Minn. Student Suspended Over Michael Jackson Dance
A Catholic school in Minnesota has suspended a 9-year-old boy for performing a crotch-grabbing Michael Jackson dance move during a fundraiser.
Mindy Boberg told the Winona Daily News the principal at St. Stanislaus in Winona informed her that her son was being suspended because his performance of "Billie Jean" constituted gross misconduct.
She says principal Pat Bowlin was was particularly unhappy with the handful of times the boy, Lenny, reached for his groin area to imitate Jackson's dancing Thursday night.
Bowlin told the newspaper he plans to meet with the family Monday. He declined to comment further, saying it was an internal issue.
Boberg said Lenny has performed similar Jackson dance routines the past two years at the event and the performance was approved during a rehearsal.
Suspending a Student for dancing Billie Jean is STUPID, considering children all over the world
enter dance contest to prove they can dance with the precession MJ did! The principal could have
taken this child's admiration for Michael and used it to teach children about doing their best and
about being a humanitarian. Instead Principal Bowlin shows his ignorance of the fact MJ was
inducted into the Dance Hall of Fame for his choreography and shows his prejudice during Black
History Month!
Children should always be granted the opportunity to express themselves in music and dance and Michael Jackson particularly is an inspiration to many young dancers and performers. Channelling their energies into the performing arts has saved many a restless youngster from anti-social and sometimes criminal behaviour borne of a combination of boredom, injustice and poverty. Jackson himself was aware of the benefits of music and dance as a means of educating and encouraging positivity in young people and lent his support to projects involved in this type of work.In this case, the child was performing a dance routine of which the crotch grab movement is an integral part. Its inclusion was never meant to be a sexual gesture, but an interpretation of the rhythm of the music, and the narrow-minded over-the-top reaction of the Principal suggests his priorities in the education of youngsters are questionable.
SIGN THIS PETITION SO THAT WE CAN MAKE A CHANGE!!!!
"A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to DANCE."
Ecclesiastes 3:4 (KJV)
