Category: News

FBI File Reveals Attempt to Convict Jackson with Racist Law

Documents contained in Michael Jackson’s FBI file show that the LAPD tried to prosecute the star under the same legislation used in the past to smear black luminaries such as Jack Johnson and Chuck Berry.

Records show that the LAPD contacted the FBI on 7th September 1993 to ask whether the bureau would assist in the prosecution of Michael Jackson under the Mann Act.

The Mann Act, also known as the ‘White Slavery Act’, was introduced in 1910. Allowing officers to make arrests on the vague premise of ‘immoral behaviour’, the law was frequently used to smear black men, particularly those who consorted with white women.

Jack Johnson, the world’s first black Heavyweight Boxing Champion, was the first person to be prosecuted under the act. In fact, Geoffrey C Ward writes in his book ‘Unforgivable Blackness’ that the potential to smear Johnson had been one of the primary motivating factors behind the introduction of the law.

DEFENDING MICHAEL
by Thomas A Mesereau Jr.
Forum Column, Los Angeles Daily Journal, July 1st, 2009

The Michael Jackson trial was unique. More accredited media covered these proceedings than the O.J. Simpson and Scott Peterson trials combined. When the verdicts were reached, people in every capital around the world were riveted to their radios, computers and televisions. The “King of Pop” was more popular than anyone, including Elvis Presley.

Jay Leno, Chris Tucker, Macaulay Culkin, George Lopez and lesser-known celebrities testified. Larry King testified outside the presence of the jury. The trial lasted five months with more than 140 witnesses appearing. Twenty-four-hour coverage, including actors re-enacting the proceedings, emphasized the trial’s popularity.

I first met Michael on a hillside in Colorado in 1984. He was on the famous Victory Tour with his brothers.

Michael was the first to come running over to help when I slipped going up a steep muddy hill. I was fine, but a couple of lenses got covered in mud. That was the first time Michael took a liking to one of my brown Scottish tweed sports jackets, so I took it off and gave it to him. He seemed pleased by my gesture and immediately put it on, put both arms out and twirled around in the bright sunlight while I photographed him running and jumping. On stage that night he glittered in sequins. I flew back to New York with the photographs.

The momentum of the Victory Tour kept building, so I joined Michael in Philadelphia for more photos. The same thing happened again. This time it was a gray Harris tweed jacket. I saw him looking closely at the colors in the tweed. They seemed to fascinate him, so again I gave him my jacket. Sometime later I was amused to see a news clip of Michael actually wearing the jacket, running into a limo, mobbed by fans.