“They Don't Care About Us”: Michael Jackson's Black Nationalism

Abstract

This article examines the presence of black nationalist ideals in Michael Jackson's work, with a focus on the song “They Don't Care About Us.” Through a contextualized reading that encompasses Jackson's struggle for self-empowerment following the 1993 child abuse controversy, it shows how he uses both music and video to cultivate a radical ideological allegiance with the greater social plight of black Americans. Jackson's position is revealed as both compelling and conflicted, whereby his work betrays the influence of a deep trajectory of politicized African-American music, but also raises questions of the wider distinction between fixed racial solidarity and postmodern subjectivity.

Notes

[1] See Amir Khan's essay, this issue, for an exploration of Jackson as an “angry” performer, which complements the discussion of rage given here.