On Racism And Equality

 

Racism is the only thing I hate. I really do. And that’s why I try to write, put it in songs, put it in dance, put it in my art – to teach the world. 

Michael Jackson

 

 

"The color of a person's skin had nothing to do with the content of their character." 

Michael Jackson 

 

 

Ebony: Did your travels have any influence on the way you think about races of people?

 
Michael: The main thing that I hate most is ignorance, like the prejudice problems of America. I know it is worse in some other countries. But I wish I could borrow, like from Venezuela or Trinidad, the real love of color-blind people and bring it to America.
 
Ebony: You are making some observations with intense feelings. Please continue.
 
Michael: I’m prejudiced against ignorance.That’s what I’m mainly prejudiced against. It’s only ignorance and it’s taught because it’s not genetic at all. The little children in those [countries] aren’t prejudiced. I would like for you to put this in quotes, too. I’m really not a prejudiced person at all. I believe that people should think about God more and creation …. Look at the many wonders inside the human body – the different colors of organs, colors of blood – and all these different colors do a different thing in the human body. It’s the most incredible system in the world; it makes an incredible building, the human being. And if this can happen with the human body, why can’t we do it as people? And that’s how I feel. And that’s why I wish the world could do more. That’s the only thing I hate. I really do.
 
Ebony: What you have just said is not only compassionate but compelling. How do you communicate such feelings since you don’t make public appearances to express your views in public forums?
 
Michael: I try to write, put it in song. Put it in dance. Put it in my art to teach the world. If politicians can’t do it, I want to do it. We have to do it. Artists, put it in paintings. Poets, put it in poems, novels. That’s what we have to do. And I think it’s so important to save the world.
 
Ebony magazine interview, 1984
 
 
 
 
 
“All around us are people of different cultures, different religions, and different nationalities.  And yet, the music of Michael Jackson brings us together.”
 

Pastor Lucious Smith

 

 
 
 
“Michael brought blacks, whites, Asians and Latinos together. It was Michael Jackson who said ‘we are the world’ to feed the hungry long before Live Aid“.
Rev. Al Sharpton at Michael Jackson´s memorial at the Staples Center 7-7- 2009
 
 
 
 

Michael Jackon in his song HIStory:

 
All nations sing
Let's harmonize all around the world
 
 

  

 

"Throughout the ages, the peacock has been honoured and praised for its attractive, illustrious beauty. Of all in the bird family, the peacock is the only bird that integrates all colors into one, and displays this radiance of fire only when in love.

We, like the peacock, try to integrate all races into one through the love of music."

- Michael and Jackie Jackson (as The Jacksons) for their Peacock Productions 

 

 

"It doesn't matter which blood or race or creed or color. Love is love and it breaks all boundaries and you just see it right away."

- Michael Jackson

 

 

Michael Jackson - Heal The World (Superbowl 1993) (HD) - best ever performance:

 

 

"...This is Michael Jackson. There`s not going to be another Michael Jackson ever, ever. He was the only person on this earth that can drop all races, all nationalities, all — everyone at a drop of a hat. He was the only person on this planet — I know no one on this planet that can do that."

- Joanelle Romero, Native American humanitarian, filmmaker, actress, recording artist and entrepreneur

 

 

“He was a man of power, of positive power that brought people together. He brought  people of all walks of life, all nationalities, friends and foes alike. He was healing in spirit because he healed a lot of people with his music and with his spirit. Being in his presence, when he visited hospitals, the children would be miraculously healed.”

Jonathan Moffet, Michael´s drummer

 
 
"What attracted me the most about MJ was his capacity to reunite people from all races, nationalities and gender through his art. It’s something that politicians couldn’t and still aren’t able to do. I was always impressed by his humility after all the awards he received. I hate how he didn’t receive enough credits for his humanitarian actions. This man did so many good things for the world. His heart was as big as his success. I really love his philosophy of life, he only spoke when he had something important to say about all kind of subjects. One of MJ’s best speech was at the Oxford University. It really bothers that documentaries about MJ want to focus more about rumors from tabloids, his plastic surgeries rather than his messages of hope and love through his music."

Claire Legrand, YouTube comment Feb 2019

 

 

L.A. Reid: How Jackson broke racial barriers:

 

“I don’t understand racism. We are all the same and I have the perfect hypothesis to prove it. I play to all those countries and they cry in all the same places in my show. They laugh in the same places. They become hysterical in the same places. They faint in the same places and that’s the perfect hypothesis. There is a commonality that we are all the same.”

- Michael Jackson

 

 

"Michael Jackson was one of the nicest, kindest people I’ve ever met.  He really wanted to do more than just be a musical genius.  He wanted to heal and change the world through love, through kindness, through art and through music and I do believe the world’s a better place because he was with us.
 
He was very gentle, very kind. There was, I sort of describe it as a universal Michael and Michael the individual. There was the universalist Michael who wanted to change the globe. Wanted to see the entire world focus on children and he felt that if children were properly loved and cared for that we would significantly reduce the violence in the world, significantly reduce the meanness in the world, significantly reduce poverty, and all of the world’s most important problems. 
 
 
He felt that the way to do that was to focus on the world’s children. So that’s the universalist Michael who thought he could heal the world through music, through love, through humanitarian measures. He was one of the greatest humanitarians in world history. He actually is in the Guinness Book of Records as one of the largest donors to children’s causes, which the media doesn’t like to focus on.
 
 
There also is the individual Michael, who I dealt with, who was a person, and he loved to see a child smile. He built Neverland to see children happy. He was one of the wealthiest men in the world. He could have spent all of that money selfishly. Instead he had a zoo, he had an amusement park, a theatre, he had statues devoted to the world’s children. If you looked at the artwork in his house, a lot of it centered on children and seeing them happy and respecting them for who they were.  Their race, their religion, what part of the world they were from, what kind of native traditions they had.
 
 

 This was someone who as a person, loved to see a child smile. Loved to see a child from the inner city who was growing up in poverty and violence come to Neverland and look at a giraffe and smile and look at an elephant and smile. Get some free ice cream and just be happy. It just meant a lot to Michael  because he was a very good person.
 
 
But unfortunately when you’re that much of a genius, and you’re that wealthy, all of the sharks are going to come forward, and when you combine with that a certain level of naivety, a person who just didn’t want to be wrapped up in money matters all of the time or legal matters. He wanted to do creative things, he wanted to do humanitarian things. That makes him even more of a target for frivolous lawsuits and frivolous claims."
 
Thomas Mesereau, Michael´s attorney from 2005
 
 
 
 
(...) I enjoy working with you that is why I asked you to come, you have a gentle spirit that’s very likable. Maybe I look at the world through rose colored glasses, but I love people all over the world. That is why stories of racism really disturb me. You hurt my heart and soul when you told me of your boyhood in Texas. Because in truth I believe all men are created equal. I was taught that and will always believe it. I just can’t conceive of how a person could hate another because of skin color. I love every race on the planet earth. Prejudice is the child of ignorance.

Naked we came into the world and naked we shall go out. And a very good thing too, for it reminds me that I am naked under my shirt, whatever its color. I’m sorry to bring up such past news, but in the car I was hurt by what you said. I’m so happy that you have managed to overcome your childhood past. Thank God that you’ve graduated from such beliefs of ignorance. I’m glad I’ve never experienced such things. Teach your kids to love all people equally. I know you will.

I speak from my heart saying I love you and all people, especially the children. I’m glad God chose me and you.

Love M.J.
 
Michael Jackson´s letter to William Pecchi Jr., camera operator on set of Moonwalker 1988 ( the whole original letter is placed on different place in this website. Bellow children from Moonwalker movie) 
 
 
 
 

"The people told us 'Just deal with it' (racism), because that’s how the South is. That’s ignorance and it’s taught, because it’s not genetic at all. The little children in those (countries) aren’t prejudiced. I would like for you to put this in quotes, too. I’m really not a prejudiced person at all. I believe that people should think about God more and creation. Look at the many wonders inside the human bodies — the different colors of organs, colors of blood — and all these colors do different things in the human body. It’s the most incredible system in the world; it makes an incredible building, the human being. And if this can happen with the human body, why can’t we do it as people? And that’s how I feel. And that’s why I wish the world could do more. That (racism) is the only thing I hate. I really do. And that’s why I try to write, put it in songs, put it in dance, put it in my art – to teach the world. If politicians can’t do it, poets should put it in poetry and writers should put it in novels. That’s what we have to do and I think it’s so important to save the world." 

Michael Jackson, JET Interview, 1979

 

Black Or White:

Interesting conversation about this short movie and its meaning: dancingwiththeelephant.wordpress.com/2015/04/02/boy-is-that-girl-with-you/

 

 

 

"There’s a lot of jealousy there. I love all races, I love all people, but sometimes there’s a devil in people, and they get jealous. Every time there’s a luminary that goes beyond the heights of his field of endeavor, people tend to get jealous and try to bring him down. But they can’t with me because I’m very, very, very strong."

Michael Jackson

 

 

"(Racism:) It is cruelty, it´s ugly and I hate it. You are my brother (points out to the children). They are my brothers. If you are black, white, Arab....we are all the same. I love all races equally.... I love all people of the world."

Michael Jackson, TV Interview with children in Tunisia, 1996

 

 

 

“We are Germans, we are Armenians, French, Italians, Russians, Americans, Asians, Africans and many other nationalities. We’re Christians, Jewish, Muslims, Hindus. We’re black, we’re white. We are a community of so many differences. So complex, and yet so simple. We do not need to have war.” 

Michael Jackson, upon accepting the Bambi Artist of the Millennium award

 

 

“Michael’s popularity appealed to the very young, the very old and everyone in between…blacks, whites.  And, that only happens once in a lifetime.” 

Dick Clark, The One 2003

 

 

 
“Together we can stop racism and prejudice. It's our only hope. Without hope, we are lost."
 
Michael Jackson

 

 

Song Can You Feel It that Michael wrote with his brother Jackie:

 

Can you feel it? ... 

 If you look around / The whole world is comin' together now, baby / Can you feel it? ...
Feel it in the air / The wind is taking it everywhere, yeah / Can you feel it? ...
 

All the colors of the world should be / Lovin' each other wholeheartedly / Yes, it's all right / Take my message to your brother / And tell him twice

Spread the word and try to teach the man / Who's hating his brother /  When hate won't do, ooh / 'Cause we're all the same, yes / The blood inside of me is inside of you

Now, tell me / Can you feel it? ...
 

Every breath you take / Is someone's death in another place
Every healthy smile / Is hunger and strife to another child
 

But the stars do shine / In promising salvation, is near this time / Can you feel it now?
So brothers and sisters show me know how

Now, tell me / Can you feel it? ...

All the children in the world should be / Loving each other wholeheartedly / Yes, it's all right / Take my message to your brother / And tell him twice

Take the news to the marching men / Who are killing their brothers / When death won't do, ooh
Yes, we're all the same / Yes, the blood inside of me is inside of you / Now, tell me / Can you feel it? ...

 

 

 Thise-mailaddressisbeingprotectedfromspambots,youneedJavaScriptenabledtoviewit

"Michael was very sensitive to the overt racism of the American press, well aware that a caption can completely alter the context of a photograph, perpetuating negative stereotypes. He scrutinized every photograph I made and only the images he approved were released to the press."
 
Todd Gray, Michael´s photographer
 
 
In Black Or White, he bursted through flames with images of the KKK to tell the world 
"I ain't scared of no sheets!" 
 

 
 

They Don´t Care About Us

 
Michael jackson wrote song during the Rodney King riots.
 
MJ didn't only portray the beating up of Rodney King, but he also put the part in where during the protests a white guy was dragged out of his truck and beat up for no reason of his own doing. So it is obvious that MJ did not condone violence as an answer to violence.
 
 
(...) Beat me, hate me
You can never break me
Will me, thrill me
You can never kill me
Sue me, Sue me
Everybody do me
Kick me, kick me
Don't you black or white me
All I want to say is that
They don't really care about us
All I want to say is that
They don't really care about us
Tell me what has become of my life
I have a wife and two children who love me
I am the victim of police brutality, now
I'm tired of bein' the victim of hate
You're rapin' me of my pride oh, for God's sake
I look to heaven to fulfill its prophecy
Set me free (...)
All I want to say is that
They don't really care about
All I want to say is that
They don't really care about us
 
 
 

Scream

The reporter's voiceover as Janet Jackson sings the bridge: "A man has been brutally beaten to death by police, After being wrongly Identified as a robbery suspect! The man was an 18 year-old black male!"
 
 
MJ in his song Tabloid Junkie
 
"In the hood
 Frame him if you could 
Shoot to kill 
To blame him if you will
 If he dies, sympathize 
Such false witnesses 
Damn self-righteousness 
In the black 
Stab me in the back
 In the face 
To lie and shame the race" 
 
 
 
 

Michael Jackson´s speech in Faces,

a song Michael wanted to record for & with Nelson Madela...:
 

These Are The Worst Of Times And These Are The Best Of Times
Racism, Bigotry, Ethnocentricism, Prejudice, Hatred And Violence
Are Breaking The Heart Of Our Planet And Streaming Its Soul
And Yet We Are Coming Alive As Never Before

Nelson Mandela, A Black Man
A Former Symbol Of Subjugation And Slavery Guides South Africa
Democracy And Freedom Flourish As Never Before
And A New Consciousness Proclaims The Dawn Of The Age Of Enlightenment
Where Survival Of The Fittest Is Replaced By Survival Of The Wisest

Let Us Dream Of The Great And Sudden Splendent Of A New Tomorrow
Let Us Dream Of The Full Flowering Of A New Collective Consciousness
Let Us Dream Of A Tomorrow 
Where We Can Hold Our Heads High 
And Stretch Our Arms Toward Perfection

Let Us Dream Of A Tomorrow Where We No Longer Fragment

 And Fracture Our Global Village Of Narrow Domestic Walls

Where Tribalism No Longer Services 
Under The Routines Of Nationalism And Patriotic Fervor 
And Where We Can Truly Love From The Soul 
And Know Love As The Ultimate Truth At The Heart Of All Creation

Let Us Dream Of Tomorrow For Our Children Are Nurtured And Protected And Nourished 
And Our Elders Revered And Honored And Venerated
Let Us Dream Of Peace And Harmony And Laughter
Let Us Dream Of Joy And Ecstasy
Let Us Dream Of Dancing The Cosmic Dance 

And As We Dream 
Let Us Remember 
Those Who Dared To Dream The Horrors 
And Sacrificed Their Yesterday 
So We Can Have Our Tomorrow

 

"I believe MJ was chosen by God to change a generation, bring them into their calling and break racial barriers and color lines. His work has opened doors for so many to achieve their hearts desires!!! Thank you Michael for being my greatest artistic inspiration!"
Keeley "LockN' Key" Kaukimoce, dancer

 

 

 

“Michael kept going. He did not accept  limitations. Michael broke down the color curtain. He brought together Black, White, Asian, Latino. He outperformed the pessimists. Michael  never stopped. Michael never stopped. MICHAEL NEVER STOPPED. He brought changes to your eyes, your biases, your fears.”

Rev Al Sharpton