Went to the West Indian Carnival in Brooklyn on Labor Day. Why it is not held on the traditional carnival date in the spring is not clear. Families cooking and selling food along the parade route — Jamaican specialties, fish, chicken, steamed cabbage. Homemade ginger beer (non-alcoholic) and sorrel juices for sale. Bootleg DVDs and CDs everywhere. Here’s a phone picture of a menu. You can’t read it, but you can see it’s not a typical NY street fair with slick operators selling Italian sausages and tube socks. It’s a community affair.
I went to this festival 20+ years ago with Brian Eno and Jon Hassel. I got mugged and chased the muggers to Grand Army Plaza, yelling, “take the money, just drop the wallet!” — eventually they did.
Now, years later, there is a huge police presence here, which maybe is good in that I had little sense that I might get mugged. Did I mention that the cops were 80% white? And their numbers did seem somewhat out of proportion — hmmm, need I say more? In fact, Prospect park — the large and lovely park that touches the parade route in spots — was strangely closed! Guarded by cops, too. And this was labor day, a holiday when families here would traditionally head for that park and hold picnics, barbecues, play ball, sunbathe and relax at the end of a super hot summer. OK, maybe the reason for the park closing is obvious — racism — but this also just seems cruel to the multitudes that live around here.
An angle of one of the carnival costumes:
Speaking of cops, I read that some of New York’s finest are going to New Orleans to help out. Which seems super admirable, as the local cops were totally overwhelmed and received none of the promised FEMA help. Hope that the National Guard reserves and the various forces that are arriving there are not just there to protect (white-owned) property, but are actually there to help folks out and get services up and running. (Though most of those “folks” are gone or are dead by now.)
