Clarence Page’s first Tribune column: Michael Jackson, come home!
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Editor’s note: This is a republishing of Clarence Page’s first column after he joined the Tribune Editorial Board. It appeared in the July 29, 1984, Tribune.
When you’re a superstar like Michael Jackson you get interesting problems.
One of Jackson’s biggest problems concerns who he is going to give money to. A lot of money. We all should have such problems.
It all started earlier this month when Jackson announced in Kansas City that he is donating to charity “all the money I make” on the Jacksons’ much touted Victory Tour.
That’s no small piece of change. Profits from the 15- city, 40-concert tour are expected to be the most lucrative in the history of such enterprises.
This noble gesture was Michael’s response to the mailbags of complaints the Jacksons had received from young fans faced with the tour’s complicated and expensive ticket purchasing plan — $30 a ticket, sold only in blocks of four. The Jacksons called a halt to the complicated procedure — without lowering the price — and Michael announced his gift as a goodwill gesture.
Very impressive. But I have a modest proposal.
If the Jacksons want to do some social good and improve their image, they should bring the Victory Tour to their hometown, Gary, our much-maligned neighbor to the south.
It may be hard to believe, but the Jacksons are in hot water back home, as one recent incident illustrates.
It happened about three weeks ago at a break-dance contest in Gary West High School. The master of ceremonies, a local promoter named Bobby Wilson, of Eagle Entertainment, was trying to fire up the crowd of 2,000 youngsters. He shouted, “Do you want Michael Jackson to come home to Gary?”
He expected to hear cheers, but instead he heard boo’s, a rising sea of boo’s. Wilson was stunned. It emerged at first from isolated corners of the audience, then swelled and rolled over the crowd like a tidal wave.
Wilson asked some of the youngsters to explain themselves. It all boiled down to this: The teens felt like jilted lovers. In all the hoopla over the Jacksons’ Victory Tour, not once had the famous family even mentioned the possibility of returning home to Gary.
“The love has turned bitter,” Wilson said. “It’s like we’re being deliberately overlooked. No matter how big they get, the Jacksons should never forget where they came from.”
Other favorite sons and daughters, like pop star Deniece Williams, White Sox star Ron Kittle, former astronaut Frank Borman, and others return periodically for a hero’s welcome in Gary. Why not the Jacksons?
Concerned citizens from Mayor Richard Hatcher’s office on down have sent letters, passed petitions and held rallies to lure the Jacksons back, but the Jacksons haven’t heard the pleas.
The Jacksons don’t have to lose money on the deal. Gary doesn’t need charity; Gary needs commerce. Robert Farag, Gary’s director of economic development, estimates a Jackson concert in Gary’s Gilroy Stadium (capacity 30,000) would bring economic benefits of $15 million to $20 million to northwest Indiana.
“More important,” he said, “is how it would help the public see Gary in a positive light.”
Gary could use that, too. The steel town of 150,000 is caught in the crunch of high unemployment, a struggling school system, an eroding tax base and an overall image that would bring tears to the eyes of Mother Teresa.
A return to Gary would be the Jacksons’ way of saying “thank you” to the people who supported the family back when Michael was 5 years old and performing for $25 a show
Perhaps Jackson fans who agree should drop their heroes a line just to remind them of something a wise man once taught me:
Be nice to people on your way up; you might run into them again on your way back down.
