Michael Jackson's kids to honor father at Grammys

By Alan Duke, CNN

January 31, 2010 -- Updated 0938 GMT (1738 HKT)

Paris Katherine Jackson and Prince Michael Jackson will pay tribute to their late father's at Sunday's Grammys.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Michael Jackson's two eldest children to pay tribute to father at Grammy Awards
  
• Children had been expected to receive father's lifetime achievement award
  
• Prince Michael, Paris Katherine Jackson were last seen publicly at father's public memorial
  

RELATED TOPICS

• Michael Jackson
• Grammy Awards
• Music

Los Angeles, California (CNN) -- Michael Jackson's two eldest children will appear on stage Sunday night during the Grammy show tribute to their father, Jackson's father and others confirmed.

It would be the first public appearance for Prince Michael, 12, and Paris, 11, since their dramatic appearance at the memorial service 12 days after their father's death last summer.

The children were to appear at a much smaller Grammy event Saturday night to accept their father's Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, but Katherine Jackson -- their grandmother and legal guardian -- agreed to the change, a spokesman for the pop star's father said.

Instead, former Jackson manager Frank Dileo made the Saturday night appearance. He also told CNN the Jackson children would be at the Sunday night tribute.

No family members had been invited to take part in either of the Grammy tributes to Michael Jackson until last week when the Jacksons complained, a family source said.

"However, there has been some recent rumors that I am displeased with the idea that Michael's children are accepting the award on my son's behalf," Joe Jackson said in a statement to CNN. "On the contrary, I am very proud of my grandchildren. Katherine and I are the ones who initiated their participation."

The youngest of the three, 7-year-old Blanket, is not expected to attend the show, although that could change, a family source said.

Jackson's oldest son is expected to read a statement on behalf of the family during the Grammy tribute, the source said.

The children will not enter the Los Angeles Convention Center through the media-lined red carpet, the family source said. Instead, they will be escorted backstage by Katherine Jackson, the family source said.

When Paris Katherine Jackson delivered a spontaneous speech at the massive memorial in July, it was the first time the public had heard from the children. They were often hidden by veils or blankets when seen with their father.

"Ever since I was born, Daddy has been the best father you could ever imagine," she said. "And I just want to say that I love him so much."

Recording Academy President Neil Portnow, who oversees the Grammy show, said Sunday night's Jackson tribute will be "an extraordinarily emotional, moving and fitting tribute."

Singers Carrie Underwood and Smokey Robinson are among several stars who will take part in the musical tribute.

A segment of a 3-D video produced by Jackson shortly before his death will be shown. It was based on his pro-environment "Earth Song" for use in his "This Is It" tour.

Michael Jackson was 50 years old when he died June 25, 2009, just two weeks before he was to begin a long series of comeback shows in London.

The Los Angeles County coroner ruled his death a homicide resulting from a combination of drugs, primarily Propofol and Lorazepam.

A criminal investigation has focused on Dr. Conrad Murray, his personal physician who was with him when he died, although no charges have been filed.

Aid to Haiti

    Like many people around the world, Micaiah ben Malachi and I have been glued to the television, following the news coverage ever since the earthquake occurred in Haiti on January 12, 2010 at 4:53 PM Eastern time.  We also watched the Hope For Haiti program last night, which was televised on many networks around the world and was the largest charity program ever in history.

    As everyone knows, the first five to six days was spent with rescue efforts from the rubble only to find more dead bodies than there were people who were still alive.  Bodies were buried in mass-graves and old crypts that were other people's tombs while  those who were rescued alive had difficulty getting to the makeshift hospitals that were being set up one by one because many roads were blocked and/or messages to be relayed to the makeshift hospitals to pick up the rescued were not getting there.  Until last Monday or Tuesday, airplanes and helicopters that were carrying food and water were being accepted at the airport while medical supplies were being turned away.  Though the food and water were equally important as medical supplies were, the lack of medical supplies were hindering doctors' abilities to treat the many patients.  Two to three days after the earthquake occurred, Dr. sanjay Gupta was working with the United Nations doctors at a makeshift hospital when the supervisor overseeing the doctors began to feel that there was a security issue.  Doctors were ordered to leave with their supplies to move to another site, but Dr. Sanjay Gupta remained at the hospital overnight, caring for the patients with the minimal supplies that were left.  The doctors did return the next day, though, because of CNN's reports from Dr. Sanjay Gupta.  Then, six to seven days after the earthquake, a seventy-year-old woman was rescued alive from the rubble, but there was nobody available to bring her to the hospital.  As a result, CNN's Anderson Cooper and his news crew took her to a hospital in their pick-up truck.  As if this wasn't enough, two to three days ago, two Haitian police officers were controlling a crowd of people who were trying to cause a riot for food and water by shooting their guns up in the air.  Even though the crowd remained in control for the most part, a twelve-year-old boy was hit in the head by a rock someone threw.  Nobody from the crowd came to rescue the boy, so Anderson Cooper intervened, getting blood all over himself.  Why did news crew have to intervene when there main reason for being there was to report the news?

    When the United Nations personnel arrived, they sought to give the public the notion that the Haitian government was still in control but that the United Nations was only there to help out.  Meanwhile, the United States stood back, allowing for the United Nations to coordinate the rescue effort and assign the tasks even though many doctors and other personnel were sent by planes and ships upon President Obama's command.  The lack of coordination along with medical supplies being turned away at the air port instead of being accepted in conjunction with the food and water contributed to the problems mentioned above.  Yes, people like Anderson Cooper and Sanjay Gupta meant well, but if the United Nations and the United States started on the tasks they knew they would be faced with upon arrival instead of deciding who was going to work at what site, then more people would've probably been rescued alive and probably not as many people would've died before arriving to the makeshift hospitals or while waiting in the hospital to be treated.  If the Israeli Defense Force is able to assemble their makeshift hospital structures and equipment within minutes, and if those from Bolivia can control food lines by having people enter through one side and exiting the other with their food rations, then everyone around the world, including the United Nations, could've achieve their rescue goals efficiently.  All it takes is the kind of training the Israeli Defense Force underwent and the repeated exercise strategies they often perform periodically.

    Those orphans whose adoption process was completed before the earthquake were speedily flown out of Haiti, a few people have been rescued alive even eight to ten days after the earthquake, which is by G*d's grace, and medical supplies are now finally arriving in the groves. however, there are still many more orphans, including the new group of children whose relatives died during and after the earthquake, who have no home to return to.  The orphanages they are now at are not structurally sound, and the staff is not equipped financially or with the necessities.  Those people who were rescued alive will also still be living in abject poverty.  In addition, many of the antibiotics that arrived are to be administered in doses for adults, not for children, and most of the I.V. needles are to be used in adults with large veins, not for children with small veins.  Moreover, there are no prosthetic limbs available.  Even many of those who did receive medical care will require follow-up surgery and other medical attention.  What's wrong with countries lifting their adoption restrictions or nation quotas?  What's wrong with bringing people needing follow-up medical care to places like the United States so that they can receive the care they need?  What's wrong with hospitals donating their many supplies, personnel, and prosthetics to Haiti so that the injured can receive the medical attention immediately?

    As we watched the continuous news coverage, I could see The Late Michael Jackson in my mind.  He would've donated all that he could financially, cried and wanted to adopt as many of the orphans as he could, and traveled to Haiti to meet with the people to give them hope.  When the Hope For Haiti program was aired last night, I envisioned that Michael Jackson would've been one of the many people helping out to put the program together as well as performing.  Yes, it's sad that Michael Jackson's no longer physically here with us, but he actually still is with us in spirit.  Even though people, like George Clooney, were pushing for donations to different charity programs before Michael Jackson's death, George Clooney's now carrying on Michael Jackson's torch of giving.  Likewise, Micaiah and I received an e-mail from our rabbi, Rabbi Celso Kukierkorn, about two days after the earthquake, asking for donations so that the Jewish organizations could buy food, water, and other supplies for survival and medical care.  We donated some money.  When we clicked onto his website to make our donation, there was a video clip of Rabbi Kukierkorn and his daughter handing out bags of necessities to the poor in his area of residence.  One of the recipients said that she was a Christian, not a Jew.  Rabbi Kukierkorn replied, assuring the recipient that religion didn't matter.  The recipients race, creed or color didn't matter to Michael Jackson, either.  So, if we all carry on the late Michael Jackson's belief in unconditional love and giving, then the goal to heal the world and make this world a better place will, eventually, be achieved.

 

Makedah bat Leah. 

Book Review by Makedah bat Leah and Micaiah ben Malachi

            Micaiah ben Malachi and I recently read the book, The Michael Jackson Tapes: A Tragic Icon Reveals His Soul and Intimate Conversation by Rabbi Shmuley Boteach.  Because the book was not due to be recorded in audio format for the blind and physically handicapped anytime soon, Micaiah offered to read it to me since I'm blind.  The reading public is led to believe that this book would be a tell-all book about the private life of Michael Jackson.  Rabbi Shmuley Boteach's interview was about Michael Jackson growing up as a child star and his music career.

            Rabbi Shmuley Boteach presented himself to Michael Jackson as a good friend.  Shmuley approached Michael to be an ambassador for the rights of children.  However, he, eventually, talked Michael into financially endorsing his family initiative projects.  In his capacity as a Rabbi and family therapist, Shmuley used his counseling skills to manipulate Michael into answering questions with answers that Michael may not have thought about their long-range implications on his personal and public life.

            For example, he asked Michael about his relationship with his father, Joe Jackson.  Michael spoke about the times when he and his sister, Janet, would play games, imagining their father being dead in a coffin and not feeling guilty about it.  When asked about what it was like to be a child star, Michael spoke about his feelings of loneliness and isolation because he couldn't play with the other neighborhood children.  When asked about the reason for his love for children and his closeness to them, Michael explained that his experiences as a child are what made him feel the need to reach out to children because he didn't want them to suffer the way he did.  Michael didn't realize that, on the surface, the questions about his childhood were not what they seemed.  In fact, they allowed Shmuley to convince Michael that he genuinely cared about Michael Jackson, the man.  In 1993 and in 2003, Michael Jackson was accused of child molestation.  Shmuley convinced Michael that, in order to clear his name, Michael should, with Shmuley's assistance, go around the world, giving speeches that endorse family values.  However, Shmuley went on to tell the reading public that he didn't allow his own children to be alone with Michael.  Thus, reinforcing the public's belief that Michael actually was a pedophile.

            Another example was when Shmuley addressed Michael's sexual orientation.  Michael spoke about his female dates and his marriages to Lisa Marie Pressley and Debby Rowe.  He explained that the painful divorces were because the women didn't like his lifestyle.  They felt that he should be at home all the time instead of out on tours.  On the surface, Shmuley supported the argument that Michael was not gay by telling the reader that he didn't see Michael display anything that indicated that he was gay.  But, he did say that he also couldn't refute that he might be gay because of Michael's closeness mainly to little boys, thereby, leading the reader to believe Michael was not only gay, but also a gay pedophile who was attracted to boys.

            In the section entitled, "The fall Of An Icon", Shmuley told the reader that Michael Jackson's fall was due to his belief that he was the Messiah who came to the earth to save the world from itself.  However, Michael said that he never saw himself as the Messiah or Savior.  Rather, he saw himself as an individual with a duty to help his fellow mankind.  Through his music, Michael attempted to teach others to see and know that they had an important place in this world, and that to neglect it would be a disservice to themselves and mankind.  If anything, Michael Jackson was a Universalist.  He sought to express the belief that we are all one global family.

On the surface, the book, The Michael Jackson Tapes: A Tragic Icon Reveals His Soul and Intimate Conversation by Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, was a tell-all book for those readers who never knew anything about Michael Jackson.  The topics discussed in the book were already public knowledge.  Having listened to his music and few interviews here and there for over thirty years, I had a strong sense that Michael Jackson's life was not all rose-colored glasses.  Reading Rabbi Shmuley Boteach's book only confirmed what I suspected all along.  Having heard Michael Jackson's voice in past interviews, including the snippets played on NBC's Dateline and CNN's Larry King Live, I could hear Michael's voice in times of laughter and pain as Micaiah and I read Michael's answers to Shmuley's questions.  Shmuley treated Michael like he was a pedophile and that Michael had a Messiah Complex.  He continually insisted that Michael discard his music career and lead a normal life as a father to Prince and Paris,, and now Blanket.  Shmuley also proposed that Michael allow his children to walk in public unveiled and to be socialized with other children.  To insist that Michael discard his music career is equivalent to Shmuley discarding his own career as a Rabbi and family counselor.  Michael's livelihood was his music career and helping children.  These two things gave Michael a reason to live. As for Michael Jackson's children walking unveiled and being socialized with other children, Michael wanted his children to be treated as any other child and not the children of a Superstar.  He wanted them to be compassionate, tender, honest, and affectionate people.  He didn't want them to grow up with the media constantly reminding them of who their father was.  Would we recommend this book to anybody?  No.  It was very long, drawn-out unnecessarily, and biased.  We expected an unbiased approach to answering the question, "Who was Michael Jackson?"  We also found it rather disturbing that he published this book after the death of Michael Jackson.  Michael Jackson is not here to defend himself or lend more understanding to the answers of the questions that Shmuley quoted from.  We think that Shmuley is no different than attorneys who chase after ambulance patients to get work.  Shmuley made his career on living on the suffering of vulnerable people, like a vulture that sits on the side, waiting for a person to die so that it may pick the flesh from the bones of the dead.   

 

Makedah bat Leah & Micaiah ben Malachi

 

The Michael Jackson Tapes: A Tragic Icon Reveals His Soul and Intimate Conversation by Rabbi Shmuley Boteach; Vanguard Press, New York, 2009

 

Makedah and I have been glued to our television on CNN. We are filled with anger, disgust and frustration. The footage shown on CNN is wonderful. It is showing the world this island nation in the Caribbean, along with all the Caribbean has been largely the "playground" for the well-to-do white and black middle class. I must point out there are some whites working with the Haitian people to establish and run such places as day cares,orphanages, schools and clinics. While many are Christian faith based missions and missionaries, they provide the backbone of social services on the Island of Hispaniola. However, the loss of life and property falls largely on the Haitians whom are the majority of the poor. My friend Avner told me of his daughter's school taking up donations to send to Haiti. Yes, Avner, it is a catastrophic failure which could have been lessened. The world attention is now on this tiny nation as we see hours of coverage on the capitol city, Port-Au-Prince. Why did it take a major earthquake, the loss of thousands of lives and the press to open the eyes of political leaders and the general public? The impoverish conditions among the population has existed since the coming of the Europeans in the 1600's. They largely are the descendants of slaves who fought and obtained their freedom from foreign domination. However, the freedom is bittersweet. While they were no longer literally in chains, the iron leggings were replaced with economic chains. Again, they were not the equals to whites but rather their inferiors. Makedah and I watched as a little girl of eleven was pulled from the rubble. She was absolutely beautiful. Like most viewers we were elated. Only later to learn this child and others died. They died because of the neglect of their own government and the developed world governments who permitted this nation to be among the "forgotten". As a Jew and a Black American, I am very aware of how most whites and even other "honorary whites" view my mere existence. The world stood by and allowed 10 million "inferior whites" die in the concentration camps of Europe. It stood by, watched and in many cases assisted in the enslavement and inhumane treatment of African Blacks. It largely watched the Japanese slaughter,rape and enslave Asian nations during WWII. It watched Native American Indians be almost brought to extinction. While the donations coming from the public is in the millions, it does not mean after the press no longer is focused on Haiti, that the white developed nations will continue to assist and lift up the Afro-Caribbeans to their similar social and political status. Our own American history proved before the Obama Administration, we will not come to the aid of the Black, Yellow or Red people of this world unless shamed into action. The Europeans, Cubans, Israelis and other nations outside of America came swiftly to the aid of Blacks and other poor people in New Orleans after being hits by Hurricane Katrina. I believe the world must begin to realize it cannot continue to mistreat and disrespect the poor nations of this world. When I say " the world", I mean the greater white countries. They cannot afford to continue it racist policies. Eventually, what they sow, they shall reap. I think the late Michael Jackson said it better in this song "History". "Every day create your history. Every path you take you're leaving your legacy. How many people have to cry. The song of pain and grief across the land. And how many children have to die. Before we stand to lend a healing hand..."

Micaiah b. Malachi