The Obama Project@WindonWater.net

Today a bit of memorabilia came in the mail – the Jackson 5 Anthology on CD.    I used to have a 4 album set, bought at a used LP store – but between going years without owning a recordplayer, and years without proper LP storage – they eventually warped… so I bought the CD set.

The set has pictures of the boys on the front – and on the first page of the liner notes, a picture of all six boys – including Randy.  So that’s, Jacky, Tito, Jermaine, Marlon, Michael and Randy.  Every one of them handsome boys.  No exceptions.

But that’s not how I remember them.  I remember Michael being the cute one, and Jermaine being just alright.  I remember Tito being funny looking, and Jackie being devastatingly gorgeous (but too old for me).  Even in the 80s when I was in high school and college, and when Michael started “changing” – I remember Randy being cute, Jermaine being kinda ugly after all, and wondering why Marlon ever thought he was supposed to be out there at all – he was that funny looking to me.

I reflect on this to note how many scales had to fall from my eyes to appreciate naturally black features as not only ok, but appealing.  Looking at the boys now, I can see what went wrong.  Marlon and Jermaine both have wider noses than the other boys, and fuller lips.  This consigned them to “ugliness” in my young mind.  Looking at them now, I see them all as handsome – I have to try hard to see what was distasteful to my young girl’s eyes.

Lots of people laugh at Michael Jackson for his persistent and aggressive war on his own face – but when I look at this snapshot of the way they were – I can see why Michael attacked himself as he did.  He’s older than me – probably more inclined to see black features as unattractive – and in the world of fame that he inhabits – looks mean so much more.

Today I am very grateful for President-Elect Barack Obama – who was a chubby little boy who didn’t look all that different from a younger Michael Jackson (more accurately, he looked as a baby, like Randy looks in this picture), who grew up to be a handsome black man, ears and all, and President of the United States.  I pray that young black boys and girls grow ever more likely to think that their natural features are beautiful – and to be glad of them.
QT

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