Michael Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009)

With so much emphasis in 2026 news on the Epstein files and pedophilia, the words of the late Michael Jackson give me pause.

(Yes, there were criminal court trials involving allegations of child molestation, etc. However, a California jury found him not guilty on all 10 criminal charges on June 13, 2005. That being said, no doubt this man would like to be remembered as an extremely generous humanitarian and would no doubt like people to remember his love and genuine care and concern for children.)

Michael Jackson was so much more than an eclectic and consummate entertainer. He was an extremely generous humanitarian and would no doubt like people to remember his love and genuine care and concern for children.

“HEAL THE KIDS” SPEECH at OXFORD UNIVERSITY 2001(Excerpt):

As you all know, our two countries broke from each other over what Thomas Jefferson referred to as “certain inalienable rights”. And while we Americans and British might dispute the justice of his claims, what has never been in dispute is that children have certain inalienable rights, and the gradual erosion of those rights has led to scores of children worldwide being denied the joys and security of childhood. I would therefore like to propose tonight that we install in every home a Children’s Universal Bill of Rights, the tenets of which are:

1. The right to be loved without having to earn it

2. The right to be protected, without having to deserve it

3. The right to feel valuable, even if you came into the world with nothing

4. The right to be listened to without having to be interesting

5. The right to be read a bedtime story, without having to compete with the evening news

6. The right to an education without having to dodge bullets at schools

7. The right to be thought of as adorable – (even if you have a face that only a mother could love).