July 2, 2009: After a week of watching CNN and MSNBC, and NBC -- mainstream media -- I am completely disgusted with the coverage. I write a wild, impassioned rant to an email group I'm part of. I eventually become so angered that I email Anderson Cooper's blog and ask him to look in the mirror, and change the man in the mirror, because by this point Cooper is pushing hard on the drugs and money angles of the story as the only angles worth focusing on. Even going so far as to send Dr. Sanjay Gupta to the door of a former treating physician of Jackson's who a decade ago, it has been verified, administered Diprivan to Michael Jackson in a non-hospital, non-specific surgical procedure setting. Dr. Gupta looked extremely uncomfortable in this new role, and I felt embarrassed for him.

July 3rd: I turned on the news and there it was again -- wild speculation about who would get custody of Michael Jackson's children and control of his estate, even after a will had been found. And then I saw IT, I saw the Beast so clearly.

I went to my email group and ranted. They listened, they'd been replying all along to the thread I started about Michael Jackson's life and death in our group's exchange. One response was that my thread shone a bright light onto the street gossip: "Only in America can a black man turn into a white woman." Several responses had that tone, you know, that 'he got what he deserved and what his money would buy' tone, that 'he was nothing but a fubar junkie' tone.

Masked by wise-ass snarking,this reply in particular pushed me into a deeper truth waiting to reveal itself. Only in America would a black man ( black men being the most imperiled adult human beings in America on the planet) need to become a submissive white woman (statistically, white woman are the safest people in the world when it comes to survival issues like clean water, adequate food, and medical care) in order to feel safe. Feeling safe seemed to be Michael Jackson's number one need in life, more than the money and the fame, or maybe because of the money and the fame.

More and more dominoes fell into place, and my mind woke up inside the feeding frenzy trance produced by the white lens of mainstream media coverage. There is no kinder, gentler way to say this.

White mainstream media's craving to determine who gets the money and who owns the children completely objectified and dehumanized Michael Jackson and his three children. To be fair, the same thing happened when Anna Nicole Smith overdosed and died. But in Jackson's instance there was no effort at all to stray from the easily regurgitated, old media talking points about Michael, The Child Molester, no juice could be squeezed from forging new ground by a more unbiased inquiry into who the man might really be and certainly that would mean there would be less actual new writing to do . Then Rev. Al Sharpton, speaking truth to power once again, chastised Anderson Cooper for lack of balance in Cooper's coverage of Michael Jackson's life story on CNN when the Wonder Boy hadn't yet been laid to rest.

Now angry beyond containment, I emailed Anderson Cooper challenging him to some in depth reporting on Michael Jackson's humanitarian efforts, his philanthropy around the world. You know, who, what, where, when, why and with what result. Journalism 101. Which has nothing whatever to do with the white media storytelling lens of who's in control and who owns what. Cover details about giving money away, about Jackson being the most philanthropic celebrity ever? Who would want to know that side of Michael Jackson when we can keep on dishing speculation and dirt? I even went so far as to suggest perhaps Anderson Cooper needed Soledad O'Brien's help gaining a bit more perspective and finding another lens through which Michael Jackson's story could be told.

I'm sure Anderson Cooper was deluged with thousands of emails just like mine. The deformity in his coverage was so blatant, so twisted, so taking for granted that this is the only way to tell Michael Jackson's story. Who cares about truth? Or about Michael Jackson, the man? I singled Anderson Cooper out from the dozens of possible reporters to nail. I respect Cooper and most of the other major event coverage he churns out is first rate. And I thought he might actually get it, and then change it. It's his show.

July 5th, I had to take a time out. Sunday I fasted from the media toxicity and rejoiced in Michael's music and his talent. Monday, I did the same, although I continued to tune into Larry King Live and his guest Miko Brando, and I watched Larry King's tour of Neverland given by Jermaine Jackson. Just shy of being patronizing, Larry King seemed genuinely surprised that a flamboyant-just-this-side-of-drag-queen-besequined pop star could have created so beautiful, tranquil and understated an estate. By Tuesday morning, Anderson Cooper's edge had softened and sitting with him was Soledad O'Brian, fulfilling my vision of how news coverage could be transformed once such a decision was consciously made. Thank you, Soledad.

Larry King was similarly surprised by the elegance and good taste of Michael Jackson's public memorial service in Los Angeles on Tuesday, the 8th of July.

July 8, 2009: Michael Jackson's public memorial in the United States was as beautiful a memorial service as the core of brilliance which made Michael Jackson who he was to many of us -- so far ahead of us, now forever. One by one, the people who knew, loved, respected, admired, mentored, and cherished Michael Jackson succeeded in humanizing him for those who preferred believing the worst and warming the chill of the dark side of their human nature in the spotlights aimed straight at the "mess," to quote Rev. Al Sharpton. Rev. Sharpton succeeded, once again, in coming up with a potent, brutally truthful one-liner. "There was nothing strange about your daddy. The stuff your daddy had to deal with was strange." Amen.

A particularly poignant moment? Usher's delicate, loving and soulful lullaby "Gone Too Soon" and the loving touch, the hand on the coffin. (Anderson Cooper asked Larry King if he knew what the coffin was made of because it looked expensive.) The most surprising moment? John Mayer up there squeezing Human Nature out of his guitar, having had the good sense to leave the vocals an empty space. I imagined Michael Jackson listening to Mayer's work at home on his stereo system and digging it. The sweetest moment? Brooke Shields remembering her dear, funny friend. The funniest moment? Magic Johnson being blown away by Michael Jackson eating Kentucky Fried Chicken. The most strident and political moment? The poke at Michael's detractors from Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee and the King children laying out a refresher course in Michael Jackson's importance in the scheme of changing the social landscape of the country, paving the way for Obama's election with unifying messages like Black or White.

And there was the antidote to the toxicity of the endlessly spewing media Beast, Black American Culture's unspoken subtext at the conclusion of the memorial service: "He's ours, now. Leave him be. We always accepted him. Gay, black, white, confused, lonely, eccentric because you forced him into the white American trap. We all know it, and you know it. He's free now. You can't hurt him, or twist him into something he's not so hard he had to find a self-destructive way to ease the pain. He's ours, always was; we see him, always did. You made him into your creature, but he was our Wonder Boy who walked on the Moon, defying gravity and your determination to destroy him for forty years."

The most tender moment? Of course Paris's tearful affirmation of how wonderful her daddy was and how very much she loves him.

I'm posting the group email exchange which unfolded over these last two weeks up on my web site: http://www.wix.com/vtyaya/Anaiis-Salles and you can read these posts in their entirety at http://anaiissalles.wordpress.com

and I will put out these posts on the Wonder Body interwoven with our group email exchange as an article in its own right. It's worth doing if we're going to stand up strong in Michael Jackson's challenge look in the mirror and making that change.

We love you more, Michael. You're gone, but your humanity got to shine back on us with gorgeous, generous, innocent ferocity for three whole hours. Thank you. We love you more.