http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0907/07/cnr.07.html
Full transcript of Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee speech
REP. SHEILA JACKSON LEE (D), TEXAS: I'm Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee and I hail from Houston, Texas, but I come to you on behalf of the many members of the United States House of Representatives. I come to you on behalf of the Congressional Black Caucus Chairwoman Barbara Lee, a Californian. And I come to you as every man and every woman. For I cannot write music or dance or sing. But I do know an American story.
And to Mr. and Mrs. Jackson and this wonderful family of brothers and sisters and cousins, to Michael Joseph and to Katherine Paris and to Prince, all of these wonderful, beautiful symbols of America.
And I can tell you as a member of the United States Congress, we understand the Constitution. We understand law. And we know that people are innocent until proven otherwise. That is what the Constitution stands for.
(APPLAUSE)
So you mourn today. I come, too, to thank you for many people don't understand the hearts of entertainers. They don't know how big their hearts are. They don't know how they heal the world on behalf of America. When we're at war, our icons like Michael sing about healing the world.
And so he called us into public service. It did not matter whether we were black or white. He even told us to beat it, beat the violence, and look at yourself in the mirror, because it meant that, if you were going to make a difference, look at the man or woman in the mirror.
I come to you today to say thank you.
(APPLAUSE)
JACKSON LEE: Some of you come from all faiths. And we respect that here in America.
But there is a story whose theme is so symbolic of this young and beautiful man. I love the story of the good Samaritan, because it talks about those who walk by the diminished, the devastated, and the poor. This was a broken and beaten man laying along a road.
No one stopped, but someone called the Samaritan. It could be in any faith. It's all about charity and love. And I call Michael Jackson the good Samaritan. I call him Michael Jackson, who cared and loved for the world. It bothered me. I grew up with him, as all of us and so many did. And, so, what an honor and a privilege to see him up close when he came to the United States Congress in my office and looked some 15 African ambassadors, representatives of heads of state, sitting in an office listening to Michael Jackson talk about caring and fighting HIV/AIDS.
They looked at him. He had a twinkle. They listened. He listened. What a miraculous experience to be able to listen and see Michael in action.
You know, there were words cast about, but I wonder if anybody was on his shoulder when he walked into Walter Reed Hospital and he walked along the aisles and the rows in the hospital room. This was in the midst of the Iraq war. Doctors stopped and nurses stopped.
And individual soldiers who had lost limbs stopped and were, in essence, moved and touched, as Michael was, by his desire to come and thank them for their sacrifice. So, don't tell me what an American story is all about. It is the salt of the earth when this family took the talent that God had given them and made it into a miraculous and wonderful story for America.
I come today for you to recognize that the flag flies and the people who have spoken have spoken to the people's house. They recognize and they speak. And those of us who serve in elected office, we respond to the people.
Michael fought for the tolerance of all people. In fact, I am reminded, although I speak in the tongues of all faith, that Michael fought a good fight. He was someone who understood and, I hope Mr. and Mrs. Jackson and the family will know, the lord is our shepherd and we shall not want.
Michael Jackson, you got to know his story. And it has not been told by all of what you have heard. He was someone who understood. If he was burned, he built a burn unit. If a hospital need beds, he built those beds. If they needed money for developing countries, Michael gave. If he was in Namibia, he went to orphanages.
Michael never stopped giving. And he touched those whose lives could be reconstructed, because the king, yes, the king, the king stopped and said, I care about you.
That is why, on the House floor on January -- on June 25, 2009, the Congressional Black Caucus and members of the House of Representatives stopped, stopped, stopped and had a moment of silence for this wonderful legend and icon.
(APPLAUSE)
JACKSON LEE: And, so, to the family, let me simply come as someone that wishes she was long-lost Sheila Jackson Lee. But I will keep looking and seeing, but coming to say to you that America appreciates and thanks you for Michael Jackson's life. For that reason, we have introduced into the House of Representatives this Resolution 600 that will be debated on the floor of the House that claims Michael Jackson as an American legend and musical icon, a world humanitarian, someone who will be honored forever and forever and forever and forever and forever.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
JACKSON LEE: We are the world. And we are better because Michael Joseph Jackson lived.
On behalf of myself, and the people who have spoken, Michael Jackson, I salute you.
