0:06 The video opens with white texts saying “This film is NOT degrading to ANY one Race, but pictorializes the injustices to ALL MANKIND. May God grant us PEACE throughout the world”.
0:12 It opens to a bunch of girls covering their faces with their hands, and then it transitions to girls clapping and chanting “All I really know is they don’t really care about us”. I think its important to note the girls are POC. This could be highlighting the school-to-prison pipeline, where a disproportionate amount of youths from disadvantaged backgrounds are incarcerated.
0:30 A montage of police brutality, with people being beat and other cops just watching. Starving children. People standing up to military, with one scene of a person in front of a moving tank. In essence, he is pointing out the racist, prejudice
0:50 We see Michael Jackson in a jail cell with handcuffs, chained to the floor. There’s a dancing scene with all the prisoners chanting together while eating.
1:25 The next montage is of different militaristic regimes picking on innocent civilians. There is also a shot of missiles falling on towns.
After the chorus, the lyrics are
“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 being the victim of hate”
I researched Michael’s background and turns out he faced false allegations in 1993, and faced prejudice from the police and prison system.
2:55 He uses the raw emotions of his experience to show the inhuman treatment inflicted on marginalized people. The archival footage assembled back to back evokes strong emotions of frustrations and anger.
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Michael Jackson’s words are relevant now more than ever. What an amazing artist he was and his words/music are still affecting millions today. This song is beautiful and I hope it can emphasize the importance of the BLM movement today.
This song really encapsulates a lot of issues that are still occurring. That’s kind of scary. I really like how he brought up a lot of different humans rights issues being committed by different groups of people and hurting other groups of people. It goes to show that anyone has the capacity to inflict this type of harm. Your analysis was very well timed as the BLM movement is surging, so you know your audience well!
Hey Tasnuba! I usually recognize so many of Micheal Jackson’s songs but I have not come across this one. I am glad I was able to find out about this song because it has an interesting message which is quite relevant to today’s society. I also didn’t know he talked about his controversies in a song which was all mentioned in a documentary about a year ago. Overall, I really liked the analysis which gave more context to certain lines in the song and thought it was great to use a song that could address the issues going on recently.
Hey Tasnuba, thanks for sharing I also did a Michael Jackson’s song for blog 2. I think you did a great job of picking the song. This song was made more than 20 years ago in response to racial discrimination and human rights issues. It is sad to see how are those issues still reoccur over and over again. I think you can make a good connection with this song and the BLM movement happening this year.
the system hasn’t failed, the system was built this way, to profit off the minorities and to hurt anyone who disagrees with them. it’s working the way it’s supposed to, we’re all just finally waking up and realizing it shouldn’t be like this Thanks for sharing
Hi Tasnuba! I love this song and I’m really glad you chose it. I like how you took the time to research about the artist and find out where is the he comes from. Like you describe it, this song talks about the injustice most people from minorities around the world suffer. On how police brutality has been an on going issue in our society.