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As I’m reading this article by Earl Ofari Hutchinson, I had to add a few thoughts. When ever this topic gets brought up I’ve always noted the most glaring omission to this whole ‘child molester’ myth. It’s quite simple-Show me the kids and show me the parents. The emphasis is on the plural ‘s’. Almost all experts on this topic have noted that a molester doesn’t stop at one victim, they have lots of them. Such would’ve been the case with Michael Jackson who routinely hosted hundreds if not thousands of kids at his Neverland Ranch. There would’ve been more than the one or two victims who accused him.
This leads to my second point, show me the parents. Out of all the kids supposedly molested, not one parent ran off to get Mike? Not one? There was no parent who looked at their innocent 6,7, or 8 year old and said to themselves; ‘WTF? This 45 year old man violated my child? My seed? My loved one? ? Hell No-Michael Jackson gotta die?’ …
Think about that for a minute. What parent sits by and doesn’t try and snatch the head off the person who harmed their precious loved one? I know my parents would been in jail if anything like that happened. Hell moms was ready to call it a day when she heard about teachers acting foul toward me or my sister. Pops beat the crap out of man right there in Macy’s for pushing me out of the way and calling me a little nigger when I was about 7. He knocked this man over a Christmas tree and would not stop until pulled off. He kept pummeling the man and yelling ‘No one touches my kid-No one’ Could you imagine if I had been molested?
The natural reaction of any parent is to protect their kids and protect them at all costs. You never saw this with the parents of Michael Jackson’s so called victims. Sure there might be one or two parents who would be in denial. Sure, there might be one or two parents who would be greedy and take money to remain silent, but there would be at least one and all you need is one family that would not be having it. That one family would pull out all the stops to bring justice for their kid.
You touch my seed and no money in the world would prevent what I would be dishing out. Death, death serious pain and a long jail sentence would be the only solution if you dared touch my kid. After that was meted out, there would be no need for financial settlement cause I would sue in civil court and get all the money. If for some reason Jackson got off and was found innocent to such an egregious act that I as a parent knew he did, I would be that parent that showed up at every single event to kick up dust and bring attention to his wrong doings. I’d be that parent holding fliers, picket signs, calling up radio stations, going to award shows demanding him and his music be boycotted. There would be no place on earth that MJ could not go and not have to deal with an upset, loving parent who wanted justice for their kid.
You never saw that with any of the two parents who claimed MJ molested their child. You never saw this with anyone. No outraged grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins-no one. Hell where are the victims? Michael Jackson was first accused back in ’92, ’93 of molestation. In theory any young victim would be an adult at this time-No one saw or felt the need to speak out and raise hell knowing that the person who molested them was still hosting kids at his ranch? Compare the lack of reaction from supposed victims’ of MJ with those who were victims by priests in the Catholic Church. When charges were levied on one Cardinal, bishop or priests by one brave soul, a string of victims soon followed. They all came out the from hiding and spoke up. Where were MJ’s supposed victims?
I’ll tell you where they were? No where cause there wasn’t none. No outraged parents and family members, no traumatized victims who are now adults willing to step up and speak. No strong convincing evidence from an out of control Santa Barbara distric attorney who was hell bent on seeing MJ in jail? Don Sneddon had 20+ years to find something to get MJ in jail and he couldn’t even with the full weight and resources of one of the wealthiest counties in America.
Michael Jackson a child molester? Negro please. Strange fella at times? Yes. Child molester? Perhaps if you believe in the Easter Bunny or you were seeking a quick payoff.
-Davey D-
Bury the Never Ending Myth of Jackson as Child Molester
by Earl Ofari Hutchinson
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/earl-ofari-hutchinson/bury-the-never-ending-myt_b_228307.html
Websites, blogs and chatrooms pulsed with garish cracks about it. Legions of commentators and news reporters snuck it in every chance they got. More than a few of Michael Jackson’s fervent admirers and supporters made a dismissive reference to it. Even President Barack Obama in a cautious acknowledgment of Jackson’s towering contributions to American music and artistry still made reference to the “tragedy” in Jackson’s life which was a subtle nod to it. And New York Congressman Pete King skipped the niceties and flatly said it.
The “it” is the never ending myth of Jackson the child molester. It still hangs as a damning indictment that feeds the gossip mills and gives an arsenal of ammunition to Jackson detractors. This is not a small point. In the coming weeks, there will be a push to bestow official commemorative monuments, honors on and a national stamp for Jackson. The taint of scandal could doom these efforts to permanently memorialize Jackson.
The child molester myth doesn’t rest on Jackson’s trial and clean acquittal on multiple child abuse charges in a Santa Maria courthouse in June 2005. Only the most rabid Jackson loathers still finger point to that to taint Jackson. The myth of Jackson as child abuser rests squarely on the charge by a 13 year old boy a decade before the trial and the multi-million dollar settlement out of court. The settlement, then and now, feeds the suspicion that Jackson must have done something unsavory and probably criminal, or else why settle?
Sixteen years later, though, the facts remain unchanged. The charge that Jackson molested the boy was brought by the boy’s father. In interviews the boy repeatedly denied the charges. This changed only after he was administered sodium amytal, an invasive, mind altering drug that medical experts have frowned on and courts have disregarded in witness testimony.
Prosecutors, police departments and investigators in Los Angeles and Santa Barbara spent millions of dollars, convened two grand juries and probed nearly 200 witnesses that included 30 children, who knew Jackson to try to substantiate the charge. Not a single corroborating witness was found. Nonetheless, a motley group of disgruntled Jackson’s former housekeepers, attendants and bodyguards still peddled the story to any media outlet willing to shell out the cash that Jackson had engaged in child sexual wrongdoing. Not one of the charges was confirmed. Typical was this exchange between one of Jackson’s attorneys and one of the accusing bodyguards under oath:
“So you don’t know anything about Mr. Jackson and [the boy], do you?” “All I know is from the sworn documents that other people have sworn to.”
“But other than what someone else may have said, you have no firsthand knowledge about Mr. Jackson and [the boy], do you?”“That’s correct.”
“Have you spoken to a child who has ever told you that Mr. Jackson did anything improper with the child?”
“No.”
“Where did you get your impressions about Jackson’s behavior?”
“Just what I’ve been hearing in the media and what I’ve experienced with my own eyes.”
“Okay. That’s the point. You experienced nothing with your own eyes, did you?”
“That’s right, nothing.”
When asked at the time about the charges against Jackson, child behavior experts and psychiatrists nearly all agreed that he did not fit the profile of a pedophile. They agreed that the disorder is progressive and there are generally not one but a trail of victims.
The myth of Jackson as child molester never hinged on evidence or testimony to substantiate it, but solely on the settlement. Why then did Jackson agree to it?
No charge stirs more disgust, revulsion, and pricks more emotional hot buttons than the charge of child molestation. The accusation stamps the Scarlet letter of doubt, suspicion, shame and guilt on the accused. The accused can never fully expunge it. There is simply no defense against it. Under the hyper intense media glare and spotlight that Jackson remained under, the allegation no mater how bogus would have been endless fodder for the public gossip mill. This would have wreaked irreparable damage on Jackson’s ever shifting musical career and personal life.
A trial in Los Angeles in the racially charged backdrop of the Rodney King beating, the L.A. riots, and pulsating racial tensions in the mid-1990s would have been risky business. A trial in staid, upscale, and majority white, Santa Barbara County would have been even more risky.
Jackson and his attorneys knew that when it came to the charge of child molestation the presumption of innocence, or even actual innocence, is tossed out the window. Though Jackson did nothing wrong, a trial would have left him, his reputation and his career in shambles. The settlement was the only pragmatic, logical and legal way to end the sordid issue.
The settlement under extreme duress must not sully his name and place as an honored American icon. The myth of Jackson as child molester must finally be buried.
Earl Ofari Hutchinson is an author and political analyst. His weekly radio show, “The Hutchinson Report” can be heard on weekly in Los Angeles on KTYM Radio 1460 AM and nationally on blogtalkradio.com
Yesterday’s memorial for Michael Jackson was surreal, emotional, healing, inspiring and a heartfelt sobering wake up call. I’m glad I fought my initial urge to stay home and made the 5 hour drive from the Bay Area down to the Staples Center in LA. The long drive done in the middle of the night gave me time to reflect on all that had taken place over the past couple of weeks.
As I arrived at the Staples Center and got my tickets I was there amongst thousands. The mood was upbeat and somewhat festive. There were smiles and light-hearted jokes. The mood was one of excitement as we all knew we were going to a historic event. The fact that we were among thousands of people who loved and appreciated this man sans the outright disrespect the media punditry playerhaterism who are increasingly out of step with their viewers and listeners added to the jovial mood.
It wasn’t until I got inside a darkened Staples Center and saw the stage adorned with flowers and the memorializing picture montage that it started to sink in what was really going on. As the place filled up we all could spot various celebrities who generally would cause a stir, the mood had drastically changed. It was more somber and definitely quiet except for the folks in the VIP section that seemed to be more animated and engaged as they smiled, exchanged pounds and hugged each other like this was just another industry event. I recall making note and tweeting about that.
The Memorial itself could be best described as beautifully sad. We all saw the highlights, the first being Mariah Carey singing as she tried her best to hold back tears and keep her voice from cracking. We understood how difficult it was to sing with the casket in front of her. People in the audience had teared up when it was first brought in. If she didn’t care nor had no love, then this would’ve been just another gig. But singing in front of MJ’s casket knowing that he was forever gone was something else. Everyone at the Memorial felt her and appreciated the singing -cracked voice and all.
Lots of people have been weighing in on the passing of Michael Jackson. Even more have been weighing in on on what a proper tribute looks like in the aftermath of the BET Awards fiasco. One person who has stepped to the plate is music icon Chuck D of Public Enemy. he sent out this video the other day of his own tribute to Michael jackson. He explained that he took some time out and put this together on I Movie. It underscored my questions-Where was the simple video montage from BET?
Of course, Michael’s careerism had a steep downside, tripped onto a slippery slope, when he decided that his public and private life could be merged, orchestrated, and manipulated for publicity and mass consumption as masterfully as his albums and videos. I certainly began to feel this when word got out of him sleeping in a hyperbaric chamber or trying to buy the Elephant Man’s bones, and I became almost certain this was the case when he dangled his hooded baby son over a balcony for the paparazzi, to say nothing of his alleged darker impulses. At what point, we have to wonder, did the line blur for him between Dr. Jacko and Mr. Jackson, between 
Over the past week many of us have sat in seething anger as news show after news show and pundit after pundit have been granted large platforms and an abundance of air time to come and trash Michael Jackson. I’m not talking about raising a couple of controversial issues here and there, but some of the folks who have been dragged out the sewer with the express purpose of going all out not to just to smash on MJ, but to do so in such away that it would hurt us. It was like some diabolical mind sat in a room and said ‘Here’s how you can really totally demoralize Black folks-take their biggest icon and treat him like shit while the body is still warm’ Watching the coverage of Michael Jackson on many of these mainstream news outlets has me wondering if MJ did something personal to some of them. Simply put, OJ Simpson got and gets better treatment.
