Michael Jackson (4 page)

In the strictest sense of the teachings, Jehovah's Witnesses considered themselves the sheep; everybody else is a goat. When
the great battle of Armageddon is fought – it was expected in 1972 and then in 1975 – all the goats will be destroyed at once
and the sheep will be spared. The sheep will then be resurrected to a life on earth as subjects of the Kingdom of God. They
will be ruled by Christ and a select group of 144,000 Witnesses who will reside in heaven by Christ's side. At the end of
a thousand years, Satan will come forth to tempt those on earth. Those who succumb to his wiles will be immediately destroyed.
The rest will live, idyllically. Of course, as with those who adhere to religious beliefs, some Witnesses are more adamant
about those teachings than others.

Estimates are that 20 to 30 per cent of its members are black. Witnesses are judged solely by their good deeds – their witnessing,
or door-to-door proselytizing – and not on new cars, large homes, expensive clothes and other status symbols. Because of her
devotion to the Jehovah's Witnesses, Katherine was mostly satisfied with what she had in Gary, Indiana. She enjoyed her life,
and had little issue with it other than her concern that the city didn't offer much promise for her children's future, other
than work in factories for the boys and domestic life for the girls. Would that be so bad? Yes, Joseph would tell her, absolutely,
yes. Sometimes, she agreed. Sometimes, she wasn't so sure what to think about any of it.

Every day, for at least three hours, the boys would rehearse, whether they wanted to do so or not, with Joseph's only thought
being to get his family out of Gary.

‘When I found out that my kids were interested in becoming entertainers, I really went to work with them,’ Joseph Jackson
would tell
Time.
‘When the other kids would be out on the street playing games, my boys were in the house working, trying to learn how to
be something in life,
do
something with their lives.’

Though the Jacksons' music may have brought them closer together as a family unit, it also served to further alienate them
from everyone else in the neighbourhood. ‘Already, people thought we were strange because of our religion,’ Jackie would remember.
‘Now they were sure of it. They'd say, “Yeah, look at those Jacksons. They think they're something special.” Everyone else
used to hang out on the corners and sing with their groups. But we weren't allowed to. We had to practise at home. So the
other kids thought we thought we were too good to sing with on the corner.’

Rehearsals were still held twice a day, before school and after, even though their peers in the neighbourhood thought the
Jacksons were wasting their time. As they practised, voices from outside would taunt them through open windows, ‘You ain't
nothing,
' you Jacksons!’ Rocks would be hurled into the living room. It didn't matter to the Jacksons; they ignored the taunts and
focused on their practice sessions.

By 1962, five-year-old Marlon had joined the group, playing bongos and singing, mostly off-key. (Marlon couldn't sing or dance,
but he was allowed in the group anyway because Katherine would not have it any other way.) One day when the boys were practising
while Joseph was at work, Katherine watched as Michael, who was four years old, began imitating Jermaine as he sang a James
Brown song. When Michael sang, his voice was so strong and pure, Katherine was surprised. As soon as Joseph got home, she
met him at the door with some good news: ‘I think we have another lead singer.’

Today, Michael Jackson often speaks about the abuse he suffered at the hands of his father. When he gave his controversial
2003 interview to Martin Bashir, quick tears came to his eyes when he remembered the way his dad treated him. ‘It was bad,’
he said of the beatings. ‘Real bad.’ Watching Michael as he took himself back to the days in Gary when his father hit him
was truly painful. Clearly, all these years later, he is still traumatized by that part of his childhood.

Little Michael was a fascinating child. ‘Ever since Michael was very young, he seemed different to me from the rest of the
children,’ Katherine said. ‘I don't believe in reincarnation, but you know how babies move so uncoordinated? Michael never
moved that way. When he danced, it was as if he were an older person.’

Michael was always precocious. His mother has recalled that at the age of a year and a half he would hold his bottle and dance
to the rhythm of the washing machine. His grandmother, Chrystal Johnson (her later married name), has recalled that he began
singing when he was about three. ‘And what a beautiful voice he had,’ she enthused. ‘Even back then, he was a joy to listen
to.’

Michael was too sensitive a boy to be manhandled the way he was by his father. He was also quick on his feet, and determined
to avoid an altercation with Joseph. Tito remembered that Michael was ‘so quick that if my mother or father used to swing
at him, he'd be out of their way. They'd be swinging at air.’

Joseph believed in the value and impact of brute force as a disciplinary tool. ‘Either you're a winner in this life, or a
loser,’ he liked to say. ‘And none of my kids are gonna be losers.’ To be sure of that, he would smack his kids without giving
it a second thought in order to keep them on the right track to being ‘winners’. Shoving them into walls was not unusual behaviour
for him, especially the boys. Michael, however, was the one boy in the family who would attempt to fight back when provoked
by his father. Once, when he was just three, Joseph spanked him for something he had done. Crying, Michael then took off one
of his shoes and hurled it at his father. Joseph ducked; the shoe missed him.

‘Are you crazy?’ Joseph screamed at him. ‘Boy, you just signed your own death warrant. Get over here.’

Infuriated, Joseph grabbed Michael and, according to Marlon, held him upside down by one leg and pummelled him over and over
again with his hand, hitting him on his back and buttocks. Soon, Michael was crying and screaming so loudly it seemed as if
he was trying to summon the entire neighbourhood to his aid.

‘Put him down, Joseph,’ Katherine hollered. ‘You're gonna kill him! You're gonna kill him.’

When Joseph released the boy, he ran to his room, sobbing, ‘I hate you.’ Those were fighting words for Joseph. He followed
Michael into the bedroom, slammed the door and then let him have it.

‘Joseph once locked Michael in a closet for hours,’ said a friend of the Jackson family's. ‘
That
was traumatizing, horrible for him.’

Katherine didn't know how to reconcile herself to her husband's treatment of their children. How could a man so gentle at
times that he would kiss her fingertips in a romantic moment, turn around and beat her children? His behaviour simply wasn't
in the sphere of her understanding, as a God-fearing woman. However, she didn't know what to do about it. As much as she loved
him, she feared him. She would speak up at times, but reluctantly.

In truth, Katherine had also been the target of Joseph's fury. When Rebbie was a baby, Joseph was on edge because of sleep
deprivation and a heavy work schedule. One day, he returned home to a crying baby, only to find Katherine outside talking
to one of the neighbours. He ran out to get her. ‘The kid is screaming her head off,’ he shouted. Katherine immediately returned
to the baby's side. ‘I'm sorry, Joseph,’ she said, according to her memory. ‘I didn't know she had awakened.’ Suddenly, Joseph
turned around and smacked his wife across the face. ‘My cheek went numb,’ Katherine recalled. Her reaction was swift and immediate
fury. She took a ceramic bottle warmer and threw it at him with everything she had in her. It struck him on his forearm and
shattered, cutting him deeply. Blood gushed from the wound as the two argued. ‘Don't you ever hit me again,’ Katherine warned
him, ‘or I'll leave you so fast your head will spin.’ Katherine says that the violent episode marked the first and last time
Joseph ever struck her – but, apparently, he turned his violent temper on her children.

When Michael was five, he toddled into a room and had his breath taken away when Joseph tripped him and he fell to the ground,
bloodied. ‘That's for whatcha' did yesterday,’ Joseph said. ‘And tomorrow, I'm gonna get you for what you'll do today.’

Michael began to cry. ‘But I didn't even do nothin' yet,’ he said through his tears.

‘Oh, you will, boy,’ Joseph said. ‘You will.’

From that point onward, whenever young Michael walked into a room he looked left, then right, as if crossing the street. He
was hoping to avoid his father. How does a young boy deal with such fear? ‘I began to be so scared of that man,’ Michael later
recalled. ‘In fact, I guess it's safe to say that I hated him.’

Michael recalled that his father ‘was always a mystery to me, and he knows it. One of the things I regret most is never being
able to have a real closeness with him.’ In truth, none of the Jackson children ever developed ‘a real closeness’ with Joseph,
who was not affectionate toward them. Sometimes he took his boys camping and fishing on weekends or taught them how to box
to defend themselves, but he never paid much attention to the girls. (As a toddler, Janet liked to crawl into bed with her
mother and father, but she had to wait until Joseph was asleep.)

Aspects of Joseph's parenting were unconventional, to say the least. Whenever the boys left their bedroom window open at night,
he would go outside and climb into their room and then scream at them at the top of his lungs… while wearing a fright mask.
The youngsters would begin crying and hyperventilating, frightened half to death. Why would a father cause his children such
trauma? Joseph explains that he was trying to demonstrate why they should not leave the windows open at night. After all,
what if a burglar were to enter the house? Michael and Marlon would, for many years afterwards, suffer from vivid nightmares
of being kidnapped from the safety of their bedrooms.

Suffice it to say that as he grew older Michael pulled about as far away from Joseph as he could, clinging to his mother,
whom he adored, as if his very life depended on it (and maybe it did). ‘Even with nine children, she treated each of us like
an only child,’ he would remember to this writer in 1991. ‘Because of Katherine's gentleness, warmth and attention, I can't
imagine what it must be like to grow up without a mother's love. [What an ironic statement, considering that both of his children
are, today, being raised without their mother, Debbie Rowe.] The lessons she taught us were invaluable. Kindness, love and
consideration for other people headed her list.’

And, as for Joseph? ‘I used to throw up whenever I thought of him,’ Michael recalled, succinctly. In his 2003 Martin Bashir
interview, he noted that Joseph has blue eyes. Clearly, he hasn't looked into his father's eyes in some time; they're hazel,
almost green.

In 1963, at the age of five, Michael Jackson began attending Garnett Elementary School. Katherine has said that he was generous
to a fault, so much so that he used to take jewellery from her dresser and give it to his teachers as tokens of his affection
for them. A stubborn child, he continued to do so even after his mother chastised him for giving away her possessions.

One of Michael's first memories concerns performing at the age of five, when he sang ‘Climb Ev'ry Mountain’ from
The Sound of Music
a cappella for his class. The other children were impressed as much by his self-confidence as by his talent; he received
a standing ovation. The teacher started to sob. Katherine attended the performance with Joseph's father, Samuel, who was not
a sentimental man, yet even he was moved to tears by Michael's mellifluous performance. ‘I don't know where he got it from,’
Katherine said of Michael's prowess as a singer. ‘He was just so good, so young. Some kids are special. Michael was special.’

Five-year-old Michael had so much energy and charisma that Jackie, who was twelve at the time, decided his younger brother
would become ‘the lead guy’. That was perfectly fine with Michael; he enjoyed being the centre of attention. However, Jermaine's
feelings were hurt. He had been the lead singer of the group, and now suddenly he wasn't good enough. Some family members
have theorized that one of the reasons he stuttered as a child was a lack of confidence. Still, Jermaine would support the
family's decision because Michael was so obviously a natural entertainer. However, it must be said that it always seemed that
Jermaine competed with Michael, especially as an adult, often trying to best him.