Michael is Gone!
By Danny Alexander
Michael Joseph Jackson dead at 50. A week away from embarking upon a 50 date concert commitment in London. A cardiologist present at the scene unable to revive Jackson despite his efforts to do so. Jackson allegedly passed physical a short time prior to this event and was given a clean bill of health. Jackson had been dependent on opiate and synthetic pain compounds for over twenty years. IV polls found at the scene to administer intravenous drugs. We have been hearing these bullitt statements on Michael’s death for weeks now.
Gone with Michael is that song that we will forever be denied. That song that would have tugged at your heart strings, made you recognize an injustice, or simply make you want to get up and dance with a grin of gratitude upon your face. Gone with Michael is his opportunity to once and for all rid himself of the stigma associated with his perceived impropriety with young boys. Gone with Michael is a part of each one of his fans who have been entertained by him since our earliest of memories. Gone with Michael is what would have been his next opportunity to make a ground breaking sensation of some kind because that is what he has done since he started his career all those years ago.
What will remain of Michael is his unflappable demand to perfect a performance. His ability to crossover as an entertainer to different social and economic groups. His ability to capture a worldwide audience. His ability to transcend even language barriers, somehow he sang in tongues! What will remain of Michael’s creation Neverland? Will it become a shrine to his accomplishments?
Or will it become unkempt with weeds overgrowing, wild animals milling about, and people wandering about as if in doing so they will capture a glimpse of him in spirit form with a smile on his face, happy to have left behind those demons which seemed intent upon destroying his legend here that he had worked to establish since his youth. I am most affected about the contradictions Michael created about himself. He complained of the injustice of racism yet appeared to do everything he could to scrub the blackness from himself. I did not know Michael as a brethren in the community of humanity yet I find myself wishing I could have. His was a remarkable journey that ended too abruptly and with to many unanswered questions. May he rest in peace with the creator who knows the answers to those questions!
DDA 07/2009
