Black History Month: Michael Jackson
Many people seem to forget (or just don’t know) how important Michael Jackson is and how much he contributed to the black community. I am here to educate you :)
Michael Jackson visited Africa multiple times. He was very interested in and informed about the continent, its people, and their culture. He described Africa as “home.” The Anyi people even crowned him King Sani.
Michael Jackson supported the most charities ever by a pop star, many of which were black charities. These include (but are not limited to) the United Negro College Fund, the Brotherhood Crusade, the Congressional Black Caucus, and the NAACP. Even “We Are the World” was recorded to raise money and awareness for Africa.
Michael Jackson was very passionate about the poor treatment black artists receive from the industry. He was outraged about the lack of pay, recognition, and credit. MJ called out Sony for the way they treated him and many other artists (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fr6CRcrQxDw) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNZ1lOxsYYQ). He talked about the lies printed in history books, and he spoke out on Elvis stealing music written by black people. Here’s a photo of a quote that he wrote on the Elvis statue in Neverland:
Michael Jackson opened his home to inner city children. He would feed them, let them get on rides, etc., all for free.
Michael Jackson would buy the catalogs of black artists who no longer owned them and return their music to them. One of these artists was Little Richard.
Lastly, Michael Jackson always showed admiration for darker people and talked about how beautiful dark skin is. He openly discussed how proud he was of being black. Sidenote: For the record, blackness isn’t determined by how you choose to wear your hair or how light or dark your skin is. Remember that.
Welp, this is the end of our tour. You wanna know anything else? Google is 100% free. As always, stay off of my blog with the bs, love yourself, and spread love and positivity :) Don’t choose to be ignorant just because it is a trend.
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