Love. Peace. And SOOOOOOOOOOOUL!!!

"Love...Peace....and SOOOOOOOOOOOOOUL!"

     As an 80's baby with a great memory, one of the most resounding memories I have are Saturday mornings. While I didn't know then, these weekend mornings and afternoons would be some of the most resounding memories I have. It's not hard to tell why. I remember playing with my Transformers while trying to be Vic's shadow.

     When he would get rid of me, my parents would have to put up with a hyperactive 6 year old. However, I wasn't nearly the focus. Once I was well off of the morning cartoons and switched to toys, the parents would turn the TV from G.I. Joe to a dance show with old soul, wack dance moves and Afros. As my parents would tell, I would stop what I was doing to dance with my parents. The "Femi" was a dance my Nigerian father would do while his Jr. was doing the same. It was memorable because my Dad worked a lot. A LOT. Was constantly gone doing the things a man does; bringing home the bacon. But those Saturdays, I would be fixed to the man with the haircut like me and my old man. I would watch the Afro-ed One interview my parents' favorite artists and my attention was held.
      Fast forward to the 1990s, when I was enamored with everything Hip Hop. Whatever Vic listened to, I was listening to. When we'd go to WV to visit the Charleston family, we would all watch Soul Train and do our own Saturday Soul Train lines at barbecues or even head up to Dupont High for those free lunches. Soul Train and Don Cornelius has been a staple in the Black community. He was a source of pride, a curator for the culture, and my personal introduction to Blackness as I could learn it being stuck in the middle of the Mitten. I learned to love myself for being different from most the people I knew, and that that so-called nappy mess of hair I had was actually something I should be proud of. I will continue to rock my Afro rough and tough, while always trying to keep it funky.

      So to Don Cornelius, a man whom was on TV during my childhood and was the caretaker of Black music in EVERY generation, rest in power, PEACE....Love...and SOOOOOOOOOOOOOUL!

-JK

Something for ya'll to play out to!