A unique and sweet tribute to Michael Jackson from prisoners in The Philippines

1,500 inmates at the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center completed this just ten hours after Michael Jackson passed away, as a tribute to him.

I found it particularly touching that prisoners, a group of people who are so easily judged by others, performed a song as a tribute to a man who was judged and ridiculed by more people than any human has ever been judged and ridiculed. How many times have innocent people been accused of being guilty of something and then later it is discovered that they were not guilty at all? I admit that even I assumed a few times that a few people were guilty of something and then later it was found that these people were definitely innocent (these were well known news stories, so the evidence I had was based only on what I saw on TV and read in newspapers). When I found out I was wrong, I felt very guilty. What would I have done if I was in their shoes? After those incidents, it was obvious to me that unless we know all the facts, we just can't know what the truth is. That's such a basic concept, and yet we as humans find it so hard to grasp. Why is that? In America people are innocent until proven guilty. Michael Jackson was never proven guilty. So, I don't understand why there must be so much hate speech about him (I see it a lot on the internet... you know how easy it is to be hateful on the internet). It's time to let him rest in peace.

The prisoners at this prison are there because they are guilty of different crimes. They're not innocent. However, as I watch them in this video I can see how human they are. They were all able to join together and perform in a positive way as a group because of music. At least they can look back on this and feel a sense of accomplishment that they achieved something so amazing in such a short amount of time by cooperating with others in a large group of people. 

I don't feel sympathy for the prisoners. I think if they did the crime, they have to do the time. However, looking at them in this video does give me a strong sense that we are all human, and we are all born as equals. These prisoners were all innocent babies once who could have grown up to be productive, positive, giving members of society. They made some bad decisions and ended up in prison instead. I just feel hope that maye even just a few of them will get something positive out of that experience that they can apply to their own lives when they are released from prison.

"Heal the world. Make it a better place." - Michael Jackson. 

Thank you to byronfgarcia for posting this on youtube.