By Cassandra George Sturges,Psy.D .Michael Jackson's soul absorbedevery derogatory Black, darkcomplexioned, kinky-hair and big-nose joke in an oppressed'society forAfrican Americans. His physicalappearance is the personification ofself-hatred longing for acceptance ina society that deems Afro-centricfeatures as undesirable and treatsthem as if they are invisible. Pleasedon't make fun of Michael Jackson inthy presence because I feel his pain.He is the phantom of what manyBlacks would look like if they had theresources to change their physicalappearance to the reality of theirnightmares of low self-esteem.Michael Jackson became MichaelJackson before he became a Blackman. His fans, the public, owned himbefore he had the opportunity todefine himself. As a vulnerable childstar, his ion of. self was moldedby thé belief¥and opinions of others,both positive and negative. When onefeels that the world owns them, thenone feels that they owe the world.Michael Jackson didn't know when tostop giving of himself.If the children in school make funof your nose and skin color, thishissed this to you before you had thespiritual and mental fortitude todecipher its credibility, you'd be morereceptive to its venom. MichaelJackson's fame did not spare him fromthe task of learning to love and accepthimself from the inside out. His famejust gave him less resilience and.nowhere to hide.Please don't make fun ofMichael Jackson in my presencebecause | feel his pain.would be daunting for most of us, yetthe average person places this type ofteasing in perspective and prevailswithout making major changes to theirappearance. But if the world quietlyI know what it's like to feelinvisible, I am just glad that I don'thave to answer to the world. I stillwonder why there are no African-American female sex symbols withThe Minority Voice February 28, 2002 - March 8, 2002Michael Jackson: Personification of self-hatredmainstream appeal. Society dissectsthe physical beauty of Black women. Istill wonder why braids became sexyon Bo Derek in the movie {Ten}, butsome Black women were required totake legal action to be allowed to wearthem to their jobs. White "moviestars" have injections to have fullerlips, but full lips on AfricanAmericans are called "soup coolers"or simply "big lips."Having round, full buttocks didn'tbecome front-page news until theywere on Jennifer Lopez, who is closeenough to White, but frowned uponand ignored by mainstream societyand the broadcast media as the naturalphysique of most Black women. Rapperformer Lil' Kim has blonde hairand blue eyes because I think shewants to be noticed and validated as asex symbol. Society has taught herthat the blonde bombshell does notsell in shades of Black. I believe thatHalle Berry is taking off her clothes in :her current movie roles becausesomehow her acting ability hasn'tbeen enough proof that she is a giftedactor who has the capability to playmore prestigious leading roles, such asJulia Roberts. Reportedly, JuliaRoberts earns $20 million dollars amovie and has not resorted to nudity.I believe that Michael Jackson hadcosmetic surgery so that his fanswould love all of him, not just hisdancing and singing. He wanted to beperfect. I don't think that MichaelJackson felt that being "Black" wouldallow him to be the mega star that heis today. Michael Jackson'smesmerizing performance is areminder that true beauty resonatesfrom the soul. So please don't laugh atMichael Jackson's physicalappearance. He did not do this tohimself, we did it to him. He gave ushis all, he gave us his best.King's dream of voting equality remains a continuing struggleCommentaryEDDIE BERNICE JOHNSONAFRO File Photo"The Negro voting problem ismore than a legal issue, for it takescourage, patience, and massiveeffort.� -- Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.,March 14, 1965.Dr. King wrote those lines twoweeks before bloody Sundaytranspired on the Edmund PettusBridge on the outskirts of Selma, Ala.On that particular day, state trooperson horseback beat down protestersand those kneeled in prayer with clubsand cattle prods. They were theredemanding nothing more than fullcitizenship through the right to vote.As we celebrate Black HistoryMonth, it is instructive to reviewBloody Sunday, which representsAmerican, homegrown terrorism. Itsymbolized the blood-covered historyof how peaceful citizens in search oftheir Constitutional rights were metwith brutality. The brutal response tothe voting rights movement createdsuch martyrs as Jimmy Lee Jackson,the Rev. James Reed, Viola Liuzzo,and hundreds of others we may neverknow.If it were not for those brave soulswho braved the lash, the beatings andtrampling under horses in places likeSelma, I would not be among the 39Black legislators in Congress today.In 1964, there were only threeAfrican-Americans in Congress and300 Black elected officialsnationwide. Today those nationalnumbers have swelled to nearly9,000.With King at the helm, massivenumbers of Americans, both Blackand White, showed the courage andpatience to continue to fight forenfranchisement, which resulted inthe 1965 Voting Rights Act. In 1975,provisions were included to protectHispanics, Asians and others whowere being disenfranchised.As chair of the CongressionalBlack Caucus, I have been criticizedfor continuing to raise the issue ofelection reform, but I will not backaway from the battlefield of votingrights and election reform. That iswhy as we reflect during BlackHistory Month, I echo the sentimentsof the gospel song, "We are no waystired."The 2000 presidential election andthe massive charges of intimidationand voter abuse in Florida are ugly- reminders of yesterday and howquickly we can lose our nghtswithout constant vigilance. In thatrace we saw that while the Kingmovement had won the right to vote,it would take more effort to actuallyget every vote counted.The U. S. Civil RightsCommission and the CongressionalBlack Caucus received testimoniesfrom scores of elected officials,voters and other affected parties fromacross the nation, attesting to barriersto voting, particularly by people ofcolor. In Florida, for example,thousands of African-Americansmislabeled as felons were purgedfrom the voting polls.This is unacceptable. On thebattlefield of voting nights, where somany have fought and died, thecaucus has come early and we plan tosay late.As a group, we were one the firstCongressional bodies to hold hearingson election reform. We have placedThe 2000presidentialelection and themassive chargesof intimidation andvoter abused inFlorida are uglyreminders ofyesterday and howquickly we can ~lose our rightswithout constantvigilance.the issue at the top of our legislativeagenda. Although a bill has passed theHouse, it is only a first step on theA fundamental need for prison reformCommentaryHUGH B. PRICEAFRO File PhotoThe economic downturnsweeping over the country andundermining states' economies mayaccomplish something advocates ofprison reform have been seeking foryears -- a significant reduction inAmericaTs addiction to buildingmore prisons as the end-all answer toreducing crime.For more than two decades, stateshave been on a spending spree ofprison construction, fueled by get-tough crime policies that increasedthe nation's total inmate populationby 500 percent, to more than 2million inmates since the early1970s. It now costs $30 billion ayear to operate all of America's localjails and state and federal prisons.These dollar outlays have put asignificant financial strain on statesTcapacity to provide other services,such as funding for public higherrating 1education.That these new prisons werealmost always located in ruralcommunities whose economic baseswere fast disappearing made thatapproach even more politicallypopular. The salaries of guardsaccount for roughly 80 percent of thecosts of maintaifling prisons.But the prison boom never madecommon sense, financially orsocially, a truth now becoming moreand more evident.release in order to reduce the state'sinmate population.California may even have aproposal on the November ballot toreduce the number of criminalssubject to its Draconian three-strikessentencing law, which applies evento those convicted of nonviolent "offences. Currently, 6,700 inmates inCalifornia are serving sentences of25 years to life because of the law.Steven Ickes, an official of theOregon Department of Corrections,We must stop pretending that merelylocking people up is the answer.According to a Jan. 21 news storyin the New York Times, budgetdeficits are forcing many states to atleast begin to re-think their approachto incarceration.Some states are consideringtransferring some inmates from someprisons so that they can close them.Recently Michigan, Ohio and Illinoishave each closed a prison and laidoff some correctional guards.Washington State's governor hasproposed reducing sentences forthose who commit nonviolent drugoffenses and crimes and making iteasier for inmates to gain early~~vapaneiacatold the New York Times, "My senseis that budget problems are makingpeople ask fundamental questionsabout whether we can afford to keepon doing what we've been doing.We're going to have to make toughchoices about prisons versus schools,and about getting a better investmentreturn on how we run our prisons sowe don't have so many prisoners re-offending and being sent back."In the old days -- before the get-tough posturing overwhelmedcommon sense -- it was understoodthat incarceration had to have a dualpurpose if it was to provide thegreatest benefit to society: It had tobe a proper instrument ofpunishment for those who committedcrimes, but it also had to giveoffenders a chance to go straight, tobecome rehabilitated.But that latter idea, which wasmeant to protect society by reducingthe number of repeat offenders, wasburied under a deluge of "lock-'em-up-and-throw-away-the-key�rhetoric. That rhetoric convenientlyignored the fact that most inmatescannot be locked up forever.So, as a recent, gripping Timemagazine article about an ex-offender trying to go straightpointed out, more than 630,000people will be released from prisonthis year, the largest prison exodusin history.Because of the almost completelack of educational and job-trainingprograms in our prisons, most ofthese inmates will come back tosociety as they left it, with only themost minimal educationalcredentials, if any, and fewmarketable skills. 1In the best of circumstances, ex-offenders face daunting prospects offinding work even at the bottom ofthe occupational ladder. Numerousstudies have pegged their"unemployable" rate at higher than60 percent; the large majority wholarger goal to make every vote count.We will continue our efforts in theSenate to produce legislation that willat the very least accomplish suchchanges as uniformity of votingmachines, ballots and poll closings.We plan to stay late because weknow that the American Dreamwhich Dr. King so eloquentlyarticulated from the steps of theLincoln Memorial in 1963 remain anightmare for far too many. One-fourth of African-American childrenare born into poverty and, unlike theirWhite counterparts, are more likely togo to jail than to college. African-American males, who have neverbeen accused of terrorism against ournation, are oracially-profiled.�We have come a long way sinceKing articulated his dream, oof anation where one day our childrenwill not be judged by the color oftheir skin.�To turn that dream into reality, itstill takes what Dr. King called forsome 37 years ago: courage, patienceand massive effort.U.S. Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson(D-Texas) is chair of theCongressional Black Caucus.have found legitimate work havedone so in low-paying ooff-the-books" jobs.Now, in these economicallydifficult times, what can we expectthe job prospects for these ex-offenders will be? You don't have tobe an expert on either the criminal-justice system or the economy to say,not good at all.Furthermore, there is, of course,an indisputable racial facet to thisbecause of the 1.3 million inmates infederal and state prisons, 428,000 areBlack men, 20 to 29 years old, and asignificant proportion of thoseinmates scheduled for release thisyear will be Black and Hispanic.All of this alarming informationpoints to one compelling conclusion.America's prison system needs amassive new effort to rehabilitateinmates. We must stop pretendingthat merely locking people up is theanswer. We must give inmates theeducation and the job skills thatwould give them a real chance to gostraight once they're released.This is a mammoth task, but itmust be undertaken if Americansociety is to.defuse the human timebomb beneath it andTreclaim asignificant part of its citizens.Hugh B. Price is president of theNational Urban League.