The First Book of Michael Read Online Free PDF Page B

Us’ include the ambiguous reference to being “In the suite / On the news” – words easily misconstrued as “Innocent / On the noose”, and the use of the homonymous lyric ‘black male / blackmail’. As part of the Chandler settlement agreement, Michael was prevented from using certain terminology with which he could directly vindicate himself, so this was his method for overcoming any potential legal backlash. Another ostensibly surreal lyric in ‘They Don’t Care About Us’ is, “Everybody dog food.” It’s open to interpretation, of course, but ‘dog’ is another particularly derogatory term used against Jewish people.
    Michael namechecks both Martin Luther and Roosevelt in ‘They Don’t Care About Us’. The only question is: which of the namesakes is he referencing? The other famous Martin Luther – the one preceding the celebrated black luminary – was a notorious antisemite who authored a book entitled On the Jews and Their Lies . And - whilst one of the two presidents that carried the surname of Roosevelt is revered as a unifier – the other remains under suspicion as being less than sympathetic towards the Jewish plight. These ambiguities are seemingly clarified in the ‘Prison Version’ of the ‘They Don’t Care About Us’ short film (where an incarcerated Michael is portrayed as the vulnerable human being he was - sweating armpits and all) – in which the images incorporated are of the publicly palatable examples of the Martin Luther and Roosevelt namesakes.
    As ever, Michael successfully courted controversy and demanded debate. Still. ‘They Don’t Care About Us’ is track two on the HIStory album. ‘This Time Around’ is track four. On track four, he incorporates a word with just as contentious connotations: ‘Nigger’.
    The media response? Not a squeak.
     
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    In Michael’s autobiography, Moonwalk, he recalls an incident when the Jackson 5 were being interviewed, with their answers being scrutinised by Motown coaches sensitive to subjects that could be considered controversial. A black interviewer attempted to garner their views on the civil rights movement, but the Motown public relations representatives refused to let the Jackson 5 respond. Michael remembers how he and his brothers threw up the black power salute as they left the interview.
    Michael grew up immersed in the social tumult generated by the assassinations of both Dr Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X. His mentor was Stevie Wonder, of whom he said,
    “That’s why I love Stevie Wonder’s biggest-selling album called Songs in the Key of Life . He has a song on that album called ‘Black Man’... I just jumped up screaming when I heard that record because he’s showing the world what the black man has done and what other races have done, and he balanced it beautifully by putting other races in there, what they have done. Then he brings out what the black man has done. Instead of naming it another thing, he named it ‘Black Man’. That’s what I loved about it....And that’s the best way to bring about the truth, through song. And that’s what I love about it.”
    A sixteen-year-old Michael, in 1974, even performed backing vocals on Stevie Wonder’s anti-Nixon track, ‘You Haven’t Done Nothing’.
    In the introduction to the dance sequence of the ‘Black Or White’ video, a background statue of notorious slaver US President George Washington, is poised as if guiding the black panther (which takes a moment to growl at the statue) into the pantheon where it shapeshifts into Michael, who is clad primarily in black - though sporting a white arm brace and a chain belt around his waist.
    The ensuing dance in which Michael destroys racist graffiti sprayed on car and shop windows was construed as gratuitously violent by some. This led to Michael having to issue a statement in which he apologised for any upset caused and explained that he had merely been interpreting the instinct of a black panther.