Michael Jackson passed away 13 years ago from propofol overdose. In remembrance, civil rights icon, Reverend Jesse Jackson Snr., post glorious heavenly birthday wishes on his facebook wall. We reproduce the entire post below.
Happy heavenly Birthday, Michael Jackson. We shall never forget you. You will live as long as we remember you.
You know, I first saw Michael and his group, his family’s group in Gary, Indiana, in 1967 at Mayor Richard Hatch’s inauguration. And a couple of years later, we had a big expo, cultural exposition in Chicago. And a friend, Junius Griffin, stopped by and asked the kids to play the expo. They were across the street at the Ringo Theatre. I said I don’t think so because we have a very full program. We have Quincy Jones and we have, you know, Cannonball Adderly and Nancy Wilson and Sammy Davis. We just don’t have room. And so Junius said, well, at least come downstairs. The kids want to see your afro.
But they were downstairs in their station wagon with the U-Haul attached to it with the guitars and drums in it, and they were so inspiring to me. I said, well, we’ll let you do the matinee on Saturday afternoon, and they did the matinee. And of course, the expo was never the same again. I am so glad I went downstairs… And then, of course, we were together, you know, when they did the Victory tour. And we were together during the downtime in Neverland. But in the meantime, Michael, they went to Motown. The impact of Berry Gordy and Suzanne DePasse – the Quincy Jones and “Thriller,” and Lionel Richie and “We Are The World.” And so he never comprised his ethnic integrity as he sought to broaden to a global audience. He was a very authentic African-American with a global view and made room for everybody in his vision. #whoslovinyou #IwantYouBack #HealTheWorld #YouAreNotAlone #ManInTheMirror #thegreatest #thegoat 🐐♍️
