Black or White, a song by pop king Michael Jackson that was written in 1991, just years after segregation was outlawed, is still widely used in modern society. Despite the fact that blacks and whites had legal equality, social tension still existed between African Americans and white people. The song "Black or White" emphasizes the social inequities caused by racism in an effort to bring social equality in America. Being black, Michael Jackson had personal experience of racial tension. Jackson sings that it is irrelevant to him if his girl, "baby," is black or white.
Famous for his transformation as a black performer to light skin, Jackson suffered from a sever skin condition called vitiligo where he resorted to use of creams and medications in order to eliminate the appearance of the uneven toned patches on his skin. One could argue that Jackson should have embraced his skin rather than changing it but that is a topic of its own.
He raised up issues of injustice and racial discrimination for debate and made it possible for pop musicians to freely express themselves, particularly through imaginative music videos, lavish performances, and freedom in lyrics. Jackson travels the world while wearing contrasting black-and-white attire, seamlessly altering his dance skills to fit the local customs and culture. He performs as a sort of global magician alongside Africans, Native Americans, Thais, Indians, and Russians, seemingly trying to teach the White American Father the virtues of diversity and difference from his air bound position. The video's main section ends with the groundbreaking "morphing sequence," in which vivacious faces of different ethnicities meld into one another without any visible transitions.
This song discusses the problems that were prevalent in the 1980s and 1990s. Not only had the issue of blacks and whites divided at this time, but also the subject of humanism too was quite fragmented. Its lyrics refer to racial issues in contemporary culture. In the context of American social life in the late 1980s, Jackson was considering equality, tolerance, and respect for one another when he wrote this song. And Jackson demonstrates unity by eradicating disparities in race or ethnicity.
The video's main act concludes with a ground-breaking "morphing sequence," in which vivacious faces of different ethnicities meld into one another without any visible transition. The underlying message seemed to be that despite superficial differences, we are all members of the human family—individual but connected.