{"id":5993,"date":"2009-06-29T21:44:14","date_gmt":"2009-06-29T20:44:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/contributions\/the-persecution-of-michael-jackson\/5993\/"},"modified":"2009-06-29T21:44:14","modified_gmt":"2009-06-29T20:44:14","slug":"the-persecution-of-michael-jackson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/contributions\/the-persecution-of-michael-jackson\/","title":{"rendered":"The Persecution of Michael Jackson"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last Thursday, while working on some writing deadlines, I was switching channels on cable. \u00a0On CNN they were promoting \u201cBlack In America, \u201d an exercise meant to boost ratings by making whites feel good by making blacks look bad, \u00a0the marketing strategy of the mass media since the 1830s, according to a useful book entitled \u201cThe Showman and the Slave<\/a>, \u201d by Benjamin Reiss. \u00a0The early penny press sold a \u201cwhiteness\u201d upgrade to newly arriving immigrants by depicting blacks in illicit situations. By doing so they were marketing an early version of a self esteem boosting product. \u00a0One of the initial sensational stories was about the autopsy of a black woman named Joice Heth, \u00a0who claimed to be George Washington\u2019s nurse and over one hundred years old. It was the O. J. \u00a0story of the time. \u00a0Circus master, P. T. Barnum, charged admission to her autopsy, \u00a0which attracted the perverted in droves. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

And so, if the people broadcasting cable news appear to be inmates of a carnival, \u00a0there is a connection since the early days of the mass media to that form of show business. \u00a0According to Reiss, early newspapers were not only influenced by P. T. Barnum, \u00a0but actually cooperated with him on some hoaxes and stunts. <\/span><\/p>\n

I would classify CNN\u2019s \u201cBlack In America\u201d as a stunt. \u00a0In preparing for a sequel to the first \u2018Black In America, \u00a0\u201dwhich boosted the networks ratings (the O. J. trial saved CNN!), \u00a0CNN rolled out the usual stereotypes about black Americans. \u00a0Unmarried black mothers were exhibited, \u00a0without mentioning that births to unmarried black women have plunged since 1976 more than that of any other ethnic group. \u00a0Then we got some footage that implied that blacks as a group were homophobes even though Charles Blow a statistician for The New York Times<\/em> recently published a chart showing that gays have the least to fear from blacks. Recently, \u00a0the media perpetrated a hoax that blacks were responsible for the passage of Proposition 8, \u00a0\u00a0the California proposition that banned gay marriage. \u00a0An academic study refuted this claim, \u00a0but that didn\u2019t deter The New York Times<\/em> from hiring Benjamin Schwarz to explain black homophobia. \u00a0Schwarz is the writer who wrote in The Los Angeles Times<\/em> that blacks who were victims of lynchings in the south were probably guilty. <\/span><\/p>\n

In the last \u201cBlack in America, \u201d Soledad O\u2019Brien, \u00a0CNN\u2019s designated tough love agent against the brothers and sisters, \u00a0scolded a black man for not <\/a>attending his daughter\u2019s birthday party. \u00a0The aim of this scene was meant to humiliate black men as neglectful fathers. \u00a0Ms. O\u2019Brien won\u2019t be permitted by her employees to mention that 75% of white children will live at one time or another in a single parent household and that the Gov. \u00a0of South Carolina\u2019s not showing up for Father\u2019s Day isn\u2019t just a lone aberration in \u201cWhite America.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

How would CNN promote a \u201cWhite in America?\u201d The thousands of meth addicts who have abandoned their children? The California rural and suburban white women who do more dope than Latino and black youth? The suburban Dallas white teenagers who are overdosing on \u201ccheese\u201d heroin? Why not? Can\u2019t get State Farm, \u00a0Ford and MacDonald\u2019s to sponsor such a program? All of these companies are sponsoring \u201cBlack In America , \u201dthe aim of which is to cast collective blame on blacks for the country\u2019s social problems. For ratings. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

During CNN\u2019s carnival act disguised as news, the scene of Zimbabwe\u2019s Prime Minster being urinated upon by a monkey, while sitting in his garden drew snickers in the newsroom. \u00a0This is what passes for coverage of the African continent by CNN. <\/span><\/p>\n

When the bulletin that Michael Jackson had died flashed across the screen, I was prepared for TV at it\u2019s worst and I wasn\u2019t disappointed. \u00a0The man wasn\u2019t cold before the familiar adjectives were rolled out. \u00a0\u201c Weird, bizarre, eccentric, \u201d the traditional language used to disparage artists by the bourgeoisie. \u00a0Dan Abrams, \u00a0who made his reputation by convicting O. J. \u00a0Simpson, \u00a0before the opening arguments of his criminal trial, \u00a0made a snarky comment about Jackson\u2019s weirdness. \u00a0Mr. \u00a0Abrams, \u00a0a higher up at MSNBC, \u00a0employs a Hitler admirer named Pat Buchanan. \u00a0Given Abram\u2019s background, \u00a0why isn\u2019t that considered weird? <\/span><\/p>\n

Former Calfornia poet laureate Al Young called to inform me that CNN\u2019s Jeffrey Toobin, another O. J. \u00a0alumni, \u00a0and a man who said that blacks shouldn\u2019t be \u201cpatted on the head\u201d or \u201cpatronized\u201d for believing in O. J. \u00a0Simpson\u2019s innocence, \u00a0had made some ugly comments about Jackson. (A star who has had at least a dozen facelifts called into the \u201cLarry King Show\u201dto comment about MJ\u2019s altering his appearance). <\/span><\/p>\n

Also weird was MSBC\u2019s Savanah Guthries\u2019 air-headed depiction of the trial. \u00a0( For a list of Ms. Guthries\u2019 false reportings see Media Matters. com). \u00a0She said that the evidence against Jackson in the trial was \u00a0\u201cdevastating. \u201d So devastating that some legal experts said that \u00a0Jackson should never have been brought to trial and that the aim of the trial was to seek a pound of flesh from Jackson for being uppity and for putting the name of Thomas W. Sneddon Jr., \u00a0a vindictive District Attorney, \u00a0into a song. In my opinion it was the prosecution of Jackson by this District Attorney, \u00a0who, among other things, \u00a0violated Jackson\u2019s fourth amendment rights, \u00a0and made disparaging remarks about the star, \u00a0during a press conference, \u00a0and the side-show pro prosecution media coverage that killed Jackson. <\/span><\/p>\n

In my lengthy examination of the trial printed in my book, \u00a0\u201cMixing It Up, Taking on The Media Bullies, \u201d I concluded that though millions of Jackson\u2019s fans celebrated his acquittal, \u00a0the District Attorney, \u00a0who was allowed to squander the California taxpayers\u2019 money so that he might humiliate a rich black man, whom he felt had sassed him, was the victor. \u00a0At the beginning of the trial , Jackson was dancing on top of a van. \u00a0During the trial he had to be hospitalized. \u00a0At the end, he was a frail emaciated wreck. <\/span><\/p>\n

Because of the malicious prosecution of Jackson by Sneddon and Sneddon\u2019s claque in the media, Jackson will always be regarded as a pedophile. \u00a0( When the trial opened, \u00a0a USA Today CNN Gallup Poll found that 72% of whites and 51% of Blacks believed that the charges against Jackson were \u201cDefinitely\u201d or \u201cProbably\u201d true.) Wherever \u201cMad Dog\u201d Sneddon, this hateful man might be in his retirement, \u00a0he can gloat over the death of the man against whom he waged a vendetta with all of the power of the state at his disposal. He even tried to introduce photos of Jackson\u2019s genitals during the 2005 trial, which proved too much even for the pro prosecution judge. <\/span><\/p>\n

Of course, \u00a0none of Sneddon\u2019s abuse or the abuse of Jackson by his accusers was mentioned by an old corporate media, \u00a0out of touch and on life supports. For infotainers like Katie Couric, \u00a0Joe Jackson, \u00a0Jackson\u2019s father was MJ\u2019s sole abuser. The eyes of yesterday\u2019s media, \u00a0black fathers are the principal actors in domestic violence. <\/span><\/p>\n

Guthrie also said that the prosecution \u201chad conducted mini trials within the trial,\u201d which brought up \u201c a whole history of prior bad acts of molestation. \u201dShe was referring to 1994 case in which Jackson was accused of pedophilia by a youngster who , \u00a0according to writer Mary Fisher, \u00a0a serious journalist, \u00a0was used by his father to wrest some cash from Jackson. \u00a0In, \u201dMixing It Up\u2026, \u201dI summarized Mary Fisher\u2019s serious and thorough investigation that was originally published in GQ, October, 1994, \u00a0under the title \u201cWas Michael Jackson Framed?\u201d Jackson, \u00a0settled out of court because Johnnie Cochran didn\u2019t want him to face one of those all white suburban juries that O. J. \u00a0faced. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Fisher wrote: \u201cIt\u2019s a story of greed, \u00a0ambition, \u00a0misconceptions of part of police and prosecutors, \u00a0a lazy and sensation-seeking media and the use of a powerful, \u00a0hypnotic drug. \u00a0It may also be a story about how a case was simply invented. \u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Fisher claimed that the first case arose from the ambitions of the thirteen-year-old accuser\u2019s stepfather, \u00a0Evan Chandler, \u00a0who exploited Jackson\u2019s friendship with his son. \u00a0At one point, \u00a0he asked Jackson to build him a house. Fisher said that the child denied being abused by Jackson until he was administered the drug sodium amytal, \u00a0which is known to induce false memory. \u00a0Chandler refused to be interviewed for the article and refused to appear on the Today Show, \u00a0<\/em>where Fisher repeated her charges before a nationwide audience. \u00a0She said that the whole scheme was concocted by the child\u2019s stepfather to destroy the superstar. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

None of the media descriptions of Jackson\u2019s career, \u00a0including a superficial pop driven survey of the star\u2019s career by Anderson Cooper, \u00a0referred to the 2005 plaintiff\u2019s lies and his mother\u2019s shabby history of conning individuals and institutions including J. C. Penney\u2019s, which she accused of sexual abuse. \u00a0She claimed that she had been \u201cfondled inappropriately\u201d by store personnel. \u00a0Documents also hinted that \u201c\u2026the mom rehearsed her children to corroborate her story. \u201d During the 2005 trial, <\/span><\/p>\n

Jackson\u2019s Attorney, \u00a0Tom Mesereau Jr. \u00a0got the teenage boy to admit that he lied under oath during the J. C. Penny case. USA Today reported on March 1, \u00a02005, \u00a0that the mother used the boy as a prop to get money from Mike Tyson, \u00a0Adam Sandler, \u00a0Jim Carrey, \u00a0Jay Leno and others, \u00a0\u201ceven though insurance was paying his bills. \u201d Linda Deutsch, \u00a0one of the last of hard-nosed shoe leather journalists, reporting for the Associated Press on March of 2005. \u00a0said that Mesereau got the 15 year old to admit that he\u2019d told Jeffrey Alpert, \u00a0a school official that \u201cnothing happened \u201c between Jackson and him. <\/span><\/p>\n

Connie Keenan, \u00a0editor of Mid Valley News, \u00a0wrote of a hoax that the boy\u2019s mother perpetrated on that newspaper. \u00a0She made a pitch that her son needed medical care and that she had no financial means to provide it. \u00a0During the first week of the newspaper\u2019s appeal, \u00a0the mother received $965 in donations. It turned out that the boy was being treated at Kaiser Permanente in Los Angeles with no cost to the family. Connie Keenan concluded that \u201c My gut level, \u00a0she\u2019s a shark. \u00a0She was after money. \u00a0My readers were used. \u00a0My staff was used. \u00a0It\u2019s sickening. \u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

While referring to Jackson as \u201cbizarre\u201d none of the cable reporting about Jackson\u2019s death cited the bizarre courtroom testimony of the plaintiff\u2019s mother, \u00a0Janet Arvizo. \u00a0At one point during her testimony, she said that feared her children would disappear from Neverland, \u00a0Jackson\u2019s ranch, \u00a0in a hot air balloon. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0On Apr 18, \u00a02005, \u00a0Agence France-Presse<\/em> reported \u201cThe mother of Michael Jackson’s young molestation accuser claimed that she feared her children would be spirited away from the star’s Neverland Ranch in a hot air balloon. \u00a0In some of the most bizarre testimony of Jackson’s frequently surreal trial, \u00a0the woman revealed that she told police she feared her three kids would vanish from Neverland into California’s blue skies. <\/span><\/p>\n

“Did you tell the sheriff that you thought your children might disappear in a hot air balloon from Neverland?” Jackson’s lead lawyer Thomas Mesereau asked the woman under cross-examination. <\/span><\/p>\n

“I made them aware,” she said. <\/span><\/p>\n

Finally, \u00a0in November of 2006, according to TMZ, \u00a0Janet Arvizo pled no contest to a welfare fraud charge in Los Angeles. \u00a0She was ordered to 150 hours of community service and to pay $8, 600 in restitution. \u00a0During Jackson’s trial, \u00a0Arvizo invoked the Fifth regarding welfare fraud. \u00a0Seems that she applied for welfare even though she\u2019d received a $150, 000 settlement from J. C. Penny\u2019s. \u00a0Even with the mother\u2019s behavior and the boys lies, \u00a0Nancy Grace, \u00a0commenting on the death of Jackson, \u00a0said that she was surprised by the not guilty verdict in the Jackson trial. No wonder Ms. Grace has been called\u201d a cheerleader for the prosecution.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Yet, \u00a0these journalists insist that their news product is superior
\nto that of bloggers. \u00a0(Journalistic bottom feeder, Diane Dimond, \u00a0a Sneddon fan and Jackson stalker was invited by MSNBC to weigh in during which she was allowed to engage in doofus speculation much of it ugly about Jackson\u2019s life and death) <\/span><\/p>\n

G. Q. s Mary Fisher accused her colleagues of lazy journalism of the sort that defamed Jackson in life and in death. Maureen Orth from Vanity Fair <\/em>didn\u2019t read Mary Fisher\u2019s findings. \u00a0She was on the Chris Matthews Show accusing Jackson of \u201cserious felonies\u201d involving pedophilia. \u00a0Another reporter who seemed to nullify the 2005 Jackson jurie’s decision was \u201cMorning Joe\u2019s\u201d adjunct bimbo, \u00a0Courtney Hazlett. \u00a0She said that there would be no pilgrimage to Neverland and as there was to Graceland, \u00a0because \u201cbad things happened at Never Land. \u201d We are led to believe that Presley and his entourage spent their days at Graceland drinking milk and reading each other passages from the scriptures. <\/span><\/p>\n

All of these opinions seem to indicate that Cable\u2019s talking heads have taken it upon themselves to nullify the judgment of juries whenever they please. \u00a0This all white electronic jury has placed itself above the law. <\/span><\/p>\n

But at least Jackson didn\u2019t suffer from the kind of hi tech lynching accorded the tragic Patsy Ramsey. \u00a0For years cable, \u00a0which now not only calls elections but acts as judge and jury, \u00a0accused her of murdering her child. \u00a0Only after her death was it found that she was innocent. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

If the reporting on Jackson\u2019s death by the media wasn\u2019t salacious and ignorant enough, \u00a0\u00a0it didn\u2019t get any better the next day, \u00a0June 26. <\/span><\/p>\n

Ignoring Jackson\u2019s philanthropic pursuits and contributions to forty charities, \u00a0on the \u201cToday Show, \u00a0\u201cit was all about what happened to all of the nigger\u2019s money and whether he died from too many drugs and what\u2019s to become of his children, \u00a0questions meant to attract the prurient. \u00a0Again, Diane Dimod was invited on to spread scurrilous unconfirmed rumors about the dead star. Some of the modern day carnival barkers like Chris Matthews expressed surprise that Jackson\u2019s death resulted in such an outpouring of worldwide mourning. \u00a0This is what happens to people like Matthews who dwell in an insulated white supremacist bubble (that includes the Anglo wannabe and Churchill admiring Irish among them) which holds that a narrow cultural strip between New York and Washington represents the world. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I would like to have seen more independent<\/em> African-American journalists comment on the passing of Michael Jackson, \u00a0but, \u00a0according to Richard Prince, \u00a0who runs a media blog for the Maynard journalism Institute, hundreds have lost their jobs over the last two years, \u00a0including Pulitzer Prize winners like Les Payne. <\/span><\/p>\n

With the absence of black and Latinos from journalism, the media have become a spare all white jury always ready to take down a black celebrity for the entertainment of the types who used to attend those acts created by P. T. Barnum. <\/span><\/p>\n

Ishmael Reed<\/strong> is the publisher of Konch. His new book, “Mixing It Up, Taking On The Media Bullies<\/a>” was published by De Capo. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Lyrics: by Michael Jackson<\/strong> <\/span><\/p>\n

They wanna get my a**, \u00a0dead or alive.
\nYou know he really tried to take me down by surprise. \u00a0
\nI bet he missioned with the CIA.
\nHe don’t do half what he say. <\/span><\/p>\n

Dom Sheldon is a cold man
\nDom Sheldon is a cold man
\nDom Sheldon is a cold man
\nDom Sheldon is a cold man<\/span><\/p>\n

He out shock in every single way.
\nHe stop at nothing just to get his political say.
\nHe think he hot cause he’s BSDA. <\/span><\/p>\n

I bet he never had a social life anyway.
\nYou think he bother with the KKK?
\nI bet his mother never taught him right anyway.
\nHe want your vote just to remain TA.
\nHe don’t do half what he say. <\/span><\/p>\n

Dom Sheldon is a cold man
\nDom Sheldon is a cold man
\nDom Sheldon is a cold man
\nDom Sheldon is a cold man<\/span><\/p>\n

Dom S. \u00a0Sheldon is a cold man
\nDom Sheldon is a cold man
\nDom Sheldon is a cold man
\nDom Sheldon is a cold man\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

ISHMAEL REED<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last Thursday, while working on some writing deadlines, I was switching channels on cable. \u00a0On CNN they were promoting \u201cBlack In America, \u201d an exercise meant to boost ratings by making whites feel good by making blacks look bad, \u00a0the marketing strategy of the mass media since the 1830s, according to a useful book entitled […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-5993","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-contributions"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5993","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5993"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5993\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5993"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5993"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5993"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}