The Michael Jackson Fan Club

On July 9, 2002, Michael Jackson, along with other musicians, producers and music executives, addressed the rights of artists, speaking about corruption and conspiricy in the record industry system. They especially demanded better treatment for Blacks from major record companies.

Jackson addressed panelists at the Rev. Al Sharpton's National Action Network headquarters located in Harlem, New York.

Talking of a conspiricy Michael said:

I'm tired of the manipulation. [...] The press has manipulated the truth. They're liars. History books are a lie. You need to know this, you must know this, that all forms of popular music, from jazz to rock to hip-hop, and dance, from the jitterbug to the Charleston, are Black. But go down to the corner bookstore, and you won't see one Black person on a cover. You'll see Elvis Presley. You'll see the Rolling Stones. But where are the real pioneers?"

Using pioneer Otis Blackwell as an example of someone deserving larger recognition, Michael said that there was something terribly amiss in a system that would find Blackwell dying penniless despite having penned such classics as "Don't Be Cruel," "All Shook Up" and "Great Balls of Fire."

They didn't write one book about him that I know of, and I've searched the world over," Jackson said. "And he was a prolific, phenomenal writer."

Jackson also mentioned that as soon as he himself started to gain power, the system started working to destroy him:

Once I started breaking sales records - I broke Elvis Presley's record, I broke the Beatles' record - once I started doing that, overnight, they called me a freak, a homosexual, a child molester. They said I bleached my skin. They did everything they could to turn the public against me. It's a conspiracy."

He further stressed:

I know my race. I look in the mirror, and I know that I am Black."

Jackson asked the crowd not to forget why they were there, by stating:

Let's not leave this building and forget what was said. Let's do something about it. ... And remember, we're all brothers and sisters, no matter what color we are."