Al Sharpton Calls For Michael Jackson 'Love Vigils'

LOS ANGELES — The Rev. Al Sharpton has delivered a sermon in Los Angeles where he called for nationwide "love vigils" for Michael Jackson on Tuesday.

The civil rights activist addressed congregants at the First African Methodist Episcopal Church on Sunday.

Sharpton is urging people to gather in schools, community centers and churches to honor Jackson on Tuesday, when a public memorial service will be held at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.

Comments

[DRaymond]

Al Sharpton should honor Jackson with a moment of silence. A LONG moment of silence. He's just using Jackson to get his own face on television, and it is getting tiresome.

[imsosure]

Al ought to be quiet for a change.

[HarlemFreeThought]

Al Sharpton Quotes for Dummies PT1

Bill Clinton strikes me as the kind of guy who goes wherever the polls lead him, rather than leading the polls.
Al Sharpton

Dr. King used Gandhi's commitment to non-violence and to passive resistance.
Al Sharpton

Dr. King's general principles are universal. But the things he confronted took place in another era.
Al Sharpton

During my 2004 presidential campaign, I was fond of saying that it was high time for the Christian right to meet the right Christians.
Al Sharpton

Evangelicals catapulted George W. Bush back to the White House.
Al Sharpton

How do you make things fair?
Al Sharpton

I do believe the Democratic party has moved far to the right. I do believe that the party has a bunch of elephants running around in donkey clothes.
Al Sharpton

I grew up in the 1950s and '60s, when it was almost a holiday when a black act would go on Ed Sullivan.
Al Sharpton

I very rarely read any fiction. I love biographies; I read about all kinds of people. I love theology and some philosophy.
Al Sharpton

I was the first candidate to come out against this war, spoke at every anti-war march.
Al Sharpton

I was there during the first elections in South Africa. I watched them take down the apartheid flag and raise the new flag.
Al Sharpton

[fbr79]

Try again, all sounds like boring, self-serving, common-sense, nothing extraordinary, nothing new. He is not a bad guy, but he is divisive, his comments contrasting the reactions to Elvis' and MJs' death is ridiculous. Even after all these years people still come up with unecessary "revelations" about Elvis' private life. That's the price of celebrity. Since we are talking about quotes for dummies, here is one from Sharpton's speech at Kean College in 1994:

“White folks was [sic] in caves while we was building empires.... We taught philosophy and astrology and mathematics before Socrates and them Greek homos ever got around to it.”

[Saysaysay]

Al, shad up!!!!

[StoicRep]

AL Sharpton is a black man and can celebrate his love of blackness anyway he desires . Who is he going to dance around next? It is a sad display, reminiscent of a variety of voodoo.

[sony9577]

please stop this man.. michael was love by people around world...this is not the time to bring up race.

[Brooklyn49]

There was a WORLD of music -- really, really great music -- before MTV, and musical doors were wide open well before the Jackson 5. Unless you dismiss Ella Fitzgerald. And Dinah Washington. And perhaps you've heard of Billie Holiday and the Four Tops. And Nat King Cole. And Little Anthony. Ben E. King. Chuck Berry. And Stevie Wonder. And ... When people become hyperbolic and cuckoo about someone, it diminishes that person's accomplishments. Sharpton is once again doing a disservice to those whose spotlight he needs to steal. I cannot recall a single instance of Sharpton (except, maybe, when he was stabbed) in which he was the the original focus. He has defined the concept of Glom Importance. For the Jackson family to have allowed/invited him to insinuate himself in this context is pitiful.

[Trueheart]

" When people become hyperbolic and cuckoo about someone, it diminishes that person's accomplishments"

What you say is really important. It applies to the political and religious worlds as well as show biz. You build a golden temple for a human being, and it's a given that they will fall from grace. The higher you place them in the sky, the more damaging the fall.

All of the people you mention are music legends whose legacies will survive for decades. In my opinion, Stevie Wonder was, is and will always be a much more accomplished pop musician than Jackson, who was a consummate entertainer. I think Jackson and MTV co-existed at the right time and place, and that, as much as his talent and good looks, made him the phenomenon he was in the 1980's.

[Brooklyn49]

Agreed. Your point about time and place, vis a vis MTV and Michael Jackson, is well taken. And specifically to your point about "Little" Stevie Wonder: when I think back to the amazing newness of the sounds in "Fingertips" and Wonder's stunning evolution over the decades, I marvel at (or am depressed by?) the the over-the-top pronouncements about Jackson. I, too, agree that his "production values" were grand; but Wonder and so many others have achieved stature absent the literal smoke and mirrors.

[nomobull]

HE WANTS ANOTHER CIRCUS LIKE HE MADE OUT OF JAMES BROWN FUNERAL. PLEASE JACKSON FAMILY STOP HIM.

[Giada]

Between Sharpton, Joe Jackson and Jesse we have our very own version of the Three Stooges.

[sexyrexy]

too funny!! the blind leading the blind??

[Bude]

Sharpton's been in fantasyland for as long as I can remember.

[Bude]

Is he a comedian?

[MICHELLEDIANE3]

I guess :) you would know Bude, since your there too. :)

[oldgeek1]

The people in New York are praying that Al Sharpton moves to California and stays in Neverland

[davidmnc76]

This Sharpton guy is hilarious.

[Bude]

Follow Jackson's lead. A lust vigil!

[MICHELLEDIANE3]

So then, if were to follow your lead BUDE? It would be an IGNORANT VIGIL?

[Bude]

Love, love, love!

[MICHELLEDIANE3]

YOU PUT INTO WORDS, ALL THE MICHAEL JACKSON WAS ABOUT!! FINALLY..... I AM SO GLAD YOU'VE SEEN THE LIGHT. :) :) I NEVER GAVE UP HOPE FOR YOU. :);)

[Trueheart]

You crack me up sometimes. A real Contrarian.
Is your avatar a picture of William Safire?

[JoyLy]

Will someone give me a serious break! MJ was a good entertainer and his music was OK. I did enjoy Billie Jean and White or Black, but MJ was NOT the greatest entertainer of all time. Perhaps he opened doors for some, but who opened the door for him? What about James Brown, Ray Charles, Stevie Wonder, ELVIS, Bobbie Blu Bland and so many others. MJ was good and I'm sorry he died so young but people like Al Sharpton need to get a grip. He should be busy supporting Mrs Jackson and not coveting the news limelight. Maybe AS could assist the Jackson family and the lawyers pay for the funeral/memorial expenses the bankrupt State of California is assuming.

[TheBlackCat]

I'm really getting sick of people saying "the media/public only went after him because he's black and successful."

Will Smith is the most bankable movie star in the world. And he's black. And I don't think I've ever read a negative news item about him. You know why? He didn't disfigure himself through plastic surgery, build Neverland, have sleep overs with young children, marry Elvis's daughter, have a pet chimp, dangle his baby out a window, etc etc...

Now of course racism still exists and is still evident in the media and in society and in how media treats blacks vs whites. For just one example, the ONLY kidnapping cases that EVER make the news are white girls and women.

But when you are famous, you come under a lot of media scrutiny. When you behave in very abnormal and high profile ways, the media is going to jump on that. Just look at Tom Cruise, he's white, and any story I've read on him in the past few years paints him as a freak, not because he's white, but because of his strange behavior. Elvis's deviant behavior late in life was widely covered by the media.

I'm not saying the media treatment of Jackson throughout his lifetime has been acceptable. It's wrong, and tabloids are vultures, no argument there. But it's what any high profile entertainer of any race who behaved in the same way would have received.

[sempdog]

Rev. Al is the king of overstatement. That MJ opened the door for Tiger, Oprah, and Obama is beyond laughable. He is the prince of unwanted guests.

[Minnehaha]

Apparently you are young and cannot understand what it was like in this country in the 70's and even the 80's. Music and dance help to change this society. MTV had to threatened with a lawsuit to put Thriller on their network. Micheal demanded to have it played. They insisted that it was R&B and he knew it was POP.

[Softnsweet]

Rev Al may overstate sometimes, but MJ did open the door for all the others. If you don't see it then that's to bad!

[jaschrod]

You have to be kidding or short a few bricks of a full load. He just promoted, and advanced his style of music. If you think that his music is all there is, then you are musically ignorant.

[sexyrexy]

sharpton was/is spot on.. astute. it's true.. MJJ truly transcended race, and if he didn't his death & funeral will not have this brouhaha..