Why Mary Beth Tinker was outside of the LA Medical Center on June 24th

Here is another statement from one of the many people who gathered outside of the LA Medical Center to mourn Michael Jackson's death:

Mary Beth Tinker
Yes, I really am “that” Mary Beth Tinker. I’m surprised that you recognized me. I always find it so funny that the media calls me a “Free Speech Icon” when hardly anyone knows what I look like without the armband.

I heard the news about Michael’s death on the radio as I was leaving the auditorium where my last speaking engagement was held, and I just felt compelled to come here and mourn. Michael and I have nothing in common except for that one distinctive bit of black cloth, but it unites us. I guess you’d say we’re tied together in a way.

I live in Lubbock, Texas now, and I don’t find that many people there understand what I did or why I did it. Since I was only 13 when I decided to protest the Vietnam War, most people there seem to think that I was just showing off. When I first moved to Lubbock, just a few years ago, someone put a sign on my lawn that said, “Don’t Tinker with the Constitution,” but I’ve gotten used to their snide comments. For example, last Monday I was at the Get Up and Go Café and I overheard Tammy Smith say, “Merle, I hope you still have that ham special on the menu, because Mary Beth’s rights don’t end at the café gate.” There is no creativity in Lubbock, TX.

So back to Michael – I know what kind of balls it takes to wear an armband, and I know what sort of crap Michael had to put up with to do it. People wonder, “why does he wear that armband, and why in different colors.” Well, I happen to know that Michael was a sensitive person who felt the world’s suffering distinctly. That’s why he wore it. When he first decided to really wear that armband, he called me, and let me tell you, I was blown away. I was in my early 30’s and my kids were small. We were living in Berkeley then, and I remember that I was despondent when I answered the phone because the day before I had lost the election for secretary of the local La Leche League. “Hello, this is Mary Beth Tinker.” The words fell from my mouth like squash spooned unenthusiastically onto a plate by a ten-year-old. And then he said, “Hi, this is Michael Jackson and I wanted to talk to you about your armband.” It turned out that Michael’d been wearing an armband in private for a while, but he was reluctant to wear one in public because he knew that it was sort of my fashion signature.

We talked about armbands in general and his in particular for a while. Michael feared that people would just assume his were functional. Some people actually wear armbands to keep their sleeves up if you can imagine, and if you look at the red leather jacket Michael is wearing in the “Thriller” video, you’ll see that that’s what those armbands are for - with out them, his jacket sleeves would have fallen from his forearms to his wrists and the look would have been ruined. It was around the time that the “Thriller” video came out that he called me. I advised him to go whole hog with the armbands. I told him sternly, “You have to make a firm statement about something you strongly believe in, or you don’t deserve to wear the band.” That was what did it, I think. After that, Michael wore an armband whenever he made a public appearance, but he didn’t always wear them in his videos. Yes, it disappointed me to see that he occasionally put his “look” ahead of his conviction, but I forgave him.

I think that his managers and merchandisers found the armband to be too political, too controversial, and that probably effected his commitment to the armband look. He’s not wearing an armband on his 1985 $4 postage stamp issued by the island country of St. Vincent. Nor does his 1997 “Black or White” singing action figure have an armband (true fans could add one themselves). I guess it’s hard to decide what’s more important, to sell an action figure that is correct down to the armband that signifies the plight of impoverished children everywhere, or to use the sales from the armband-less doll to raise money for impoverished children everywhere. Michael was faced with many difficult decisions in his lifetime.

Over the years, Michael and I have talked a few times. He called me once wondering if it was “ok” to wear a white armband instead of a black one. He liked the symbolism of the black armband, thought it was more sedate, and liked what I’d done with it, but he wanted to wear an armband on the outside of a black suit. “Well, Michael,” I said, “it’s not the color of your armband that matters, it’s the color of your intention. If you intend it to be a symbol of protest, it is a symbol of protest. That’s the way symbols work.” Michael really took that advice to heart, and I notice that over the years he wore all sorts of colored armbands. Ultimately, he really managed to make his whole outfit about the armband if you know what I mean.

Michael and I had a bond that went deeper than accessories; we both knew what it was like to be censored and to struggle for our rights. Michael has had all sorts of problems over the years. His music has been banned, his concerts have been forbidden, his dancers have been stopped at borders, his album art has been censored, and his private life has been held up for ridicule. Recently, Michael has just stopped speaking in public at all. I hurt for him. I hurt for him; I know what its like to be muffled, stifled, told that you’re wrong, undeserving of respect or a voice. The only public voice he’s had in these past several years is that armband, the one I fought for. I’m proud that I did what I did. I said no to Vietnam, but I did more than that, I paved the way for Michael Jackson. In the end he didn’t have much, but he had that armband, and I was a part of that.