JUSTICE FOR MICHAEL…a conversation about the truth

Artist David Nordahl, Michael Jackson’s friend for more than 20 years, and whose work was commissioned for Neverland Ranch, recently shared some memories of Jackson:  “That conversation they played in court was so Michael.  (He is referencing the tape CM made of Michael while under the influence of medication for insomnia.)  Taking care of sick children is what he talked about in every conversation we had.  He took care of sick children all over the world.  He paid for Bela Farcas’ liver; the cost was $125,000 and when they found out it was for Michael Jackson the price jumped to a quarter million. giving a liver Bela got his liver.  I didn’t do just paintings for Michael; he asked me to do sketches of rides he invented at Neverland and the drawings for condos he planned to build for critically ill children and their families.heightened love  He knew that critically ill children heal better in an environment of hope, positive thoughts, laughter and magic.  The darkened and quiet sick room fosters depression, not joy and JOY HEALS according to Michael.  His condos had bay windows, because he knew that very ill children often can’t sleep and wake up at night afraid, so he built an outdoor theatre to run cartoons 24/7 so that if a child woke up, they would be able to see cartoons from their windows.”  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7ksGknh4lc

Nordahl spoke about Michael’s mischaracterized love for children.  How was he during that time when he was accused.  I want to know.

“Michael knew, I mean absolutely knew-without a doubt, that his personal destiny was to heal children; it was his calling.  He visited orphanages all over the world, built some, built children’s wings on hospitals, he sent doctors to the Balkans and even sent a 737 with medical supplies to Sarajevo.  Michael loved children; he lived for children.  They were the most important thing in his life, in fact, they were his reason for living.  All Michael’s work was dedicated to children-to the children of the world or to the child in us all.  Neverland Ranch was dedicated to children and it was always under construction.  It’s similarity to Disneyland was intentional.  Michael saw helping children in this world as his life mission.  He cutetraveled the world advocating for children and contributing a great personal fortune to children’s causes.  It was his life and it was his reason for living.  Can you imagine what it was like for him to be accused of harming children?”  The story told is that Michael befriended a divorced family with a boy diagnosed with cancer and brought them to Neverland because children healed there from all kinds of troubles and wounds.  (I have quoted Mr. Nordahl verbatim here.  But, the Chandler family falsely accused Michael of molesting their son, Jordan, The Arvizo family falsely accused Michael of molesting their son, Gavin.  Gavin was the child with cancer that Michael helped, along with his family.   Jordan Chandler’s father, Evan, was the aspiring playwright who wanted Michael to finance his career.  Although, Mr. Nordahl got the names wrong, his recollections of his personal experiences with Michael during the horror of it all remain valid and are important in the telling of Michael’s truths.) He came in contact with the boy’s father who believed himself to be creative and an unrecognized talent as a playwright.  Ravaged by a mental illness and prone to its delusions, the father believed he would become Jackson’s partner in a planned production company-Lost Boys Production.  Jackson, with $40 million in start-up money from his record company, commissioned Nordahl to design some logos for the project.  Before the paint was dry, the boy’s father realized he was never going to be Jackson’s partner in the venture and demanded half the money.  When Jackson refused, the rest became easy:  make an accusation and collect $20 million earmarked for filmmaking-Jackson’s passion and next venture. peter pan

Unfortunately, Jackson never got to realize his dream of making films.  His reputation suffered and some will always think of him guilty of a crime, when his only crime was being “different”.  But, geniuses usually are often outcasts of their peers and culture.  And we can guess, given the times, that more than a little of what happened to Michael was RACIALLY MOTIVATED.  I pointed out to Nordahl that the blueprint for the condos at Neverland included waterfalls that produce negative ions which are uplifting and make people feel good; he had to know about endorphins. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJZM_k_WsQw

“Of course he knew; he had music piped in at Neverland for the flowers because he knew it encouraged them to grow.”  Nordahl replied.  “Michael read all the time.  He knew a lot about healing, he knew joy and delight had an effect on hormones and mood.  He wanted some of the construction at Neverland to be secret so that children visiting would not know ahead of time everything they would encounter there so that there was the joy of surprise.  He knew how it would delight them and make them feel.  But, the magic for Michael was gone.  Michael loved magic.  He asked for it in his paintings.  He saw the world that way and he deliberately looked through the magical eyes of a child because he preferred it.  It’s true he felt the loss of childhood, but more than that, Michael liked seeing the world through fresh un-indoctrinated and fresh eyes, so he chose it.  Looking with those eyes and through the lens of innocence allowed his creativity to flow freely and fiercely like a river.  When the accusations came, especially the last one, his river of creativity was dammed and went dry.loving fans 

The media, in a frenzy, used Jackson to sell their wares, the tabloid headlines, the stolen, unflattering pictures.  He took to wearing a mask to discourage them.  Fortunes were made on fictionalized stories and unauthorized biographies by people who never met him or knew him only at the fringes of his orbit.  THE LOUDEST JACKSON DETRACTORS ARE OFTEN THE MOST GUILTY OF USING JACKSON AND RIDING THE HYSTERIA SURROUNDING HIM TO LAUNCH AND SUSTAIN CAREERS, “REPORTING” ON MICHAEL JACKSON’S LIFE.  Those same people know sensation sells and knowlingly contributed to it.  They still ride his coattails even in death, revisit the crime whenever in front of a camera and claim guilt to this day DESPITE A MOUNTAIN OF EVIDENCE TO THE CONTRARY AND A NOT GUILTY (14 COUNTS) VERDICT.  THEY CAN’T AFFORD TO BE EXPOSED FOR THEIR BULLYING, SO THEY STUBBORNLY OCCUPY THEIR POSITION.  THEY BULLIED HIM FOR HIS SKIN COLOR, LIGHTENED BY THE DISEASE VITILIGO; THE PATERNITY OF HIS CHILDREN, FOR HIS SURGERIES IN A CULTURE THAT REVERES YOUTH AND ESCHEWS AGING ROCKERS.  DEEP POCKETS AND A RACIST AGENDA EXPLAINS MUCH BECAUSE JACKSON WAS BORN INTO AND GREW UP IN A RACIST CULTURE AND MARRIED WHITE WOMEN.  THE REST IS EXPLAINED AS THE EGO THAT SEES PEOPLE NOT AS WHO THEY ARE BUT AS WHO YOU ARE BEING.

“Some called Neverland a child magnet,” Nordahl reminded me, “and it was really, that was deliberate.  But Michael did not have the agenda they said he had…his agenda was not to harm children…his agenda was to bring joy and magic to kids.  I watched him do that for 20 years.  Michael himself had a kind of magnetic attraction.  Kids followed him.  We were once in a ToysRUs store where Michael was buying toys for kids and I turned around to find a sea of kids HTW THREEfollowing us…and, Michael was wearing a disguise.  People said he was a recluse.  He wasn’t.  He just always drew crowds.  There was something about him, watching people descend on him was like watching a wave crashing to shore.  He had to practice getting out of any article of clothing quickly because people around him went into a kind of frenzy.  He could get out of clothes faster than anyone I’ve ever seen.”

Nordahl remembers too the loneliness that Michael suffered.  “Before and  during the trial, he felt abandoned.  He was being convicted in the court of public opinion and he worried about getting a fair trial.  He worried about what would happen to his kids if he went to prison.  He had trouble sleeping.  We were staying at a friend’s beach house on the ocean and I told him if he couldn’t sleep to come down and visit me.  He worried he’d keep me awake, but I didn’t mind.  I knew he was lonely and worried.  We spent many hours talking and sometimesmature beauty walking on the beach waiting for the sunrise.  He couldn’t sleep.  When you take away someone’s reason for living, the reason for his life, what’s left…”

I wanted to know if David Nordahl had been watching the trial.  “Sure, it’s hard because you know they had to make it about Michael.  I wish the world could know the real Michael.  Michael always said if you talk about the good you did in the world, you cancelled the beneficence of the gift, so he was very private about the humanitarian work.  Nobody will ever know how much he did for the world and for children.  The world will never know what it lost because they took Michael from his work and cheated not just him of his future, but it cheated all of us.”  David Nordahl Artist…Rev Barbara Kaufman

1010566_608053275931630_538859278_n“I am bewildered at the length people will go to portray me negatively.” Michael Jackson

When I came across this interview I knew that I needed to share it.  I also know that sharing real stories from people who really knew Michael is important and not being done in the media.  Here, we catch a glimpse of the man, the humanitarian, the creative genius and one who loved unconditionally.  Many find it difficult to understand Michael’s mission for children.  I do not.  It inspires me to do more every single day.  I hope you are inspired by it as well.naacp innocent

Jude

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TRUSTemotion two

“As I was feeding squirrels in the park, I noticed a small one that didn’t seem to trust me.  While the others came close enough to eat out of my hand, he kept his distance.  I threw a peanut his way.  He edged up, grabbed it nervously, and ran off.  Next time he must have felt less afraid, because he came a little closer.  The safer he felt, the more he trusted me.  Finally he sat right at my feet, as bold as any squirrel clamoring for the next peanut.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_juHGdpSZs0

Trust is like that…it always seems to come down to trusting in yourself.  OTHERS CAN’T OVERCOME FEAR FOR YOU; YOU HAVE TO DO IT ON YOUR OWN. It’s hard because fear and doubt hold on tight.  We are afraid of being rejected, of being hurt once more.  So we keep a safe distance.  We think separating ourselves from others will protect us, but that doesn’t work, either.  It leaves us feeling alone and unloved.you are my life

TRUSTING YOURSELF BEGINS BY RECOGNIZING THAT IT’S OKAY TO BE AFRAID.  Having fear is not the problem, because everyone feels anxious and insecure sometimes.  The problem is not being honest enough to admit your fear.  Whenever I accept my own doubt and insecurity, I’m more open to other people. THE DEEPER I GO INTO MYSELF, THE STRONGER I BECOME, BECAUSE I REALIZE THAT MY REAL SELF IS MUCH BIGGER THAN ANY FEAR.black

IN ACCEPTING YOURSELF COMPLETELY, TRUST BECOMES COMPLETE.  THERE IS NO LONGER ANY SEPARATION BETWEEN PEOPLE, BECAUSE THERE IS NO LONGER ANY SEPARATION INSIDE.  IN THE SPACE WHERE FEAR USED TO LIVE, LOVE IS ALLOWED TO GROW.” 

Michael Jackson  DANCING THE DREAM 1992

“WHEN YOU ARE BEHIND BARS WITH NO HOPE OF RELEASE, YOU NEED TO FIND STRENGTH WHEREVER YOU CAN.  PERSONALLY, I FOUND STRENGTH IN MICHAEL JACKSON.  EVEN TO THIS DAY, MICHAEL JACKSON IS A CONSTANT SOURCE OF INSPIRATION.”  Former South African President Nelson Mandela March 2005

“WHEN PEOPLE ASK ME WHERE I GET MY STRENGTH FROM, I TELL THEM THAT I LOOK AT THE MAN MICHAEL JACKSON LOOKS AT WHEN HE LOOKS AT THE MAN IN THE MIRROR.”  Muhammad Ali  March 2005will you be there two

     You have to be afraid before you can be brave.  I often think about the trip my grandmother made from Italy to Ellis Island…from New York to Eveleth, Minnesota.  She was nineteen, just married and journeying to join my grandfather.  Alone and speaking no English…coming from a life of poverty to live in a country she had only heard about, she had to say good-bye to her entire family, never to see any of them again.  A young bride, hardly knowing her husband, she would spend the rest of her life with him in America.  I know she had to have been afraid, and, I  know she was braver than I ever will be.Jude 001

Life for women like my grandmother…illiterate, having had no opportunity for an education…meant being married, having many children, being ruled by men.  In America, my grandmother had babies every two years…twelve in all with eight surviving…four boys and four girls.  Through it all, she never lost her vision…to educate all eight children and send them onto opportunities she could only dream of.  Through it all, she was beautiful and strong in her Catholic faith.  Through it all, she maintained her dignity, she provided a safe home for her family and for those in need.  Of her modest belongings, she gave freely to those in crisis.

If La Bello Cucina was her place to create foods that nourished family, the gardens provided her with escape…to breathe, to work the soil.  Tying a bandana tightly around her head to keep the headaches at bay…migraines by today’s standards…she grew heirloom tomatoes from seeds carried with her from Calabria.  Cucumbers, beans, squashes, potatoes, cabbages, swiss chard, peppers…the list continued.  And then, the fruit trees, strawberries, raspberries, melons…food to feed a large family twelve months of the year.  Free lands, provided by the iron ore mines where my grandfather worked, added more space to grow crops.  The day the watertower above these gardens burst, flooding everything, Grandma was saved…she hadn’t gone to work that day.

To think that my grandmother left poverty only to find her new home in the throws of the Great Depresson, I sometimes wonder if she ever regretted her decision to come.  If she did, she never told anyone about it.  Once on these shores, her gratitude never wavered.

She raised her children to be active participants in the American Dream.

You have to be afraid to be brave.  I know that statement is true…but, any fears my grandmother had remained with her until the day she died.

“IT’S CURIOUS WHAT TAKES COURAGE AND WHAT DOESN’T.  WHEN I STEPmj and friends OUT ON STAGE IN FRONT OF THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE, I DON’T FEEL LIKE I’M BEING BRAVE.  IT CAN TAKE MUCH MORE COURAGE TO EXPRESS TRUE FEELINGS TO ONE PERSON.  WHEN I THINK OF COURAGE, I THINK OF THE COWARDLY LION IN THE WIZARD OF OZ.  HE WAS ALWAYS RUNNING AWAY FROM DANGER.  HE OFTEN CRIED AND SHOOK WITH FEAR.  BUT HE WAS ALSO SHARING HIS REAL FEELINGS WITH THOSE HE LOVED, EVEN THOUGH HE DIDN’T ALWAYS LIKE THOSE FEELINGS.

THAT TAKES REAL COURAGE, THE COURAGE TO BE INTIMATE.  EXPRESSING YOUR FEELINGS IS NOT THE SAME AS FALLING APART IN FRONT OF SOMEONE ELSE…IT’S BEING ACCEPTING AND TRUE TO YOUR HEART, WHATEVER IT MAY SAY.  WHEN YOU HAVE THE COURAGE TO BE INTIMATE, YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE, AND YOU’RE WILLING TO LET OTHERS SEE THAT.  IT’S SCARY, BECAUSE YOU FEEL SO VULNERABLE, SO OPEN TO REJECTION.  BUT WITHOUT SELF-ACCEPTANCE, THE OTHER KIND OF COURAGE, THE KIND HEROES SHOW IN MOVIES, SEEMS HOLLOW.  IN SPITE OF THE RISKS, THE COURAGE TO BE HONEST AND INTIMATE OPENS THE WAY TO SELF-DISCOVERY.  IT OFFERS WHAT WE ALL WANT, THE PROMISE OF LOVE.cub

Michael Jackson DANCING THE DREAM 1992

     Touring internationally for the first time on their first overseas tour, the Jackson Five visited Europe, China, Japan, Australia, New Zealand and Africa.

“It was a visit to Senegal that made us realize how fortunate we were and how our African heritage had helped to make us what we were.  We visited an old, abandoned slave camp at Gore Island and we were so moved.  The African people had given us gifts of courage and endurance that we couldn’t hope to repay.”  Michael Jackson MOONWALK 1988

THE MAJOR INGREDIENT OF ANY RECIPE FOR FEAR IS THE UNKNOWN

MICHAEL JACKSON

     The past few days, I have been struggling with the horrific injustice Michael Jackson had to endure at the hands of dishonest, greedy, disrepectful evil.  I have once again cried many tears over a world that can so enjoy someone else’s pain.  I will neverBE STILL MY HEART understand it as long as I live.  But, with great gratitude, I have also been brought back to the millions of people who stand up for justice and truth…for all those who have stood up for Michael.  And, I have been brought back to my research that tells of someone brave beyond what I could ever imagine.  So, I reached back into my own writings and brought out the words I had written a long time ago about my grandmother.  With Michael’s words…with what he has taught me…with the AMAZING ROLE MODELinauguration he was for us all, especially the children, I am moving on. ONCE AGAIN THIS MONTH WE CELEBRATE MAJORLOVEPRAYERVIGIL…a global prayer that occurs on the 25th of every month inspired by Michael and the lyrics to his song, “Another Part of Me.”  This month, the prayers are for appreciating our children for who they are.  It makes my heart happy to know that at 4:00 PDT, I will join the energy of legions of people…all inspired and strengthened by the love and the life of Michael Jackson and all joining together to make a better world.  THERE IS GREAT BRAVERY AND COURAGE IN THAT.

Thank you for joining me today.  It’s all for L.O.V.E.china

 

Jude  Rejoicing in the bravery of Michael’s Army of Love!

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