The Hippest Trip: What Saturday morning Soul was really saying

With the passing of Don Cornelius who was the architect of "Soul Train" it was eerily ironic that his passing was on the first day of February which is Black History month. With all of the rich history of Blacks in America it is an important month because for too long in this country we were a visible people who were treated like we were invisible. I hear people ask just why there has to be a Black History month anyway, and the simple answer that I have is this: History submerged is history not only rearranged, but sometimes history forgotten. Like it or not, that is my answer. For too long Blacks in this country contributed amazing things of beauty, bravery, and greatness, but were denied it in history books which led to dismissal in many minds about just who we were as a people. This country was built on the backs of every race, and creed, but Blacks have a special stake and place in it because of just how we ended up here. In a colonized land that was deemed civilized, but owned people as property, and destroyed families by murder, sell offs, and keeping them in the darkness of illiteracy to rule over them. All of this, and yet we fought in every war, became inventors, scholars, artists, pioneers, and key innovators in pushing the country forward towards greatness, and yet eating a simple piece of toast in a room with others was denied, and brutally enforced.
We did not just 1)get off of the boat, 2)become slaves,3) get freed by President Lincoln, and then4) march on Washington with Dr King, singing "We shall overcome" but that to some,that is all of our history , and to them, encompasses who we are. There is a rich and diverse history there, full of great people, bad people, suffering, and triumph, and stories that Hollywood could never dream of. There are nuances(there's that word again) of us as a people. And within those nuances and hidden meanings of what we tried to say about ourselves, particularly after the Civil Rights movement of the 60's, and within the Black Power movement of the 70's is Don Cornelius and Soul Train.

In the 70's Blacks had found themselves still trying to reap the benefits of the efforts of Dr. King, and the movement not in the respect of rights, but in the respect now of individualism, and power. They now knew that there was an audience and a craving for their culture, their music, and what they wanted to say, and how they wanted to be seen. And Black people wanted to be seen as sexy, as heroes, as artists of intellect, and as people with a style that others could possibly want to see, and copy because imitation is the greatest form of flattery. That's why there was the Blaxploitation movement in Hollywood, and that's why Soul Train was as important as it was. Yes it was only a dance show on Saturday mornings, but the hidden meaning was more than that. The show said basically, "Look at us..Hear our music, see our style. We are sexy people who have love in our hearts, and we create beautiful art." Don knew this, and the show brought Black people and that style into the homes of millions, some who had never even seen a Black person in their lives let alone see one dance, move, and be sexy on Television. This was not 'The Ed Sullivan Show" where a black artist comes on does a song, gets interviewed briefly then goes away. This show had Black style, Black dialect and slang, and Black heart and soul attached to it, and within it. And the rest of America couldn't look away because it was so foreign to them, yet so cool it was like looking at Jupiter through a telescope. You know it's there, and you are looking at it, yet it seems impossible to be what it is.

. Black style and music had always been copied, but now with the widening number of Televisions in homes, it was inescapable. The lingo, the clothes, the dance moves, and the music, all contribute to the admiration and humanizing of a race of people. And when you admire a people, and their culture, you see them in a different light. You want to know more about them and their history.  As you dig into their history, you see all of the important things that took place that they were a part of..And when that happens, you realize that they are human beings just like you, and therefore you relate, and can call them friend..That is believe it or not, just such a thing that a little dance show on Saturdays did for race relations, and showing the world that we are people of great emotional content. Once again, music is the bridge that brings people together.

So today you have people of all colors and of all races saying thank you, and goodbye to Don Cornelius because they get it. They understand what he did by having a show such as that during a time such as that. It was needed badly, and he did it with style, and a deep Baritone voice. He put a great deal of the music that you and I love in our minds, while showing us part of the revolution is in fact televised.

I remember watching Soul Train as a kid, and thinking to myself "I am so proud to be a part of that in some way". And in some strange way, the rest of America at some point may have said that very same thing..Because for even a brief minute, they may have said to themselves things like, "Boy  those kids can sure dance", or "Wow that was a great song", or "That show looks like it's fun to be on". And not once during one of those sentences did the word "Black" ever pop up. It was people..And that's what Soul Train will be remembered for within the nuances of Black history. Showing us as people.
Thank you Mr. Cornelius. Rest in Peace.