[AUTHENTICITY CERTIFIED: Text version below transcribed directly from audio]
All over the world today, people are gathered in
love vigils to celebrate the life of a man that taught the world how to love.
People may be wondering why there’s such an emotional outburst. But you would
have to understand the journey of Michael to understand what he meant to all of
us. For these that sit here as the Jackson family -- a mother and father with
nine children that rose from a working class family in Gary, Indiana -- they had
nothing but a dream. No one believed in those days that these kind of dreams
could come true. But they kept on believing and Michael never let the world turn
him around from his dreams.
I first met Michael around 1970 --
Black Expo, Chicago, Illinois -- Reverend Jesse
Jackson, who stood by this family till now, and from that day as a cute kid to
this moment, he never gave up dreaming. It was that dream that changed culture
all over the world. When Michael started, it was a different world. But because
Michael kept going, because he didn’t accept limitations, because he refused to
let people decide his boundaries, he opened up the whole world.
In the music world, he put on one glove, pulled his pants up and broke down the
color curtain where now our videos are shown and magazines put us on the cover.
It was Michael Jackson that brought Blacks and Whites and Asians and Latinos
together. It was Michael Jackson that made us sing, "We
are the World" and feed the hungry long before
Live Aid.
Because Michael Jackson kept going, he created a comfort level where people that
felt they were separate became interconnected with his music. And it was that
comfort level that kids from Japan and Ghana and France and Iowa and
Pennsylvania got comfortable enough with each other till later it wasn’t strange
to us to watch Oprah on television. It wasn’t strange to watch Tiger Woods golf.
Those young kids grew up from being teenage, comfortable fans of Michael to
being 40 years old and being comfortable to vote for a person of color to be the
President of the United States of America.
Michael did that. Michael made us love each other. Michael taught us to stand
with each other. There are those that like to dig around mess. But millions
around the world -- we’re going to uphold his message. It’s not about mess. It’s
about his love message. As you climb up steep mountains, sometime[s] you scar
your knee. Sometime[s] you break your skin. But don’t focus on the scars; focus
on the journey. Michael beat ‘em. Michael rose to the top. He out-sang his
cynics. He out-danced his doubters. He out-performed the pessimists. Every time
he got knocked down, he got back up. Every time you counted him out, he came
back in. Michael never stopped Michael never stopped. Michael never stopped.
I want to [s]ay to Mrs. Jackson and Joe Jackson, his sisters and brothers: We
thank you for giving us someone that taught us love, someone that taught us
hope. We want to thank you because we know it was your dream too.
We know that your heart is broken. I know you have some comfort from the letter
from the President of the United States and Nelson Mandela. But this was your
child. This was your brother. This was your cousin. Nothing will fill your
hearts’ loss. But I hope the love that people are showing will make you know he
didn’t live in vain. And I want his three children to know: Wasn’t nothing
strange about your Daddy. It was strange what your Daddy had to deal with. But
he dealt with it --
He dealt with it anyway.
He dealt with it for us.
So some came today, Mrs. Jackson, to say goodbye to Michael.
I came to say, thank you.
Thank you -- because you never stopped.
Thank you -- because you never gave up.
Thank you -- 'cause you never gave out.
Thank you -- 'cause you tore down our divisions.
Thank you -- because you eradicated barriers.
Thank you 'cause you gave us hope.
Thank you Michael. Thank you Michael. Thank you Michael.
Book/CDs by Michael E. Eidenmuller, Published by
McGraw-Hill (2008)
Copyright Status: Text, Audio, Images (Screenshots) = Uncertain.
