Monday I saw Brooklyn host the annual West Indian American Day Parade. For those that don’t know, the parade is a celebration of Caribbean culture – grand costumes, native foods, loud music and scores of gyrating dancers. (Just a little more FYI … The origin of the celebration dates back to the 18th century when West Indian slaves would mock their owners who hosted lavish masquerade parties.)
Immediately the visual of the costumes put a smile on my face. My girlfriends and I are Trinidad bound next year for the real, deal Carnival celebration. We plan to get into all sorts of trouble. Money set aside … check. Costume ….. not quite….so I still have to work on that. Anywho…
What I was surprised to learn was that NY’s parade was such a political platform. Mayor Michael Bloomberg and all the candidates seeking to replace him showed up to “celebrate,” along with Democratic controller rivals Scott Stringer and former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer.
One of the hopefuls was of course Anthony Weiner. He tried to grab the attention of attendees with a giant float which included a dancehall deejay and dancers. Then he preceded to yell out in a Caribbean accent, “Anybody here from Jamaica? Anybody here from Barbados? Anybody here from Guyana?”
Finally he dropped the accent and yelled, “Anyone here from Staten Island?”
SMH. Really??? There’s a thin line between honoring a tradition and mocking it. These guys will do anything for a vote and even worse some people eat it up. Not sure which disgusts me more.
sigh. i hear ya.