Jackson’s Lyrics Called Insensitive

Re “Jewish Leaders Call Jackson Lyrics Anti-Semitic” by Steve Hochman (Calendar, June 16). By using derogatory words in a song that is supposed to be against prejudice, Michael Jackson is defeating his purpose.

Is his command of the English language so severely limited that he has to resort to offensive expressions (defined in the dictionary as “slang”)?

“HIStory,” which I interpret to mean “his story,” does not need retelling, History does. And history teaches us that expressions such as “Jew me” and “kike” originated from and represent ignorance, hatred and prejudice.

LAURA WACO

Tarzana

I personally don’t object to Michael Jackson making racist statements in his songs, after all this is America and racism is a fact of life. No, what I object to are the professional excuse-makers.

One, his manager, says it is a ridiculous interpretation. Mr. Jackson must have used “kike” in a nice way in that song. His other defender is even more insulting, saying that Jackson is just “naive.” That is a terrible thing to say, how demeaning that is to Jackson. That is the old liberal rhetoric of how black America was just not bright enough to know what was good for them and they would show them the way.

I have never heard a black leader in this country ever say that a person using the n-word was naive. No, they would call that racist and they would be right.

By the way, why is that The Times freely prints the k-word, but never prints the n-word?

HARVEY J. GLASS

Sherman Oaks

As a person of the Jewish faith I truly believe that Michael Jackson is not an anti-Semitic or prejudiced person. However, as someone who feels that he has been victimized he certainly suffers from one of the severest cases of insensitivity ever seen.

If I were to write a song with the same lyrics as Michael Jackson’s but substitute “black” for “Jew,’ “rob me” for “sue me,” “skinhead” for “kike,” etc., no one, including Michael Jackson would give me the benefit of the doubt. Everyone would rightly call me a racist.

The only way for all of us to “just get along” is for us all to be sensitive to the most hurtful of trigger points for everyone of all races, religions, colors and gender. On that issue there should be no double standard or excuse.

We should thank Michael Jackson for trying to make the point that no one should be “the victim.”

MICHAEL A GLUECK

Newport Beach

Editor’s Note: On Thursday, Michael Jackson announced that he would re-record the lyrics to “They Don’t Care About Us” to eliminate the offending lyrics.