Jerri Delgado Essays - Music Industry, Music, Sound,

Jerri Delgado Jessica Wedemeyer First Year- Composition I 26 June 2018 Essay 2 Rough Draft They Don't Care About Us It seems that every day there is another issue between people based on the color of your skin and your race. With our current president the hatred has come out to the public eye. In Michael Jackson's music video, They Don't Care About Us, he shows footage and talks about the way the system treats people of color. There is an insane amount of controversy on not only the music video but the song as well. They Don't Care About Us is the fifth single on Michael Jackson's album HIStory: pAst, Present and Future, Book 1. It was released on March 31, 1996. The music video was later directed by Spike Lee who directed two different versions of the video and created both for audiences to view. Spike Lee as a director is very fitting because Spike Lee is all about stuff that has to deal with public awareness and protests. However this song faced a lot of controversy and backlash as many, including the New York Times, published and said that Michael Jackson is being anti-semitic and stirring up violence in communities to which Michael Jackson released a statement saying, " The idea that these lyrics could be deemed objectionable is extremely hurtful to me, and misleading. The song in fact is about the pain of prejudice and hate and is a way to draw attention to social and political problems. I am the voice of the accused and the attacked. I am the voice of everyone. I am the skinhead, I am the Jew, I am the black man, I am the white man. I am not the one who was attacking. It is about the injustices to young people and how the system can wrongfully accuse them. I am angry and outraged that I could be so misinterpreted.". Due to all the conflicts and different view points about the song it never made it big in the US. It was played so few that it only made it to the 30th spot on the BIllboards. Where most people believe it would spark violence is through the second music video made for this song. The music video begins with a group of colored kids singing the chorus, All I wanna say is that they don't really care about us. In between the chorus lines, one kid says, Don't worry what people say, we know the truth." while another child says, Enough is enough of this garbage!. The prison version is completely dedicated to showing graphic images of violence against authoritative figures that are harsh to even watch. Michael used real life footage of the student rebellion on the Tiananmen Square in China, brutal police beatings of African Americans in Los Angeles, and footage from the Vietnam war. These send a very powerful message across of the cost it costs to fight for basic human rights. The phrase he repeats the most is obviously "They Don't Really Care About Us", but there are many more that come across strong. This song speaks on people who suffer discrimination, including Michael himself, and how uneccesary it all is. Michael uses short hard phrases that allows you to think in depth on them and apply them to many different situations. A very intelligent set of lyrics from MJ. It shows his anger at people being judgemental and highlights some clear issues about segregation from the lyrics, "Throw the brother/In jail", and "if Martin Luther was livin'/He wouldn't let this be". He addresses the issues that are clearly about him through saying "Don't you Black or White me". Michael Jackson's song, "They Don't Care About Us" speaks volume on racism both as just a song and as just a video. Put together they send a very strong message on what is wrong with not questioning power and being submissive. I also need to make a bibliography just learning how to. I want to go more in depth on the whole prison aspect of the music video I also want to talk about the other video for this song that Spike Lee directed but I