Apparently, Michael Jackson was black. I can’t say for sure, since I was born after Thriller was released, but that’s what celebrities are trying to tell us.

“We want to celebrate this black man,” Jamie Foxx said, wearing a red jacket and white glove in tribute to Jackson. “He belongs to us and we shared him with everyone else.”

Hmm. Why did Jamie Foxx need to assert that Michael Jackson had African heritage? Was it Jackson’s Lipizzan-like transformation to a brighter, whiter hue that suggested he would rather look like Peter Pan than Michael Jackson? It looks like Foxx felt the need to remind us that Jackson was born black. So he was. Can we move on, please?

After Rush Limbaugh made comments about Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb being overrated because he was black back in 2003, I remember ESPN Analyst Tom Jackson saying that a black kid went up to him and asked if he could ever play quarterback. What will Jamie Foxx say to the white kid who comes up to him and asks “Even though I’m white, can I grow up to be a famous singing and dancing alleged pedophile too?”

Many in the Hollywood version of the “black community” seem to be eager to pick up Michael Jackson’s mantle and proclaim it chocolate-filled. If Michael Jackson did bring down racial barriers, why do they want to bring his identity back to where it was – segregated and ghettoized, to use two words from Al Sharpton.

Along with picking Michael Jackson up comes the inevitable pushing-down of his less-than-desirable traits, namely that he was an accused pedophile with an inclination toward Howard Hughes-like weirdness.

So far, many people seem content to “focus on the positive,” (remember this skit from Dave Chappelle: “He made Thriller. Thriller.”) which is fine, because I don’t plan on Michael Jackson being a part of my life unless I’m listening to one of his songs. Putting Michael Jackson’s actions – all of them – on any one race wouldn’t only be wrong to do, it would be downright unfair to that race.

Michael Jackson was only racial-barrier-breaking in the sense that his talent was awesome and he happened to be black. In other words, it says more about the progress of American civilization that Michael Jackson was so revered early on in his career than it does about Jackson himself, who didn’t seem totally interested in the black identity Jamie Foxx would so eagerly claim for him.

Claiming Michael Jackson for the black community only serves to assuage and simultaneously enable racial insecurity.  Jamie Foxx uses the same language that a condescending racist would use:  “Oh, what a marvelous black singer.  Such a credit to his race.”

Kids should want to grow up to be doctors and laywers, not “black doctors” and “black lawyers.”