Friday, June 26, 2009

RIP Michael Jackson: King of Pop and Environmental Justice Leader too?



Today in hoods all across the country, people are pouring out a little "Jesus juice" for the King of Pop, Michael Jackson. Jackson unexpectedly passed away yesterday after going into cardiac arrest in Los Angeles. While the last days for Jackson were riddled in financial and legal drama, checktheweather.net is taking a moment to honor Michael "the real peter pan" Jackson for his work to address environmental degradation, and human rights. AllMichaelJackson.com reports that the pop legend donated money to approximately 39 charities. In 2000 he broke the Guinness Book of World Records for number of charities supported by a pop star.

In the music industry, Michael Jackson used his voice to tell the story of communities who are facing environmental degradation, violence and human rights abuses. In 1985, Jackson Co-wrote "We are the World" For a celebrity based campaign called USA (United Support of Artists) for Africa.

The song brought together some of the top artists of the time including, Stevie Wonder, Tina Turner, Quincy Jones and Bruce Springsteen. The funds from the song and the campaign were donated to fight famine in Africa.

Michael also released many other songs that focused on human rights but two of the most known besides "We are the World", are "Earth Song"


and one of Checktheweather.net founder, Kari Fulton's favorites, "They Don't Care About Us."



"The video highlights the slums of Brazil and always inspired me. That's what a rally is supposed to look like and the video showcases the energy that is needed to win these life-long battles for justice." Fulton stated.

In honor of his legacy and as a tribute to a legend who is gone before his time, check out all three videos, sip the rest of your Jesus juice and smile. MJ is up in heaven, Black again and doing the biggest comeback concert ever.

1 comments:

Unknown said...

this is great. I've heard of "We are the World", but I had no idea about "They Don't Really Care About Us" or "Earth Song" Thanks for passing this on!