Busuyi Mekusi

Michael Joseph Jackson was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist, that was reputed for his outstanding performance that eventually earned him the title of “King of Pop”. He was born on August 29, 1958 in Gary, Indiana and died June 25, 2009, at Holmby Hills, Los Angeles, United States. He is regarded as one of the most poignant cultural ambassadors of the 20th century. Jackson is one of the best-selling music artists of all seasons, with estimated sales of over 400 million records worldwide. The magnificent towering status enjoyed by Michael Jackson in the music world came with the famous dance steps and slides that were accompanied with the twisting of his body (breaking). The malleability and marketability of his body also played out in the toning of his body, which got transgressed from ‘blackness’ to ‘whiteness’. Jackson’s ‘conquered’ psyche particularly raised the dust about racial relations in America, particularly the oppression of blackness by whiteness.

Even though race is seen as a diminished virus in America, with Barrack Obama surmounting the hurdles of race to  become America President, blackness is still being haunted and hunted in America, with the death of George Floyd reawakening the calls that Black Lives Matter (BLM). The increased systematic racial onslaughts carried out on blacks by racist police and gun users remain one of the nagging challenges America is confronted with today. I have opined before now that unlike Nigeria and other developing nations where killers are not known, America’s killers are not just known, but licensed to kill. The use of guns owned by parents by their underage children has led to the call by some that ownership of gun in America should be controlled. Humanity is still divided between the desirability or otherwise of the manufacturing and proliferation of arms and ammunition, with wars and conflicts being prosecuted to the detriment of all.                     

Apart from the fact that Michael Jackson continues to live in his artistic contributions, his memorabilia, like those of others, are still enhancing his economic worth. Memorabilia are noteworthy points, as well as items that remind one of past events, and commemorate it. They are capable of raising emotions. An instance of memorabilia is a souvenir, which is a concept derived from a French word that means remembrance or memory. Apart from the capacity of memory, the inner ability of the brain, to store and recall events of the past, objects and items could  also assume the worth and content of an experience, with the presence of them eliciting specific feelings from the human agency. Therefore, souvenirs are reminders or enliveners of travels and the attached experience(s). One clear idea in the foregoing is that memorabilia do not have constituent values, but derive their values from the importance people confer on them. To this end, their values and importance are fluid, and dependent on things external to them.

Very close to memorabilia is a collectible, which is an item that is worth more than it was initially sold for, because of its rarity and/or popularity. It is usually kept in places where it would not be ruined. Artefacts have since left common places for museums all over the world, with the European pillaging of the African continent occasioning thefts of totems, ornaments and traditional objects that were hitherto deified and mystified getting unmasked and demystified for movements into palaces and museums where they are used to decorate and encase the old narratives of colonial expeditions, conquest and sunset. With the staggering number of artefacts stolen from Africa, which were originally paganised, the attempts made to return African heritages on European shelves are a mere drop in the ocean. Some have argued that the controversial death of M.  K. O. Abiola was also a function of the transnational conspiracy that was required to halt his reparation movement.                   

It is instructive that individuals are turning their memorabilia to economic values, putting the responsibility on Nigeria to take a cue from such a possibility, particularly given her challenging cultural and economic conditions. Nigeria’s memorabilia, when taken literally as souvenirs, would see us listing items like the emblem of the Nigeria map, flag and colours, cultural insignias, geographical totems, branded mugs; key holders; wrist bands; branded Shirts and Caps; diaries & Jotters; wine opener; umbrella; breakable Plates; hand fans; plastic/rubber of different types; clothing materials; back scratcher, etc as some of the common souvenirs offered in Nigerian events, especially weddings, funeral ceremonies and birthdays. It is, however, noteworthy that the worth of souvenirs used in an event is reflective of the socio-economic standing of the host, and status of the invited guests. It is for the latter reason that the wedding of Faith, the adopted daughter of the then Nigeria President, Goodluck Jonathan, allegedly witnessed the gifting of customised gold-plated iPhone as souvenir, among others.

Jackson’s moonwalk typifies the dexterous kinetic movements of the body that involved the popping dance move in which the performers glide backwards but their body actions suggest forward motion. The hat he wore before this iconic performance, which complemented the inner white wear, black small jacket, and skimpy pants, was recently sold at an auction for the first time in Paris for 77, 640 euros ($82, 170), among around 200 items of rock memorabilia, even though it was estimated at 60, 000 to 100,000 euros by the Hotel Drouot auction house. This hat was whipped off by Jackson while doing his breaking dance during a televised Motown concert in 1983, and the hat, just like other ‘privileged’ objects that he got close to, became enriched by the reason of association. This is as a Yoruba wise saying indicates that the intimacy of the black soap with the leaf it is wrapped would turn the latter to the former. The hat, like other clothing materials used by Jackson, would have borne both his natural and artificial body odour.

Taken metaphorically, or as a response to archaic usage, memorabilia could mean memorable or noteworthy national experiences that could bring value to the country and the people. From the name, Nigeria, which was believed to have been authored by a British journalist, Flora Shaw, and believed to have been coined from Niger River and the Latin word Niger, meaning black, to the amalgamation of the northern and southern protectorate in 1914. From the independence of 1960 to the Civil War that broke out in 1967; from the no victor; no vanquished of 1970 to the various ethnic cleansings and military mutinies; from ethno-religious crisis to political imbroglios; from  the atrocious terror attacks to weaponeisd poverty; from cries of marginalisation to the struggle for self-determination, Nigeria and Nigerians seem to have apparently lost  touch with the opportunities inherent in memorabilia, or they are, at best, liabilities as against being sources of credibility.

The memorabilia that line our political trajectory are indeed very costly, so much that they set the country on moonwalk progress; successive leaders gliding backwards while their body actions imply forward movement. The setting of millennium goals has been reduced to wishful thinking, while budgets, year-in and out, are used to service the luxurious lifestyles of the overfed political class. Ambitious health care provisions have not been able to tackle low life expectancy, while Eurocentric educational propositions have failed to relate to the developmental challenges of the nation that require creative practical solutions. 

The memorabilia of Civil War continue to divide Nigerians on ethno-religious lines, denting the political aspirations of the people, while Liberia converted the memory of her Civil War to a counterfoil for unity, as exemplified in the concession of victory by George Weah to Joseph Boakai in the just concluded presidential election. Uganda is making socio-economic progress while Nigeria is still engrossed in experimental governance, as the heroic or messianic projection of Buhari, for instance, during his quest for the seat of the President, summarily diffused into cluelessness, even as players in Tinubu’s government have reckoned his regime as that of locusts.

Rather than attain nationhood, sharp edges are still expanded with provocative outbursts, even as divisiveness vitiates the cohesion that is required to wrestle socio-political and economic challenges to the ground. Nigeria has dispensed with the memorabilia of no victor; no vanquished, as domination and marginalisation remain two sides of the same coin in a country where leaders don’t walk their talks.

If memorabilia are worthless on their own, and their values dependent on the holders, it is expedient that Nigerian leaders should not learn the moonwalk of Michael Jackson, but they must imbibe the positive valuation of the memorabilia of his moonwalk hat, and convert every memory of the past to judicious use, noting that experiences and remembrance are not as good as the value we bring to them. No doubt, we are souvenirs of some sorts!