As the Black Lives Matter protests continued in reaction to the non-indictments of police in the Eric Garner and Michael Brown deatths, “They Don’t Care About Us” Michael Jackson’s 1995 song was resurrected at the grass roots level in many cities including Ferguson, New York, and California.
In a recent article by D.B. Anderson, “They Don’t Care About Us” was denounced by The New York Times even before its release, and did not reach much of its intended audience because the controversy caused by the New York Times article would go on to overshadow the song itself. Radio stations were reluctant to play it and one of the short films Jackson created for the song was banned in the U.S.
“They Don’t Care About Us” was Jackson’s statement against abuse of power and the political corruption that enabled it. Alongside Public Enemy’s “Fight The Power”, these popular songs is resonating among African-American anti-police brutality movements across the US
Then Jackson and film maker Spike Lee made two separate short films for “They Don’t Care About Us.” “He was not having good relations [with Sony/Epic]…there was friction there,” said Spike Lee in a recent interview with Iconic magazine.
The first version, recorded in Brazil, features the Afro-Brazilian drumming group Olodum. If you’re familiar with the song, this is the version you’ve probably seen. Already in production at the time of the controversy, it uses sound effects to obscure the objectionable words.
But the “Prison” version is a tour de force; Jackson had even more to be angry about. Jackson and Lee chose to film in a Long Island jail, said Lee, because “a lot of people in prison shouldn’t be there. A lot of people are there for a much longer time too. In American prisons, there are more brown and black people than white.”
MJ vented his frustrations in this raw and angry performance. Now Watch.
