Was Ryan White the reason why?

The Michael Jackson story continues to grip me and refuse to let me go, or rather, I refuse to let it go. I think I can't let it go out of guilt. As a kid, I loved Michael Jackson wholeheartedly and unapologetic, despite the rampant verbal insults towards him and his possible sexual orientation. Those barrages bounced off of me so easily. However, when I became an adult, I seemed to become more cowardly and less intuitive, allowing my opinions to be tainted. It is not to say that I believed the accusations, but I believed that something had to be there in order to warrant the seemingly endless onslaught. And I was well into my feeling sorry for myself because I was molested phase, which was not a fun phase to go through. It was fine that I went through it, especially since I, for the most part, have come through it feeling like my old intuitive self, but it did come at the cost of MJ. I have never met him and was never in a position to meet him, let alone see him in a concert, but good vibes can be felt, especially when it's contrary to the tsunami of negativity he experienced. I regret that I wasn't there to cheer him through his darkest moments, although I'm well-aware that it may have been possible that he would've never felt or knew about it.

Now to the 'journalists' and pundits who made their careers out of MJ's misfortunes, yes, racism could've been a factor in the voraciousness of their stories. Jealousy and envy could be a factor. But I think that looking at what these 'journalists' zero in on can reveal the real story, specifically, they zero in on the Jordan Chandler case of 1993. For these people, that was when Michael Jackson's life began and ended, at least that is what they think. But as an 80s child who watched him during the Thriller/Bad/Dangerous period, there was more going on with him than him counting his money or collecting gold and platinum albums, or receiving humanitarian awards from presidents and other dignitaries. Ryan White happened to him.

Ryan White, for those who wasn't alive during the 80s, was a 12 year old hemophiliac who was given tainted blood, which resulted in him getting AIDS. A Kokomo, Indiana native, he was harassed when he attempted to return to school. Some loving parents decided to pull their children out of school because they feared the danger this boy's condition could pose for their own. Mind you, this was the 80s and a lot was not known about HIV/AIDS, but this disease gave a lot of people permission to act ignorantly. I even remember towns blocking the burials of those who succumbed to the disease, citing that they believed that the disease would seep into the groundwater. The hysteria back then was very reminiscent of the hysteria associated with Obama's attempt at reforming America's health care system, but back then, so-called 'good parents' didn't think twice about stepping all over the rights of a 12 year boy who was trying to return to some normalcy, despite his dire diagnosis.

Many celebrities stepped into the White family's fight, but when Michael Jackson entered into it, it was a game changer. While it wasn't like Michael Jackson was wagging his fingers at the parents who mobilized and tried to re-establish segregation, the fact that Michael Jackson, a Black man who always had his sexuality questioned, publicly befriended a child who had 'the gay disease', I would think that this action made these parents look like bigger fools. Michael Jackson was at the top of his game, and yet, he wasn't scared of being felled by this disease. Not only did he establish a friendship with Ryan and his family, he opened his home to them often and when they invited him into their home, he readily accepted it. Imagine that... a California liberal behaving like the stereotypical Midwesterners, while legitimate Midwesterners acted like cowardly fascists.

When Ryan died, Michael attended the funeral and continued to follow up with Ryan's survivors, especially his mother. He also wrote a tribute song for Ryan, Gone Too Soon, and included it on his Dangerous album. While some would've closed this enlightening, yet emotionally draining chapter of one's life, MJ seemed to be motivated by what happened to Ryan and the Whites and made a concerted effort to make sure that children and families who could feel isolated and ostracized by a paranoid and often ignorant community not feel isolated. So he opened Neverland Ranch wide and allowed various types of children with various kinds of life circumstances to have a temporary escape. And for several years, Neverland Ranch fulfilled Michael's purpose; unfortunately for Michael, he never considered that all families weren't like the White family. It was likely that before Ryan's illness, the Whites were good people, therefore post-diagnosis/prognosis, they remained good people. In addition, they experienced adversity and knew the sting of being let down by their greater community, therefore, an added sense of humanity and empathy may have colored them. Unfortunately for Michael, not every human being is capable of accepting kindnesses and possibly, paying it forward. There are those who are so empty that the accumulation of too much is still not enough. And the same people can't grasp the concept of reciprocity.

Just look at the Chandlers - neither children were sick. Their fathers were self-made men... and yet, nothing MJ did for them was ever enough. Jeanne White invited Michael to stay at her house; Evan Chandler invited Michael to stay at his house - but eventually asked Michael to pony up some dough to build a new wing. Michael hung out with the single parent family headed by Jeanne White at his home or their home; while he hung out at both the Schwartzes and Chandler home, he also footed the bill when still-married June, along with her two children, traveled with him to Monaco. Initially, I'm sure that MJ felt a sense of satisfaction in helping and befriending these people, but what did they ever really give him in return? Lawsuits, negative publicity, and quite likely, a serious case of self-doubt about acts that were supposed to be giving, supportive and loving.

By some miracle, MJ rebounded emotionally, when he decided to help the Arvizos. This time, the family was working class and one of their children was legitimately ill, therefore they would accept his help and support without a nefarious agenda, right? Mind you, the family was a two-parent household -- although later, the father was shoved out due to alleged domestic violence. The family eventually stayed at Neverland; however, Michael was never invited to their home, mainly because the house/apartment was struned with big ticket items conned out of other celebrities. While Michael wasn't present during Ryan's subsequent treatments, he was available or reasonably accessible during Gavin's treatments. Like with Ryan, Michael lavished Gavin and his family with luxuries in hopes of bolstering their spirits. But unlike Ryan, Gavin did recover and returned to his lying larcenous self and got major backup from his family, the DA's office, and the ever-ready band of liars posing as journalists. From there, the perception that Michael Jackson trolled for unsuspecting child meat after sampling Jordan Chandler's began.

For those who lived through the 80s, they know that so-called journalists' time lines regarding MJ's associations with children is shaky at best; however, these journalists and their made up propaganda served another possible purpose - redemption for the American parent. Immediately after MJ's death, many pundit posed the rhetorical question 'Would you allow MJ around your children?' in which they would automatically answer 'No.' And while this exchange totally obliterate the point of rhetorical questions, it does reaffirm the American parent's position that they are good parents because of this particular stance. Maybe taking this stance against MJ now will erase the ignorance that they readily engaged in when it came to Ryan White... right?

Wrong!

Because these journalists, on behalf of these American parents, are setting up more children to be ostracized due to parental ignorance - the Jackson children. Will they get the gentle kid-glove treatment that the reputed Jordan Chandler/Gavin Arvizo liars got? I don't think so. Just look at the 'tact' they demonstrated towards these mourning children - incessant molestation talk, questions about their true paternity, their on-air pleas for possible egg/sperm donors and surrogates to come out of hiding? If this was anyone else besides Michael Jackson, these journalists wouldn't have the cheek to go there and essentially put the whole system of surrogacy and alternative reproductive practices in jeopardy.

Michael Jackson was a rare bird - he was an adult who actually learned something and tried to apply that lesson to the way he lived his life. He learned from Ryan that all children wanted was to be treated fairly and equally - something that Michael was continuously denied during his life and after his passing.

However, there is always hope if astute, free thinking people do some independent investigations instead of depending on the Nancy Graces/Diane Dimonds of the world. These people aren't receptive or intuitive; therefore, they work hard to add more people to their ranks and already, the world is becoming a louder, more detached place.

On the flip side, here's a clip of two dudes who were obviously receptive to MJ's brilliance and created something pretty fabulous in its wake.