{"id":406873,"date":"2026-04-23T13:43:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-23T13:43:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/406873\/"},"modified":"2026-04-23T13:43:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T13:43:08","slug":"when-michael-jackson-presented-a-golden-sword-to-rawlings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/406873\/","title":{"rendered":"When Michael Jackson presented a golden sword to Rawlings"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"article-image\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ghanaweb.com\/GhanaHomePage\/entertainment\/Throwback-Thursday-When-Michael-Jackson-presented-a-golden-sword-to-Rawlings-2031283?gallery=1\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/67380675.295.jpg\" alt=\"Former President Rawlings and pop music sensation Michael Jackson\" title=\"Former President Rawlings and pop music sensation Michael Jackson\" width=\"295\" height=\"188\" \/> <\/a>Former President Rawlings and pop music sensation Michael Jackson<\/p>\n<p id=\"article-123\">On November 1, 1995, global pop music sensation Michael Jackson met the late former president Jerry John Rawlings at the Beverly Hilton in California during a formal ceremony hosted by Saudi Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal and attended by distinguished guests.<\/p>\n<p>At the event, Michael Jackson presented Rawlings with a ceremonial golden sword. <\/p>\n<p>The sword, originally given to Jackson by Prince Alwaleed, was intended as a symbol of unity, representing the need to cut through divisions among people across race, culture, and class.<\/p>\n<p>The popstar echoed this message during the presentation, saying:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ghanaweb.com\/blogs\/burnablogs\/Michael-Jackson-film-set-to-be-a-controversial-hit-17524\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Michael Jackson film set to be a controversial hit<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was advised of your presence in Los Angeles, and I found out about your purpose and your mission to rebuild the continent of Africa &#8230; I love Africa, I adore Africa, I&#8217;ve always loved Africa, and I want you to know you are not alone. I&#8217;m here with you, and you&#8217;ll always be in my heart.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In return, Rawlings presented Jackson with the \u201cDiamond of Africa\u201d award, recognising his global cultural influence, connection with African audiences, and his humanitarian efforts at the time.<\/p>\n<p>The exchange was part of Michael Jackson\u2019s broader international engagements in the mid-1990s, when he was active in philanthropy and global outreach. <\/p>\n<p>It also reflected Ghana\u2019s efforts under Rawlings to engage prominent figures of African descent on the world stage.<\/p>\n<p>  <a target=\"_blank\" title=\"@mensahcore\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/@mensahcore?refer=embed\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">@mensahcore<\/a> Michael Jackson handing a sword to former president J.J. Rawlings. A global icon honoring a national hero \ud83c\uddec\ud83c\udded\ud83d\udc51 <a title=\"ghanatiktok\ud83c\uddec\ud83c\udded\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/tag\/ghanatiktok%F0%9F%87%AC%F0%9F%87%AD?refer=embed\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">#ghanatiktok\ud83c\uddec\ud83c\udded<\/a> <a title=\"michaeljackson\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/tag\/michaeljackson?refer=embed\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">#michaeljackson<\/a> <a title=\"fyp\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/tag\/fyp?refer=embed\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">#fyp<\/a> <a title=\"kingofpop\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/tag\/kingofpop?refer=embed\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">#kingofpop<\/a> <a title=\"creatorsearchinsights\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/tag\/creatorsearchinsights?refer=embed\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">#creatorsearchinsights<\/a> <a target=\"_blank\" title=\"\u266c \u539f\u8072 - king of pop \ud83e\udd70music enthusiast\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/music\/\u539f\u8072-7223948845020597035?refer=embed\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">\u266c \u539f\u8072 &#8211; king of pop \ud83e\udd70music enthusiast<\/a>   <\/p>\n<p>PAT\/EB<\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/www.tiktok.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former President Rawlings and pop music sensation Michael Jackson On November 1, 1995, global pop music sensation Michael&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":406874,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[146,85,46,409],"class_list":["post-406873","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-entertainment","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/406873","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=406873"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/406873\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/406874"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=406873"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=406873"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=406873"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}