 March 28, 2005 -- SANTA MARIA, Calif. - A shameless Michael Jackson yesterday compared himself to 20th-century black icons Nelson Mandela and Jack Johnson, implying he's been persecuted because of race. | Kind of hard to play the race card when no one can tell you're a black man anymore |
The accused child molester made that stunning assessment on the Rev. Jesse Jackson's radio show on the eve of Jacko's biggest day yet in court.
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Jackson yesterday invoked the names of the human-rights legend Mandela and boxing champ Johnson, who drew social scorn in the early 20th century by flaunting his relationships with white women. | Hey, Michael, if you had been nailing white women (above the age of consent) you wouldn't be in trouble |
"This has been a kind of a pattern among black luminaries in this country," Jacko told the Rev. Jackson. "Mandela's story has given me a lot of strength, what he's gone through. The Jack Johnson story . . . this society didn't want to accept his position and his lifestyle and what they put him through, and how they changed laws to imprison the man, to keep him away behind bars. "All these stories that I can go back in history and read about give me strength." |