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For Cornelius, the difference was all in the execution, as he told The Associated Press in 1995. "If I saw 'American Bandstand' and I saw dancing and I knew black kids can dance better; and I saw white artists and I knew black artists make better music; and if I saw a white host and I knew a black host could project a hipper line of speech
-- and I DID know all these things," then it was reasonable to try, he said. On his show, Cornelius was the epitome of cool, with a baritone rumble that recalled seductive soul maestro Barry White, and an unflappable manner. He laced his show with pro-social messages directed at his black audience. On a 1974 program, he interviewed James Brown about the tragedy of violence in black communities ("black-on-black crime looks very bad in the sight of The Man," Brown said sorrowfully). Then he brought on a 19-year-old Al Sharpton, already a civil rights activist, who presented Brown with an award for his music. But Cornelius never let preaching get in the way of "Soul Train's" hipness
-- or of his own. Standing by Mary Wilson of the Supremes on another edition, he displayed a slim black suit that flared into bellbottoms, a grey shirt with white polka dots, and a huge afro. "What do you do for kicks?" he asked Wilson, who mentioned bowling as one hobby, but said how much she wanted to dance with Cornelius on "Soul Train." "You can dance with me," Cornelius replied. "But not on television."
[Associated
Press;
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