Michael Jackson: Black or White?

If you can't tell whether the King of Pop is a King or Queen, you're in good company.

Slate has an interesting article on Michael Jackson, asking, "How 'Black' is Michael Jackson?" Good question. What do you mean by "black?" Race? As in negro? There's an easy answer to that.

Michael's biological parents are "black". So is Michael. But how "black" is Michael Jackson?

No pop music star has ever shared more with controversy than Jackson. The music. The family. The face. The nose. The opulent life style. Lisa Marie Presley. Neverland. The children. The court cases.

MJ is great fodder for TV and news magazines. Recent photos show him to be anything but "black" in the traditional sense.

He'd make a great character for a new Batman movie. The Joker. The Penquin. Michael Jackson.

That's what makes the whole Michael Jackson story so tragic. There's so much talent wrapped up in a package that can only be described as bizarre.

Saturday Night Live once ran a sketch on blacks and how they've become mainstream. Of course, all the examples of successful mainstream "blacks" were the likes of O. J. Simpson, Jimi Hendrix, and others of lesser fame but similar notoriety.

Michael Jackson is "black" in the traditional sense. Black parents. He's no different than any other superstar, white or black, who fell off the edge of the world and couldn't find his way back.

Except Prince.