Flipskript Ink

Shout out to my brother, Mark, for showing this to me. Many dancers have studied the footwork of the late King of Pop ever since he revealed the microsecond dance on his Motown 25 performance. In a like manner, MJ has studied other early performers. Fred Astaire. Sammy Davis Jr. Cab Calloway. Each performer enhanced the fancy foot-glide with their own personality and as a result, the audiences of then and now have always been and continue to be floored. From some award acceptance speeches of the 90’s (the ones I remember), Michael always remembered to acknowledge those who came and graced the stage before him. [With that said, let’s not forget about Wylie Draper, the young man who portrayed the adult version of Michael on the well-known The Jacksons: An American Dream , who died a year after the movie was made]. One year after Jackson's unexpected death, tributes continue to flood the media waves. Chris Brown, who was denied access after the incident with former girlfriend Rihanna ...

I've been an Essence magazine reader since my senior year of high school. With the exception of my Bible, this magazine spoke more to me than the stories, books, and other publications I've read for school. I wasn't aware of the history of the Black woman, my history, until my junior year in college when I signed up for a Black studies minor. I went through the motions of being upset, deceived and confused as to what I was taught before. The whole cartoon conception of the mammy, jezebel, sapphire, tragic mulatto, working horse and she-devil stereotypes were used as verbal and emotional/mental weapons to keep Black women in their place. Throughout such back-stabbing horse manure, many bold sisters have forced their ways out of the "norm" and made breakthroughs for future generations of Black females. Harriet Tubman was the leader of the pack in the Underground Railroad. Sojourner Truth acknowledged to the masses that she was Black...and a woman. Madame C.J. Walker...