And the pop artist Michael Jackson was honored Tuesday at a memorial service in Los Angeles. Jackson died last month at the age of fifty. An audience estimated in the tens of millions around the world tuned in through television, radio and the internet. The Reverend Al Sharpton spoke about Jackson’s importance in breaking barriers for African Americans.

Rev. Al Sharpton: “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 to, 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 forty years old and being comfortable to vote for a person of color to be the president of the United States of America.”

Other speakers included Democratic Congress member Sheila Jackson-Lee of Houston. Jackson-Lee held up a framed version of a congressional resolution she’s co-sponsored that would honor Jackson for his charity work. Republican lawmakers have said they’ll oppose the measure.