Entertainment

Jacko, Rev. Al On Slavery Mission

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

April 20, 2001 / 11:27 AM EDT / CBS

Pop star Michael Jackson is going to Africa to study the plight of children sold into slavery.

"The existence of child slavery shakes me to my very core," the entertainer, a father of two children, said in a statement Thursday.

Jackson will be joined on the trip, later this year, by Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, a co-founder of his Heal the Kids organization, and the Rev. Al Sharpton, who visited Africa on a similar fact-finding mission earlier this month.

"The other night, Michael called me crying like a baby when he heard about the child slave ship lost off the coast of Africa," Boteach said.

Earlier this week, a ship off the coast of western Africa was reported to be carrying child slaves. The ship was eventually located, and no evidence has emerged to prove it was trafficking child slaves.

The statement did not specify when the trip would be or where in Africa the singer would travel.

Jackson, who will soon release a new album and is making plans for a Sept. 7 concert at Madison Square Garden, his first U.S. show in more than a decade, insisted he will take time off from his music schedule to spearhead the African mission.

"Children need a childhood," Jackson said. "They can't be forced to work. I want this slavery ended, now and forever."

Sharpton said he was excited about working with Jackson and Boteach "to raise international attention to one of the gravest, most despicable forms of human suffering in the world today."

Heal the Kids encourages parents to spend more time with their children and urges children to respect adults. One of Jackson's other charities, the Michael Jackson International Book Club, promotes childhood reading.