As the Michael Jackson dead march has played out, I have been tempted to say on more than a few occasions that the reactions and outpouring fall along cultural lines. If I say "it's a black thing, you wouldn't understand", would that sound cynical? It's not meant to be but I honestly feel that way. First of all, black funerals can often be an interesting show particularly for the famous and infamous. Michael was both. I have seen snippets of the memorial and I plan on watching it when I get a chance. I doubt that there will be much that will surprise me. Just look at how they do black funerals in New Orleans. There's nothing solemn or staid about those affairs. I expect nothing less from Michael's send-off (and that's exactly what it was).

For so many black people who witnessed the public arrival of the Jackson's in '69, his death has been a shocking kick to our collective gut. We embraced the Jacksons because we could identify with them. Yea, there were other black entertainers on TV before the Jacksons but unlike how Berry Gordy and Motown packaged the Supremes, Temptations, Marvin Gaye & Tammy Terrell, Smokey & the Miracles and all the others, the Jacksons were like real people. Motown glammed up the other acts to specifically appeal to white people. The Jackson 5 sang, danced and dressed like us only better. The Jacksons were like our extended family.

I disagree that there was so much black music being played on white stations. I grew up in the DC area and the popular white stations rarely ever played any black music. The Jackson 5 were cool enough that even my friends in elementary and junior high school would allow their music to be played. Since they were the same age or a little older than us, it was significant that my white friends would listen to their music. Believe me, for the most part, the predominately white area where I grew up thought "my music" and culture was crap. Black or soul music was called "jungle music". I didn't really grow up in the 60's (even though I was born during that time). I was a kid of the 70's. Motown was over. The Jacksons were the real cross-over artists during my time.

Part of the outpouring comes from some guilt. We as black people took Michael for granted. We acknowledged his genius but as time went on we didn't understand the self-mutiliation or the weird behavior. We loved black Mike and couldn't understand his embrace of a white visage. We knew long before Oprah that his father had beaten and worked him like an animal. That was reported in the black press years before. So we overlooked some things because we felt some guilt about our role in what happened to Michael. If we hadn't adored him and his family so much, maybe his father wouldn't have been so hard on him. Maybe Michael could have had a more "normal" life. Interesting how his siblings are not as eccentric. Anyway, many of us could have foretold his demise (I had a sense of this about a year ago) because of what we had witnessed over the years. We just hoped that being a parent could save him from himself. I have no doubt that he was a great father to those kids regardless of how they became his kids (and they are his kids).

There is a bitterness in the black community about how Michael's reputation and legacy are being besmirched in the media. I find it interesting how the media (including you Joan) who insist that the man was some kind of weirdo but listening to many in his industry, they felt he was a down-to-earth, shy guy who wasn't strange. Just because the media said so didn't mean that was the truth. And you can definitely say that about the controversy surrounding his life. The media doesn't outright call him a pedaphile but they certainly imply that he is notwithstanding his acquittal on those charges. Did he make poor judgments, assuredly yes but who amongst us hasn't. Doesn't mean that he sexually abused anyone. Besides in our community, it is verboten to speak ill of the dead. You are besmirching the reputation and legacy of one of ours and we don't much like it. So, we are going to have to agree to disagree on this one. It is a case of "it's a black thing, and you wouldn't understand".

We have:

Americans dying in Afghanistan & Iraq...

New, astronomical deficits...

A recession that might last a decade...

Wall Street hitting a 10-week low...

A Health Care crisis...

Supreme Court confirmation hearings starting shortly...

And the Treasury Department and Secret Service were just hit by a cyber attack...

So could you do us all a favor please?

SHUT THE FUCK UP!

Ms Walsh,

Your article represents the modern problem with the media and the internet:

1.A continuous need to comment, excite, antagonize and exploit celebrity and

2.A veiled attempt at journalistic integrity-the inside look with a bird's eye opinion: arrogance

Who cares if it bothered you? Who are you writing for, yourself? The fans? the family? The fashionably hardened pseudo-intellectuals "who have had enough!!"; the poor people of Iraq who's stories aren't told now for two weeks? Or other journalist's like yourself who must get bored reporting about Michael Jackson everyday?

The media is too self indulgent. On one hand the ratings moguls, report only on stories that keep the viewers but the journalists themselves get bored and feed us all kinds of crap. Tabloid fodder. Then, you deem the public stupid enough to believe that your real interest is to shed light on the underlying issues:

The problem with prescription drugs in America; or problems of race...

Have you ever been to a funeral or memorial?

Michael Jackson and his family spent the last 40 years entertaining us. His children were born into this strange world with out choice. His fans and our popular culture are grieving (on many levels). His death was untimely and unexpected. Michael Jackson's family and fan's wanted to celebrate his life, in the only way they knew. The public seems to have needed this kind of tribute.

I think its time for the media to grow up and take some responsibility or at least acknowledge that when people grieve, we all grieve in our own way. To dissect and critique a memorial service is vulgar and amateur.