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Its been a long time.... Well I was in New York on Labor Day weekend and anybody of Carribean descent or who is a New Yorker knows about the west Indian Parade in Crown Heights Brooklyn on Eastern Parkway. It was amazing to see all the Afro Carribean Islands celebrating their culture, each of them repping their nationality hard but yet showing respect to others' culture as well. Since I was there with my cousins from Miami it was something new for them, coming from an envirionment where everyone isolates themselves from each other. The night before is the J'Ouvert celebration in Flatbush which is crazy. J'Ouvert comes from Trinidad where people throw paint on each other to commemorate a civil disturbance in Port of Spain where people smeared themselves in mud and paint so not to be recognised, most West Indian islands celebrate this. In Brooklyn it is a party on the streets of Flatbush.

Once again we got there late, if you want to know why we were late, see the previous blog for the answer (we're all guilty of it). The Parade or Carnival which better suits the title, was a three mile stretch from Eastern Parkway and the East 90's, all the way to Grand Army Plaza and Prospect Park. Being that it is Brooklyn it is good to have a couple friends with you just in case. We like to 'post up' at the corner of Utica and Eastern and wait for our country's float to come by.

The most elaborate floats were the Trinidadians and the Guyanese who are always at competition with each other, and who are ironically very similar in culture in comparison with other West Indian groups. They have women in peacock costumes and people and masks, they have a whole theme to go with their floats. Some countries like Trinidad and Guyana would have maybe three or four floats depending on how large the community. Haitians and Jamaicans however have like five floats each with a crowd of hundreds or up to thousands of people following them waving flags. All this depends on how popular is the band or organization representing the float.

On the sidewalks on the whole three mile stretch you have stands which serve authentic Carribean food and the smell of Jerk chicken curry and rice fills the air invading your nose and watering your mouth and calling out to your stomach.

Finally our float came by (Ayiti!) and as is our custome, we jumped the rail and joined the throng of 2,500 people following it waving flags like mad men. It wasn't the only Haitian float but this float had the popular band T-Vice playing on it, so it had the most followers. For my Dominican people imagine Fulanito going through the procession. When the Haitian float came by people acted like Ghengiz Khan was comming, they cleared the way. By the time we got to Schenectady and Eastern my group was ahead of the float and we saw this kid with a Panamanian flag laying face down on the ground (many Afro-Panamanians are of Jamaican descent i.e. Reggaeton birthplace). I got closer and saw blood coming out of his nose and mouth, his eyes were wide open and wasn't blinking nor breathing. He was stiff, my first thought is he's dead (this is Brooklyn people). Every one gathered around and a woman asked me "he's not Haitian is He?" We waved for the float to stop or else he would've been trampled by the crowd that now numbered 3,000. Finally cops came and he began to move. What happened? He was following the Jamaican float ahead of us and he did a front flip and landed on his face! Upon finding this out someone else asked me "he's not haitian is he?" "No" "Thank God..." was the reply.

We followed our float up the hill past the Brooklyn museum and into the sunset, we conquered the day rivaled only by the Jamaicans. We werent the most elaborate West Indians like the Guyanese and Trini's. We weren't as musical as the Jamaicans; we were just the livest! That was a biased assesment but it was mine damnit!

If you wanna learn more about the West Indian parade check this website http://www.wiadca.com/