US President Barack Obama may've become the most popular black man of late, but talk of timelessness, and none can beat our magical moonwalker
US President Barack Obama may've become the most popular black man of late, but talk of timelessness, and none can beat our magical moonwalker. Michael Jackson had sown the seeds of black empowerment the way no one ever hadu00a0strongly, swiftly, song-ly.u00a0u00a0
Never before had an icon from the West been looked upon by the desis as he was. Indians loved him not just for those pelvic pushes and aahs and owws, but what he really stood for equality. He sang for them, the oppressed and wronged, and roused a revolution through an art never-before tested. The sun may've set, but the light still illuminates millions of hearts such is the demigod's immortal magic.u00a0u00a0
I was never a metro kid with an air-conditioned room and 'international' upbringing, whatever that really means.
Even in my tiny town in now Jharkhand, I grew up watching friends, cousins and relatives unsuccessfully copying the King of Pop's smooth moonwalk. And pretentious politicos, his agenda. Kids in urban and rural areas alike still mock their friends with lines like "Michael Jackson samajhta hai kya apne ko?" Every Indian saluted the Gandhian in crotch-clutching leather breeches and hideous hats, because his cause was crystal clear. Black wasn't going be dark anymore. White wasn't going to be right.u00a0
Forgive Mikey for his skin polish; it was vitiligo and lupus that did it to him more than the mistaken obsession with whiteness. It was disease, not deceit. He didn't mean to betray his belief, I'm sure, even as you mentally argue otherwise. He was committed to his community more than you and I and maybe Mayawati is. And, so what if the bitter taste of being black furthered his wish to take refuge in skins far fairer? The messiah had done his job. The world was already singing his song. It's high time we forgave him for that one awry tune.u00a0u00a0
Had he seen Obama taking his oath, maybe that one track would've been scrapped. He may've still worn his birth tone. It's true that some realities are harsh, and changing colour doesn't quite take you away from them.
But when you help your people fight the same troubles through, your own contradictions stand well forgiven.
So does his. Discrimination may've weakened him, but given his people their biggest strength. So, even if it still does matter if you're black or white, Jacko's grey side should be overlooked. And, his songs, played proudly by Indians in Australia.
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