Jim Downs: Michael Jackson Vilified By Vanity Fair Writer Maureen Orth
[Jim Downs is an assistant professor of history at Connecticut College, specializing in African American studies and 19th-century U.S. history.]
In polite society, children are often told, "If you don't have something nice to say, then don't say anything at all." Yet in the hours following the death of Michael Jackson, a number of media outlets turned to an unlikely source for commentary — Vanity Fair's Maureen Orth, who used the opportunity to vilify Jackson and remind American audiences, as if they had somehow forgotten, that Jackson was charged with child molestation.
In all fairness, the media may have been working under the assumption that they needed to report on Jackson's full biography. Yet the very fact that our media, and our culture, allow investigative reporters like Orth to appear on news programs and lambaste Jackson as a child molester just hours after his death is precipitated from the history of racism and slavery in this country.
There are certain dynamics that enable Orth, as a white woman, to publicly and unquestionably indict Jackson, as a black man, for his sexual habits. The discourse of slavery objectified black men's bodies and then portrayed black men (and women) from the 17th century to the present as oversexed, licentious and sexually aberrant. So, for Orth to indict Jackson is not very far removed from Mayella calling Tom Robinson a rapist in "To Kill a Mockingbird."
Americans are not surprised when they hear of the alleged sexual rampages of African American men, whether it is Eddie Murphy being caught with a transvestite, Kobe Bryant being accused of — and eventually acquitted — of rape, Magic Johnson becoming the face of HIV because of sexual promiscuity or R. Kelly being arrested for child pornography. There is already a social context in which non-black Americans come to expect that black celebrities will undoubtedly get caught with their pants down.
This popular social context can be traced to the late-19th century, when white Southerners, who held the overwhelming power in the Jim Crow South, could cast accusations and create fiction about black people's sexuality. Whether she realizes it or not, this historical tradition has given Orth the opportunity to publicly indict Jackson without question. Today, there is no need for the KKK to do the dirty work, since Orth has been armed with a mike on her suit lapel and has been charged to denounce Jackson so that the viewing public can lynch his memory.
The idea that a white woman can pathologize a black man is deeply rooted within a historical tradition dating back to the late-19th century and earlier. Orth is now the leading talking head on Jackson, appearing on "Hardball with Chris Matthews," "The Today Show," MSNBC's "Morning Joe" and The Huffington Post, and has even published an article on the Vanity Fair website titled "Michael Jackson Is Gone, But the Sad Facts Remain."...
Read entire article at Hartford Courant
In polite society, children are often told, "If you don't have something nice to say, then don't say anything at all." Yet in the hours following the death of Michael Jackson, a number of media outlets turned to an unlikely source for commentary — Vanity Fair's Maureen Orth, who used the opportunity to vilify Jackson and remind American audiences, as if they had somehow forgotten, that Jackson was charged with child molestation.
In all fairness, the media may have been working under the assumption that they needed to report on Jackson's full biography. Yet the very fact that our media, and our culture, allow investigative reporters like Orth to appear on news programs and lambaste Jackson as a child molester just hours after his death is precipitated from the history of racism and slavery in this country.
There are certain dynamics that enable Orth, as a white woman, to publicly and unquestionably indict Jackson, as a black man, for his sexual habits. The discourse of slavery objectified black men's bodies and then portrayed black men (and women) from the 17th century to the present as oversexed, licentious and sexually aberrant. So, for Orth to indict Jackson is not very far removed from Mayella calling Tom Robinson a rapist in "To Kill a Mockingbird."
Americans are not surprised when they hear of the alleged sexual rampages of African American men, whether it is Eddie Murphy being caught with a transvestite, Kobe Bryant being accused of — and eventually acquitted — of rape, Magic Johnson becoming the face of HIV because of sexual promiscuity or R. Kelly being arrested for child pornography. There is already a social context in which non-black Americans come to expect that black celebrities will undoubtedly get caught with their pants down.
This popular social context can be traced to the late-19th century, when white Southerners, who held the overwhelming power in the Jim Crow South, could cast accusations and create fiction about black people's sexuality. Whether she realizes it or not, this historical tradition has given Orth the opportunity to publicly indict Jackson without question. Today, there is no need for the KKK to do the dirty work, since Orth has been armed with a mike on her suit lapel and has been charged to denounce Jackson so that the viewing public can lynch his memory.
The idea that a white woman can pathologize a black man is deeply rooted within a historical tradition dating back to the late-19th century and earlier. Orth is now the leading talking head on Jackson, appearing on "Hardball with Chris Matthews," "The Today Show," MSNBC's "Morning Joe" and The Huffington Post, and has even published an article on the Vanity Fair website titled "Michael Jackson Is Gone, But the Sad Facts Remain."...