uwu

Why do people consider Michael Jackson's father, Joe Jackson as this evil villain who h@ted his own kids? Everywhere I turn, people just talk down on him and say he was the most evil father in history. Lol. These days, Joe Jackson gets brought up every time somebody wants to feel morally superior about parenting. "He beat his kids." "He was abusive." "He traumatized Michael." Okay. Let's have the full conversation then. This man took 9 children out of Gary, Indiana, one of the most unforgiving cities in America, and turned them into the most successful musical family in the history of entertainment. Not one or two of them. Nine. In an era where the streets were hungry and the odds were designed specifically to swallow young Black boys whole. Was Joe Jackson soft? No. Did he spare the rod? No. Did he run his household like a boot camp? Absolutely. However, what people conveniently forget when they're typing their outrage from the comfort of 2026 is that Gary in the 1960s was not a place that rewarded softness. Poverty was the default. Distraction was everywhere. And one wrong turn for any of those boys meant a completely different life. Not a worse career. A completely different life. Even Jermaine defended his father. Tito also defended his father. Jackie defended his father. These are the men who were actually in that house. Who actually felt what they felt and lived what they lived. And they came out the other side and said he did what he had to do. That's not Stockholm syndrome. That's grown men with perspective looking back at a father who was trying to build something in impossible conditions. The same discipline people call abuse is what produced the moonwalk. The same toughness people call trauma is what produced Thriller. You cannot separate Michael Jackson's extraordinary work ethic, the obsessive rehearsing, the relentless pursuit of perfection, from the environment that forged it. Joe Jackson didn't just make his sons practice. He made them understand that mediocrity was not an option. And they took that lesson and changed the world with it. There is no Jackson 5 without Joe Jackson. There is no Michael Jackson without Joe Jackson. There is no "Billie Jean," no "Thriller," no moonwalk on Motown 25 without a father who refused to let his children be ordinary. History loves to make villains out of hard men. Especially hard Black men. It's easier to call Joe Jackson a monster than to sit with the uncomfortable truth that sometimes the people who push you the hardest are the ones who love you the most. He was not a perfect man. But he was exactly the father those boys needed for the moment they were born into. Respect the architect. Joe Jackson is a legend who should be respected!!!

Nickeil Alexander-Walker finding out he won MIP. 👏🙌 (via @ATLHawks)