Written task:

Rationale:
My written task is based on the diary entry of a Afro-American civilian , in America , who
writes his feelings after hearing the song “ All I wanna say is that they don’t really care about
us “ , by Michael Jackson at 1996 . I have chosen to do a single diary entry, because the
intimate feelings of a civilian will be expressed only in a diary entry. I am going to use the 1st
person point of view, because only the 1st person point of view will be appealing to the
readers, when writing a diary entry. This diary entry is set in 1996, in the time of racial
segregation in America. I have used an informal tone, to suite the diary entry and the
context of the song is in an abhorrent mood. The diary setting is in the southern part of
America, Oklahoma.

The purpose of this response is to express the feelings of hope and sorrow of a civilian using
his pen, and only the writer can be the target audient. The context is set in a setting where
there were too much discrimination and racism. This song sung by Michael Jackson, had
many rhyming words and other figures of speech, like metaphor and irony to increase the
effect of the song. I have chosen this song in particular, because this song created rage all
around the world and the power of the song, triggered all the afro-Americans’ hearts into
fighting back, and I wanted to portray the feelings of an afro-American in a diary after
hearing this song.

This is a topic from part 1, language and culture. Under that, this topic is from language and
social relation and language and power, as this written task focuses on racial discrimination.

Word count: 297

Written task:
Dear Jason, April 2, 1996

Whoa !! Jason ,Today was a special day, and this day is special because of only one man, and
he is Michael Jackson. His revolutionary song “All I wanna say is that, they don’t really care
about us “, has described all the atrocities done by the wicked white Americans and the
American government towards us, Each line and each phrase describes the persecution
faced by us. Michael and I have a mutual emotion towards this issue, fury, and it is towards
the American government and the evil white Americans.

In the beginning, he has sung the phrase “skin dead, dead head “, here in this phrase,
Michael refers to the skin dead people as the white supremacists, because they are the ones
who fight for the death of dark skin, and the phrase “dead head” refers to the white
supremacists being stricken minded and boring people, who have had their heads dead. He
refers to them being mad. “Everybody gone badly”, exclaims the mad character of not only
the white supremacists, but the white civilians too. He also says that the situation has
worsened over the past decades for us, by the phrase “situation, aggravation”, however
allegations are done by us, but still the non-empathic idiots seldom feel guilty of their
crimes. this phrase , “everybody dog food “ states the main problem , we are pushed into
the greater depths of poverty as we could only afford to eat what the dogs eat , we have
provoked the worst punishments too , death ! They shoot us for crimes we did not do, and
the phrase “bang bang ,shot dead ” is used twice to emphasize the afro-Americans are shot
to death in America . This whole stanza depicts the character of the cheap Americans and
the insolent government.

The second stanza is what drove me crazy into the realm of hope, the first four lines

Beat me, hate me

You can never break me

Will me, thrill me

You can never kill me

These four lines depict the united spirit of us, how much ever we got hurt; it was only on our
muscle, but not on our bones. The four lines, tells us about the everlasting spirit of
persistence that withholds among us. In the next sentence, the lines

Jew me, sue me

Everybody do me

Describes the situation with a different context, the phrase “Jew me “and “kike me”, both
connotes the holocaust which happened at the time of World War 2 in Germany towards
the Jews. So he says he is ready for even the cruelty, equal to the holocaust. Do not worry
Michael, you don’t have to fight with only two hands, there are thousands following your
lead. He also uses the phrase “don’t you black or white me “, to tell that he does not want
to be treated as a white American, as a result of his skin bleaching. This is why we love you
Michael; you don’t want to be treated specially , even though the sun rises in the west.

He exclaims that his life and most of the others’ life is revolving around the hate of the
police and racists and the love of his family. He again states that he is proud of being a dark
skinned person, but he is deprived of being filled with pride by the police, so he thinks death
is better than this. This is a mutual thought of people that death is better than living in a
free prison. The life with great fear and black mails of imprisonment is not a life indeed. A
life of ignorance, a life of no liberty is indeed a life in the trash, and finally a life in the
clutches of shame is indeed a life lived under a toilet paper. These losses have a question in
me, why and how did I belong to this place.
He has stressed the phrase, “all I wanna say is that, they don’t really care about us “is
stressed, throughout the song. As this phrase summarizes the whole song, and here he
refers the “they” to the government, as he states that they have not taken any steps to help
us have a happier life. They main culprit is Ronald Reagan; he is favouring the white
Americans more. We are not given any rights to prove our worthy; we are treated as slaves
in this country. Michael has referred to Roosevelt and martin Luther King Jr. Franklin
D.Roosevelt, was one of the best presidents America has ever had so even I agree with
Michael that he would have given us equal rights with the white Americans, and he would
have surely quashed the segregation of white and black Americans. Martin Luther king Jr, is
a black American, so if he was there in a revolutionary figure, the rights in favour of the
white Americans would be shattered.

This song has diverted my heart from being a coward to a warrior with hope. What is
happening now, here is injustice and we should not believe that there will be a change, but
instead, we must be the change. I vow to fight till my last breath for my right as a Black
American. I am here for a cause and I will be the change....

Word count : 912