The last time I spoke to my friend Michael Jackson was about a month ago, 3 weeks before his shocking death. He had called me late one night to ask about another of my close friends who he had read about in the news. Laura Ling, a former colleague and friend, was detained originally by North Korean border guards along with her colleague Euna Lee on March 17th. Since then, they have been imprisoned, had very little contact with their families or western officials, and endured a secretive trial at which they were sentenced to twelve years hard labor. At this present moment, it is unclear where Laura and Euna are – whether they remain in a government guesthouse where they were originally held, in a hospital (due to medical problems for both of them), or moved to the infamous North Korean labor camps that many do not survive.
Michael had read some of the details regarding Laura and Euna’s predicament. As was often the case with him and global events he read about – from famine in Africa to victims of natural disasters in far off countries, to orphans created by wars – he felt a deep sense of empathy for Laura and Euna. When I shared with him that Euna had a four-year-old daughter, he was even more anguished.
He asked me whether I had had any contact with Laura. I told him I had written her a few letters and had been assured they were getting through. Outside of that, her own family had only heard from her twice – brief monitored phonecalls – in the over three months they had been imprisoned. When I told him that, Michael paused.
“Do you think,” he said hesitantly, “that the leader of North Korea could be a fan of mine?”
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- Gotham Chopra
Please Sign the Petition for Amnesty for Laura Ling and Euna Lee
For more information about Laura and Euna and how you can help please go to - http://www.lauraandeuna.com
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Please go away Gotham. Your never-ending stories regarding MJ are disturbing. How can such a so called friend continue to air such memories and "stories" to the public. You should be ashamed of yourself. If MJ was such a good friend to you, keep the memories dear and near to yourself and his family. Your 15 minutes of fame are up.
Hey!Deepak i would like to know howare you now,i now this is so hard,i so sad cause Michael is death,but how are you now?cause i'm so depressive
churchmouse it would be in your best interest to be quiet.
Actually Kim Jong is in fact a BIG MICHAEL JACKSON fan. Many articles about Kim Jong have attested to this. But then again, WHO IN THE WORLD ISN'T A MICHAEL JACKSON FAN anyway??? Even those who say they aren't would probably get so overwhelmed anyway if Michael Jackson was in front of them!
The article is actually endearing, Michael knew his fans very well to know who is and who isnt loving his music. Michael is a great person that the world has lost because of all the hatred people threw at him just because he was pure, unconventional and different in his views and ways. Its a tragedy, not really for Michael but for us, the world has lost such a great artist and humanitarian. As Maya Angelou put it, we had him and we let him slip away like this.
The negative sensationalism that the media did to him and are still doing to him and his family should be written off as a HEINOUS CRIME to the world.
Peace be with Michael. He deserves it so much-
THANK YOU GOTHAM!!!!!!!!!!! Finally we hear human beings like you and your father and Stevie Wonder who bring Michael Jackson's humanity, and his good intentions to our attention. All the attacks and disrespect against him are just a reflection of the world we live in. I really enjoyed the sweet offer from Michael to help the reporters - there is a purity in his wanting to help that way. I also enjoyed your father mentioning that Michael used to read Sufi poetry and Rabindranath Tagore, this last poet two weeks before he left us. May we all learn to accept and embrace differences, to be compassionate when somebody hurts like Michael, not to label others like they labeled him. We can learn from this. And I hope others discover the subtlety and beauty and mystery and wonderment in Michael's work as I did.
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