the news of her death, though expected, is hard to take.  Second, the King of Pop named Michael Jackson also died yesterday of cardiac arrest.  Nobody expected this, as this was sudden.  Everyone was publicly told that Michael Jackson was fine and that he was preparing for his tour in London, which was to start in two weeks.

    I hadn't planned to watch the evening CBS news but decided on it at the last minute.  The first headline bulletin that flashed across the screen at the beginning of the news was the death of Farrah Fawcett.  However, before Katie launched into that headline, she began with the news of Michael Jackson's death, which CBS had just received within minutes of going on the air.  Michael died at 2:26 PM PDT (Pacific Daylight Time), so it was 4:26 CDT (Central Daylight Time) here.  An hour had passed before the public officially learned of his death.  Of course, when the news anchor first blurted out the words, "Michael Jackson has just died", I initially thought that someone had pulled a terrible trick by putting such a headline up for her to read from the teleprompter to the public.  But, as the words seemed to flow out of the news people's mouths like water, I began to realize that nobody had pulled a terrible trick.  Then I thought, "am I dreaming all this, or is this real?"  After watching the entire evening news and the local news, I decided to switch to CNN in hopes of more coverage about Michael Jackson's death.  John and I watched CNN for about three hours as many talked about his popularity, the accusations and alleged charges filed against him for acts of pedophilia, and his recent attempt at making a comeback in his upcoming London tour.  Then, we switched back to CBS for their hour-long special on Michael Jackson in which they talked in brief about all the things people reflected on extensively on CNN.  So, I'm quite grief stricken, which is why I've been awake since 3:15 AM.

    I'm not going to go into a long history lesson here about Michael Jackson's music career, but his career started in 1968 with the Jackson Five.  As many pointed out, Michael stole the show and became the lead singer of the Jackson Five through and through.  I think I was about five years old when I first heard a song by the Jackson Five.  The song was called Ben.  Of course, I didn't know until many years later that I was listening to the Jackson Five.  It wouldn't be until I came here to the States from the Philippines that I heard many more songs by them over the years.  Even when he came out with his Off The Wall album in 1979, I didn't know much about the Jackson Five.  I was introduced to his music by the deejay saying, "That was Michael Jackson."  I shall confess here that as a nine-year-old, I couldn't understand how a man could sound like a woman.  I was taught, and observed from listening to people's voices when they sang or talked, that a man's voice is very deep and a woman's voice is mid-range or very high.  So, whenever Michael's name was mentioned after his songs were played, I initially thought that the deejay was, probably, pronouncing the name wrong.  Then, I got to thinking that it was possible that the deejay was right and that Michael was a woman with a boy's name.  Of course, I never told anybody I was surrounded with at the time about this for fear of looking like an idiot.  Still, I loved his singing--the excitement he put into the dance music, and the love and soulful sound in his ballads.  As the year of 1979 passed, I soon realized just from listening to the radio and my friends talking about Michael Jackson that he was, in deed, a man.  Still, I never asked then or down the road, when I learned about puberty and voice-changes in males, why it was that Michael's never changed.  I did wonder but decided to never ask because of many people's negative talk about his voice.  Some were saying that his voice never changed because he went through a sex change that failed.  Others spoke of him as a faggot, etc.  Not liking the negativity and the derogatory ways people made fun of him, I decided to keep my wonders about his voice to myself.  It was one thing for people to imitate his singing style or mimic his squeals just because you enjoy his music, but it was another when people did it to poke fun of him pretending to be a girl.  Then, there was the inevitable Thriller phase when that album came out at the end of 1982.  All through 1983, everyone was blasting that album on their stereos and boob boxes.  Whenever one of the songs from that album was playing on the air waves, the stereo, which was playing low, would suddenly boom with sound, filling houses, backyards, cars, etc.  That was certainly the case at the Minnesota Academy for the Blind during their summer program.  I think that it was later that fall at a Church youth group meeting that we watched the Thriller video.  It was like watching a fifteen-minute-long horror movie, so it was scary to me.  I wasn't as scared as I normally would've been over a horror movie, though, because I knew who the main character was that was playing the evil monster--Michael Jackson.  Perhaps it was his all-around gentle personality and kindness in his voice whenever he sang or talked that made me feel safe, like he would be right beside me to protect me.  I know that it's a strange way to explain all this, but it's the best way I know how to in words.  Even in 1984, when Prince came out with Purple Rain, Michael Jackson and his music still never left the popularity scene.  I think that it was the fall of 1984 when that mishap in which a pyrotechnic act for a Pepsi commercial got out of control and Michael's scalp was burned.  I found myself praying at Sunday church the next day for his recovery.  Of course, I felt funny about it as I prayed, but I reminded myself that, though he's a popstar, he's still a human being like the rest of us.  Even popstars need to be prayed over.  In March of 1985, the song and album, We Are The World by U.S.A. for Africa, came out.  Someone copied the album for me on cassette, but the recording was very low quality.  I hadn't planned on it, but a friend of mine from a recreation group for blind people called me at the beginning of April, suggesting the idea that a bunch of us get together to sing We Are The World at the group's annual talent show that always took place in may.  I, too, thought that it was the coolest idea, so I transcribed the lyrics into Braille and print for everyone that was going to be involved, and made copies of the actual song on cassettes while my friend practiced on the piano.  For hours on end, we practiced in our own homes and together until we had our solo parts down to a T.  Since there wasn't going to be thirty or more people in our group, as was featured on the actual song, each of us had many solo parts that came in at different times throughout the song.  Of course, when we got together to do all this, we worked our hardest, but it was for enjoyment, not to win any awards for it.  Yet, after we finished singing at that talent show, we got a standing ovation.  At the end of each talent show, judges voted on the best three talents, and those three best end up performing at the Old Log Theater, a high-class performance theater.  At the talent show in 1985, we won first place.  The other two played a musical instrument.  Needless to say, my friends and I looked at each other, wondering whether this was for real or just a dream.  It wasn't until my adopted mother hugged me and my friends and I were gathered together in a huddle that I realized that I wasn't dreaming.  So, we practiced some more for the next two weeks so as to keep ourselves brushed up.  We mingled in the lobby for a little bit while the audience was being entertained by other performers before the three best performances from the talent show were scheduled to step up to the plate.  While the first two performers did their thing, we mingled quietly backstage.  Then, when our group was announced, my name was mentioned as the main one who assembled the group and production work.  I gladly took the credit, but the credit was actually to be to my friend.  I even told him that, but he didn't say yes or no to it.  So, in historical terms, I'm the one who assembled our group and worked on the production.  Once again, we got a standing ovation at the Old Log Theater.  The fame was nice, but I'm glad that performing never became my career, as I was getting mentally and physically exhausted by this point.  I listened to the rest of Michael Jackson's songs that came out in the years that followed 1985, but I also heard many more songs by the Jackson Five, which helped me put all the pieces into place from beginning and on.  I liked a lot of songs by the Jackson Five, but there were more songs by Michael Jackson, himself, that I liked more.  Rather than writing a long list of all my favorite songs, I'll pick one or two from the 1970's through the 1990's--Off The Wall, The Girl Is Mine, We Are The World, Man In The Mirror, Heal The World and You Are Not Alone.  I loved many of the dance club kind of songs, but off The Wall was my favorite one out of all of them.  Otherwise, my other favorites that I listed were either ballads or songs that are meant to make one focus in on themselves and how they are contributing to the world, or should be contributing to the world.

    As I said, while there was a lot of reflection on Michael Jackson's career and popularity, there was also reflection on his hard times.  Yes, the good and bad come together as a package when you reflect on someone's life and the impact they may have made in your own life.  However, it seemed like for every good thing that was mentioned about Michael, that was followed by something bad about him.  Sure, dangling a baby over the balcony may not have been the wisest thing to do because the infant could've fallen out of his arms, but people made a bigger deal about that than they did about the guy who held his baby near a crocodile's mouth.  The crocodile could've easily grabbed the infant out of his arms.  To me, there was no difference in the actions.  Both are cases of endangering a child's safety.  The fact that Michael Jackson's children were White was the underlying issue.  It's one thing for a White person to have Black children, but it was another for a Black person to have White children.  People are more willing to accept the former but not the latter.  What also bothered me were those who talked about him like a dirty dog, like Lisa Marie Presley, suddenly coming out to express how they were confused, were sorry about Michael's death, and were sending their condolences out to his children and family.  To me, if you're going to say something good about me, why don't you tell it to my face rather than waiting to say it at a eulogy or put it in writing to be read by a news anchor on some major TV and radio network.  If Lisa Marie Presley was so heart-felt about Michael, then she should've told him that upfront while he was alive rather than make the statement now, especially since she was his former wife and had a way to contact him personally.  It's quite funny how people do stupid things like that.  The irony of Michael's death was that John and I were just talking about Michael and his well-being a few days ago.  We feared that we would, one day, read a headline talking about his death and how he "mysteriously died."  While it's not a mystery here how he died, people are wondering whether there was a case of drug abuse or reactionary problem with some prescription drugs.  Whatever the case be, I believe that it was the stress over the years and the anxiety over the upcoming tour that took it's physical toll on him.  A person can only take so much before their body simply cannot take anymore and gives up.  The person's spirits may be high, but that doesn't mean that the body is able to handle the stress that can come with whatever comes their way.  As I've heard many who were interviewed say, "Michael was anxious about the upcoming London tour."  I think that that was due in part to the fact that he hadn't toured in awhile coupled with the bad publicity he's received over the last fifteen years.  Who wouldn't be anxious over trying to make a comeback when in that situation?  Before commercial breaks, clips of his songs and videos were played.  When they played a little bit of We Are The World, it was all I could do to fight back tears as I reflected on the popularity of that song and remembered when my friends and I performed it at the talent show and at the Old Log Theater.  A few of the other members of U.S. A. For Africa, like Ray Charles, have already passed, and now Michael Jackson is in that next world with him and others.

            Well, I guess I will conclude here.  I just hope that people will focus on all the good things that Michael has done to help those in need rather than focus on the bad publicity.  He changed the face of pop music, but he also did songs that make one look into themselves and the world around them.  Now, he's "The Late Great King of Pop, Michael Jackson", which was a hard thing to write.  Not only is it quite a long title, but such a title as "The Late Great" applies to one who's died.

 

Linda

Minnesota

My Reaction to Shooting in Holocaust Museum

    I know that it's been a week since the incident, but I fell ill and then had to catch up on tasks that had to be put aside as a result.  That was unfortunate, as I sincerely wanted to write about it within twenty-four to forty-eight hours of the incident.

    The shooting of security Guard, Steven Johns, at the Holocaust Museum in Washington D.C by accused assailant, James Von Brunn, occurred on Wednesday, June 10, 2009.  James Von Brunn was a White Supremacist while Steven Johns was Black, but there were many tourists inside the museum that included Christians, Jews, men, women, and children.  On the one hand, the shooting took me by surprise in that it was a horrific tragedy.  On the other hand, I wasn't surprised because I've read, seen, and personally experienced the covert and overt racism from Blacks, Whites, and Jews, and the anti-Semitism from Christians.

    My husband, John (Micaiah ben Malachi), is Black and Native-American, and I'm a dark-skinned Asian from the Philippines.  Black separatists, like Micaiah's father, have called Micaiah "Uncle Tom" because he emulated White culture and mannerisms.  Micaiah was also attacked by some Black gangs in 1994 because of his no-drug policy stance and because he was associating with Whites and Native-Americans instead of with Black people.  When my stepdaughter was trying to apply for a job in our small town seven years ago, employers she talked to by phone told her that they were hiring and encouraged her to "come pick up an application".  But, when she arrived to these businesses, she was immediately told that they weren't hiring.  When we met one-on-one with a rabbi at our home six and a half years ago, we were told that our "situation was too overwhelming for his congregation to undertake".  On the surface, he was referring to our disability and our inability to drive.  Beneath the surface, however, he was referring to our race as he admitted to us that an Ethiopian guy was attending his synagogue only for the congregants to stare at him like he was some kind of animal and exclude him from the various synagogue functions.  Then, five or six years ago, a Christian volunteer group was going to people's houses throughout our small town, doing yardwork and cleaning windows for the disabled and elderly.  Someone in the community must have told them about Micaiah and I, so the group came to cut our grass and clean our windows.  They also planted some beautiful flowers and vegetables in our flowerbed.  We found their work to be admirable, so we decided that we would hire one of the members for pay to continue cutting our grass.  However, as time progressed, we realized that nobody from the group was willing to take the job, as nobody called or showed up at our door.  We knew that race and class weren't the issue, as they had Mexicans and Blacks in their churches.  Thus, we came to the conclusion of anti-Semitism.  Unless we were willing to convert back to Christianity, they didn't want anything to do with us socially or otherwise.  These are only a few of the countless number of our experiences.

    Way before now President Barack Obama started campaigning for the presidency, I'd heard such US radio and television commentators as Paul Harvey, Rush Limbaugh and Lou Dobbs whine about the "browning of America".  They were referring to the high influx of Hispanic and Somali immigrants as well as the intermixing of races between Blacks and Whites through marriage and the offspring that they bore.  A few of our White neighbors have told Micaiah ben Malachi and I how they felt that Africa sent all the "dumb Niggers here to the United States while they kept the smart ones back in Africa".  During President Barack Obama's campaign last year, many people in the news media were interviewed about how they felt about Barack Obama possibly becoming President.  While race was the underlying issue in that they didn't want a Black man for president, they felt, on the surface, that Obama was too "inexperienced" to be a president.  We've also had a number of people espouse the same rhetoric to us.  Then, about two weeks after President Obama was elected, there was a headline on CNN's website about a White man from Mississippi threatening on various chatrooms to assassinate Obama.  At the same time, one of our neighbors, who we had hired to help us with yard work last summer, had started giving us the evil eye every time he saw us because he didn't like the fact that Obama was going to be our next president.  People do expect a lot from leaders of their countries, and they criticize them for their policies.  Ever since President Obama was inaugurated, I've heard various radio and television commentators say that they hoped that Obama failed as president.  Many people did criticize former President George W. Bush for his foreign policies and the war in Iraq, and accused him for the down-spiraling economy.  However, it seems that I've heard and personally met more people express their expectations and make their criticisms about Obama more than they have about any of the previous presidents of the United States.  Many of their expectations of Obama were unrealistic and the criticisms were nothing but negative.  Finally, there was the shooting at the Holocaust Museum in Washington D.C. on Wednesday, June 10.  Some people were publicly and privately outraged either because they couldn't believe that this had happened and that there were still White Supremicists still out here in different countries espousing their rhetoric in various publications on and off the internet, or because it reminded them that racism, Nazism, and anti-Semitism was far from dead but just lurks beneath the surface like a shark constantly waiting for its pray.  At the same time, there were those programs, like World Have Your Say on the BBC, who didn't discuss the topic on their call-in show because most of the bloggers on their website wanted to talk about something else altogether.  This made me very angry.  While the upcoming election in Iran was important on Thursday the 11th and Friday the 12th, and the protests in Iran after the election were important at the beginning of this week, I felt that the shooting at the Holocaust Museum was as equally important.

    Two days ago, United States Attorney General, Eric Holder stated that he felt that the United States was a "coward" for not discussing race relations more than they do.  Not only do I agree with him, but I feel that his assessment applies to all the countries of the world as a whole.  We may not be able to stop all publications and other actions endorsing bigotry and hatred, but we can certainly, and should, discuss these issues more than we do in our homes and in public.

 

 

Linda (Makedah bat Leah).

Minnesota 

Holocaust museum closed in tribute to slain guard

• Story Highlights
• Museum in Washington remains closed after guard killed, suspect wounded
  
• Stephen Tyrone Johns died "heroically in the line of duty," museum says
  
• Suspect is 88-year-old white supremacist, law enforcement officials say
  
• Question: Should convicted felon von Brunn have been allowed to own weapons?

updated 16 minutes ago

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum remained closed Thursday, its flags lowered to half-staff in tribute to a security guard gunned down by a man authorities identified as a rifle-wielding white supremacist.

Stephen Tyrone Johns was shot and killed while working at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum on Wednesday.

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Later in the morning, the Metropolitan Police Department; the D.C. office of the FBI; the U.S. attorney's office and other federal and local officials will hold a news conference to discuss charges against the accused gunman, 88-year-old James von Brunn of Maryland.

The gunman entered Washington's crowded and solemn Holocaust museum on Wednesday afternoon and shot security officer Stephen Tyrone Johns. The man was then shot and wounded by other guards, authorities said.

A six-year veteran of the museum's security staff, Johns later "died heroically in the line of duty," said Sara Bloomfield, director of the museum.

"Our thoughts and prayers go out to Officer Johns' family," the museum said.

Von Brunn is a Holocaust denier, well-known to human rights groups for decades, who created an anti-Semitic Web site called "The Holy Western Empire." The Southern Poverty Law Center, which focuses on human rights, said von Brunn has "an extremely long history with neo-Nazis and white supremacists."

He has repeatedly claimed "The Diary of Anne Frank," an iconic diary written by a teenage girl who was hiding from Nazis with her family, was a hoax. The man shot the guard on the day the museum was to stage a play based on Anne Frank and two days before what would have been her 80th birthday.

Investigators found a notebook in the suspect's car listing other locations in Washington that he may have targeted, a federal official told CNN.

Von Brunn entered the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum at 12:50 p.m. Wednesday and immediately shot Johns with a rifle, said Chief Cathy Lanier of the District of Columbia's Metropolitan Police Department. Two other security guards returned fire, according to Lanier and the museum statement. Witnesses: 'Panic' inside museum »

Sirens blared as emergency vehicles converged on the area, which is near the Washington Monument and other popular tourist attractions. The museum was full at the time, with a "couple of thousand" people inside, said William Parsons, chief of staff at the museum.

Von Brunn served six years in prison for trying in 1981 to kidnap Federal Reserve Board members because of high interest rates. He blamed his prison term on a "Negro jury, Jew/Negro attorneys" and "a Jew judge," he said on his Web site, "Holy Western Empire."

One of many questions is whether von Brunn, as a convicted felon, should have turned in his weapons or been barred from owning them.

The U.S. Park Police has asked the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to trace the firearm, an effort that is expected to provide its original sale and ownership.

An FBI official said there was no warning or threat against the museum.

Both Johns and von Brunn were taken to George Washington University Hospital, said D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty. Johns died at the hospital. Von Brunn was in critical condition, Fenty said.

Johns, 40, was a resident of Temple Hills, Maryland, according to a statement issued by Wackenhut Services Inc., which has provided security services at the museum since 2002.

"Obviously there are no words to express our grief and shock over the horrific event that took place at this museum today," Bloomfield, the museum director, said. See where the museum is located »

The Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks hate groups, said von Brunn has "an extremely long history with neo-Nazis and white supremacists." Discussion: Is the U.S. too tolerant of hatemongers? »

Witnesses to the shooting described blood on the floor and chaos within the museum's halls.

Visitor Maria Hernandez told CNN she heard five shots and saw the wounded security guard.

"It was definitely a security guard; he was down bleeding on the floor," said Hernandez, 19. "He was face down. His back ... blood was coming out." Watch Hernandez describe what she saw »

Sirens blared as emergency vehicles converged on the area, which is near the Washington Monument and other popular tourist attractions. The museum was full at the time, with a "couple of thousand" people inside, said William Parsons, chief of staff at the museum.

"Never take your guard force and security people for granted," he said. "They did exactly what they were supposed to do to protect people in the museum." Watch another museum visitor tell what he saw »

Dave Pearson, a sixth-grade teacher in the Washington area, said he was on the museum's fourth floor when he heard a loud noise.

"At the time, we're visiting and all of a sudden there's like a boom, and all of a sudden they told us to stop where we're at," he told CNN. "Only thing we heard was a boom, and that was it." See more photos from the scene »

The shooting sent shock waves throughout the nation's capital and elsewhere.

Don't Miss

• Obama urges vigilance against prejudice in shooting's wake
• Shooting suspect has 'long history' with neo-Nazis
• Video coverage of the shooting
• Witness: 'There was blood everywhere'

"I am shocked and saddened by today's shooting at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum," said President Obama, who just days earlier had spoken emotionally about the Holocaust when he visited Buchenwald, a former Nazi concentration camp with Holocaust survivor and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Elie Wiesel.

"This outrageous act reminds us that we must remain vigilant against anti-Semitism and prejudice in all its forms," Obama said Wednesday. "No American institution is more important to this effort than the Holocaust museum, and no act of violence will diminish our determination to honor those who were lost by building a more peaceful and tolerant world." Law enforcement analyst talks about how this could have happened »

Israel issued a statement through its embassy, expressing sadness and condemning the attack.

The Anti-Defamation League said the shooting "reminds us in the starkest way where the spread of hatred can lead."

Happening "at the very place that was created to remember and teach about evil in the world," the attack "is an immediate reminder that words of hate matter, that we can never afford to ignore hate because words of hate can easily become acts of hate, no matter the place, no matter the age of the hatemonger."

The Council on American-Islamic Relations condemned "this apparent bias-motivated attack" and said it stands "with the Jewish community and with Americans of all faiths in repudiating the kind of hatred and intolerance that can lead to such disturbing incidents." Watch a discussion of what fuels hate crimes »

The museum canceled a performance scheduled for Wednesday night of a play about racism and anti-Semitism, based on a fictional meeting between Anne Frank and Emmett Till, the teenage victim of a racist killing in the United States.

Attorney General Eric Holder and Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tennessee, were among those planning to attend the play, which was written by Janet Langhart Cohen, the wife of former Defense Secretary and U.S. Sen. William Cohen. Watch the Cohens describe what happened »

Langhart Cohen told CNN that Anne Frank's young life was ended by people filled with hate. She said it was hard to see that same hate manifest itself at this place of remembrance.

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