Chain Reaction - The Prequel: God & Slavery

Originally published September 2007

On March 10th 1983 MTV premiered Michael Jackson's song 'Billie Jean'. From the perspective of 2007 that may seem only note-worthy because it remains one of Jackson's biggest hits, but it actually is an event of huge cultural significance and another nail in the coffin of the legacy that slavery left behind it. Slavery was abolished in 1833 in the UK and 1865 in the US, so how does Michael Jackson singing about a nutter stalker whilst dancing around like he needs a wee affect anything?

Unsurprisingly the slave trade had a devastating effect on Africa. We can only estimate how many Africans were taken into slavery; the highest estimate I've seen is 20 million people. These people would have been fit & healthy, at the prime of their lives. They should have been working for their own families and communities. Instead of which they were taken to work for the benefit of another country, and all their descendants were lost to Africa also. The removal of such numbers would have meant that agricultural land couldn't be cultivated properly, and this would have affected the basis for economic development that the African countries had. Many slaves were given by the tribe leaders to the traders in exchange for guns. The presence of guns changed and escalated the wars between tribes and lead to further loss of life and further crippled Africa's development and potential trade. At this time when Africa could have formed a basis for trade with Europe and America, its workforce was stolen. Many of the economic problems faced by modern day Africa can be traced back to the slave trade and how we treated African citizens.

The legacy of slavery is also felt in the countries where the slaves were taken. Slavery was abolished around the world over the course of many years. Often very reluctantly slaves were freed and Governments compensated the former owners for their losses. But the slaves themselves were often no better off. They were given nothing. They were free, but in name only. Most had no option but to continue in the employment of their former masters. They were paid for their labour, but often the pay they were given was pitifully small and barely covered the rent on the accommodation their former masters provided them with. The law still treated former slaves as second-class citizens, and with the vast majority of them unable to read and write and no education on offer to them they lacked the basic skills needed to escape from the poverty they faced. The emancipation of the slaves created a massive underclass that was slave in all but name.

Over and above this dreadful poverty, the ex-slaves had to contend with people's prejudices. The slave trade had relied on people believing that the Africans were sub-human, not worth the same as them and therefore it was perfectly alright to treat them as badly as they did. Even the British abolitionists weren't immune from this attitude; the black abolitionists were never invited to speak at the meetings of the Society for the Abolition of Slavery. When they were asked to attend functions they were seated apart from the white supporters. While laws across the world changed and made slavery illegal it was much harder to change people's hearts and minds. What had been the problem of slavery fast became the problem of racism, and the economic & social disadvantages that the ex-slaves faced seemed to add weight to the belief that the Africans were less intelligent and less human than the white population. In the Southern states of the US the black population became subject to laws of segregation that lasted until the 1960's. These laws governed all walks of life – job entitlement, eating in restaurants, riding on a bus, mortgage eligibility – an ensured that the ex-slave population was prevented from escaping poverty. It provided institutional support for injustice and against this the Ku-Klux-Klan was able to pursue its course of violence and murder in its struggle to prevent black economic advancement, education and voting rights. Right across the world and right up to the present day ex-slave populations have had to fight for the right to be treated as equal in the countries they live in.

So what of Michael Jackson? How does he fit in? Well, in 1983 Michael Jackson was black. The Jacksons had become international phenomena and were rich beyond their wildest dreams. Their musical prowess had elevated them far above their impoverished origins and their story had become an inspiration to black communities across America struggling against poverty and discrimination. When Michael went solo his music was guaranteed a huge audience.

But it wasn't guaranteed much exposure. Despite Billie Jean being at number one in the singles charts for seven weeks there was one major avenue that remained closed. The spectacle of Jackson trying to ease his bladder problem was kept off what was fast becoming an increasingly influential marketing tool. MTV refused to air, not only Jackson's videos, but all videos by black performers. Jackson was signed to Epic, which is a subsidiary of CBS – a huge record label – and it took CBS president Walter Yetnikoff threatening to refuse MTV permission to play any of it's white artists (which included Ozzy Osbourne & Billy Joel) and denounce the channel as racist to make MTV yield. And so on March 10th 1983 Jackson became the first black artist to be played on MTV. 1983, that's only 24 years ago. I find it hard to believe that the aftermath of slavery could have been demonstrated so blatantly so recently, but the evidence is there. The evidence and the legacy of the slave trade is all around us. As much as we try to ignore it, it remains. There have been many programmes created to make reparations to the African countries and deal with the bad taste in the mouth that slavery's left, but these need to continue and we need to be a part of that process.