Even after his death, Michael Jackson’s legacy is still making noise to bring attention to the injustices of the world. Jackson’s song “They Don’t Care About Us” was used by his long-time choreographer Travis Payne and dancers Daniel Celebre and Dres Reid to involve inmates at the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center (CPDRC) maximum security prison in a powerful choreographed routine from Jackson’s “This Is It” used to promote the movie’s DVD release.
Jackson’s song “They Don’t Care About Us” was used by his long-time choreographer, Travis Payne, and dancers, Daniel Celebre and Dres Reid, to involve inmates at the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center (CPDRC) in a powerful choreographed routine from Jackson’s “This Is It.”
The song, which was the fifth single from Jackson’s “HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I,” album is one of King of Pop’s most controversial pieces of work that touches on racism, police brutality, military warfare, genocide, human rights abuse, martial law and other oppressive themes.
Jackson’s second video for the song was actually filmed in a prison to highlight the injustices of the prison industrial complex.
According to NBC News, privatized prisons are a $4.8 billion industry that made $629 in profits in 2014.
America has the second-highest incarceration rate of 222 countries. We throw 700 out of 100,000 people in jail which amounted to about 6.9 million adults in 2013.
Unfortunately, their correctional methods don’t much “correcting” because more than half of those prisoners end up back in the criminal justice system. The National Institute of Justice study found that two-thirds of inmates ended up getting rearrested within three years of their release from prison.
Thankfully, there are some prisons that do care and aim to help reform their inmates.
They run programs by organizations like Rehabilitation Through the Arts, which uses theatre, dance, and other types of art programs to help inmates learn the types of skills they need to make it in the world without committing crimes.
RTA finds that “the arts develop the ability to see the world from different perspectives, encourage taking positive risks and allow discovery of hidden skills and talents.”
The CPDRC inmates were able to convey the frustrations over how society views its inmates and runs its punishment programs through their striking and emotional performance.
“That was the most moving experience that I could have imagined,” said Payne, according to Happiest. “I didn’t know that it would be so special. I knew that we were going there to celebrate Michael.”
They definitely succeeded in that. You can watch their mesmerizing performance of “They Don’t Care About Us,” below.
Please SHARE this with your friends and family.
