Black or White

The ongoing struggle to fight the skin color prejudice in the contemporary American society is portrayed in Michael Jackson’s song “Black or White.” Whereas the racism is defined as a superior behavior against other race-thus making it inferior, the singer refers to this term as “See, it’s not about races, just places, faces, where your blood comes from is where your space is.” Michael Jackson, one of the most influential artists in the music industry, calls for equality in how people view and behave towards each other. The question, which this master thesis investigates, does it matter if you’re black or white, is clearly answered by the singer: “It don’t matter if you’re black or white.” Jackson was trying to influence his society to act in a similar way and he calls for them to live their lives by Dr. Luther’s dream “….judged not by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.” However, almost thirty years later, it still seemed only as a dream because he sang: “I’m tired of this Devil”, where the bad is being represented by the prejudice. At the same time, he clearly states: “I’m not gonna spend my life being a color” – this is where he makes his conclusion. This can imply that even though he doesn’t discriminate and would like to see color prejudice gone, he is still being discriminated against. While being the most prominent artist in the music industry, he still calls himself “a color” and he rebuts against it and wants to be seen for the person he is and not the pigmentation of his skin. It is widely known that Michael Jackson had many facial plastic surgeries and it is controversial whether or not he altered his skin color by chemical peels or was it the disease called vitiligio that changed his face color to white. Therefore, it can be speculated that he modified skin to appear white, which ultimately is his vision. It can be further questioned – since Michael Jackon can’t win his struggle for racial equality, did he give