Why We'll Miss Michael Jackson

What can I say, the news of Michael Jackson's death is still hard to believe. But the endless coverage outside the hospital, his home and transporting his body to the coroner certainly gave us no choice. Anyway, I have been thinking about Michael Jackson—before he was the King of Pop. For young girls everywhere, especially those who grew up during the heyday of the Jackson 5 and Michael's "Off the Wall" and "Thriller" years, he probably qualified as our first crush.

I used to cut out pictures of Michael and plaster all over my bedroom wall (an act that was repeated in black girl's bedrooms all around the country). And when our house was robbed when I was in grade school, the only thing me and my sisters cared about was whether the people who broke stole our tickets (thankfully they didn't). I remember the thrill I felt seeing the Jackson 5 for the first time.

And that same fondness carried many of us through the early years of his solo career. And later it grew into a great admiration of a singular talent. Sure the world called you The King of Pop but for the little black girls that live within us you're still simply Michael. R.I.P. brother.