♪ i'll be there >> larry: and now welcome an old friend, one of the great entertainers ever, harry belafontearry? >> yes, i watched most of it, larry, and it was quite a moving experience to see so many people turned out. and they turned out in a gracious way. there was no pushing, shoving, everybody came. everybody understood the moment and i thought it went very well. >> larry: how did you and michael come together on "we are the world?" >> well, for a long time i'd been watching the continent of africa wither under the devastation of the famine and the drought and literally hundreds of thousands of people were dying. and the world at large watched with a great indifference, and feeling that we had to awaken human spirit, and become engaged in this -- -- in this great holocaust so to speak. i turned to artists and said, "we have a job to do." and when michael decided to step to the table, he brought the greatest gift of all. he and lionel ritchie wrote the song. without that truly remarkable song, there would have been nothing for us to say. and without his power to call upon all of the su

. >> larry: harry belafonte, no one like him. blog and start typing. might see your comments on the bottom of the screen. back in 60. we speak rpms so you can zip by other cars. but we also speak mpgs so you can fly by gas stations. in fact, we speak mpgs so fluently, we can say one more thing. the new ford fusion is the most-fuel-efficient midsize sedan in america. and that's something no one else can say. we speak the 2010 ford fusion. get in... and drive one. now every drop of shell gasolines... contain a nitrogen-enriched cleaning system... that seeks and destroys engine gunk... left by lower-quality gasoline. it protects engines from performance-robbing gunk. try new nitrogen-enriched shell gasolines. >> larry: everybody that knew michael jackson speaks of the impact he had on the planet. the end of today's memorial was marked by a moving performance of heal the world, a theme he returned to again and again in his music. he said he was most proud of this song. listen. ♪ make it a better place ♪ for you and for me and the ent

of state, colin powell, academy award winner sidney poitier and musician and social activist, harry belafonte, are all caribbean americans, as you have heard. many have contributed to every aspect to our nation, from the sciences to the armed forces. for all of these contributions we are grateful. the united states and the nations of the caribbean have had many traits that are indicative of our similarities with one another. the histories of the united states and the countries of the caribbean have faced similar trials of slavery, colonialism and the struggle for independence. the people who comprised our separate nations are similar in that we are all different coming from very diverse racial, ethnic, cultural and religious backgrounds. in addition to celebrating the contribution caribbean americans have made to the united states, we honor these historical similarities between our nations. i ask my fellow members of congress to join me in recognizing the contributions of caribbean americans to the history of the united states and the way in which their presence enriches and strengthens our c

harry belafonte did calypso, a different type of music, but he helped move the country forward. i think it was a lot of african-american music that helped make the civil rights movement happen and made people understand by identifying with performers and music in ways they otherwise couldn't identify with african-americans because of our segregated society about how wrong it was that segregation existed and allow an opportunity for people to see that from a more personal, visceral level and make this country change and become the more perfect union it needs to become. to live up to the ideal this is a our founding fathers had about a society that -- where all men were created equal, which wasn't true for so many years. i think music has had a great influence, black music has had an influence that's special. the reason we honor black music month is we honor these ideals, some young people don't know about jazz, don't know about lionel hampton and what he could do with a xylophone or some of the other great performers. we need to know that history and revere it. i had a dear frien