For New York’s Haitian community, annual West Indian Day Parade means more in trying times
Brooklyn’s Eastern Parkway is set to come alive Monday with steel drums, colorful floats draped in flags and the aroma of jerk chicken as hundreds of thousands of people gather for the West Indian Day Parade, one of the largest celebrations of Caribbean culture in the United States.
For Haitians, however, this year’s parade carries a more serious tone. Federal immigration enforcement has increased pressure on Caribbean and other Black immigrant communities over the past year, while Haitians have lost a major immigration protection known as temporary protected status, or TPS. The program had allowed hundreds of thousands of Haitians to remain legally in the US.
Organizers say the parade is therefore both a celebration of Haitian pride and a welcome moment of joy during a difficult year.
“There’s a somber cloud over it with everything that has happened from last year to this year with TPS,” said Natalie Lafontant, a Brooklyn native who organizes Lespri Ayiti, or “Spirit of Haiti,” the largest Haitian marching community, known as a “mas,” in Monday’s parade. She pointed to conditions at detention centers and the deportation of Haitians who may have no reliable means of supporting themselves after returning home.
Still, Lafontant said hardship has never stopped Caribbean people, particularly Haitians, from expressing themselves through culture.
She said Haitians rely on music, dance and art to keep moving forward despite difficult circumstances.
Keeping the parade alive amid immigration pressures
In June, the US Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in Mullin v. Doe that federal courts could not review the Trump administration’s decision to end TPS for Haitian and Syrian immigrants. The ruling cleared the way for about 350,000 Haitians to lose the protection.
A federal judge finalized the order in early August, while work permits linked to Haitian TPS expired on July 27.
Lafontant’s Lespri Ayiti group, which includes about 180 artists, designers, musicians and community members, is taking part in the parade for the second consecutive year. The group faced difficulties securing sponsors for its float this year.
Organizing the parade is expensive, she said, with costs including insurance, costumes, designers and arrangements for participants. Despite the financial burden, the group continues because of its love for Haiti.
Haitians have deep roots in New York
Lafontant is part of a Haitian community of about 163,000 people in the New York metropolitan area, according to the Migration Policy Institute. It is the second-largest Haitian population in the US after the Miami metropolitan area.
Many Haitian immigrants settled in Brooklyn neighborhoods such as Flatbush, East Flatbush and Crown Heights.
Haitian migration to New York grew in waves beginning during the dictatorship of Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier. Political repression and economic collapse pushed many Haitians to leave the country during the 1970s and 1980s. The migration continued after Duvalier was ousted in 1986.
Haiti’s tradition of resistance goes back even further to the Haitian Revolution, when enslaved and free Black people defeated French colonial rule in what is widely considered the only successful slave revolt in modern history. The struggle culminated in the 1803 Battle of Vertières and paved the way for Haiti’s independence in 1804.
That history remains an important source of pride for Haitians around the world, including generations who have established new lives outside the country.
Edwina Paul, founder of SPM, or “Fanm Se Poto Mitan,” meaning “Women Are the Pillar of Society,” left Haiti in 1993 and moved with her husband to Brooklyn’s Canarsie neighborhood.
Paul’s coalition of Haitian women leaders and organizers will also participate in Monday’s parade. She said insecurity and instability in Haiti have been major reasons people leave the country.
“It’s not safe there. Coming here is like an umbrella for us to be safe from that,” she said, referring to Haitians fleeing gang violence and instability.
She stressed that Haitian migrants come to the US seeking work, education and a safer life, not to commit crimes.
Haitian music and fashion take center stage
SPM is highlighting Haitian resilience through its parade costumes this year.
Fashion designer Clara Poteau, a Fashion Institute of Technology alumna, created royal blue emperor robes inspired by Jean-Jacques Dessalines, a leader of the Haitian Revolution and the first leader of independent Haiti.
Six designers and one painter spent a month creating and hand-painting costumes celebrating Haitian achievements. Their work continued through the weekend before the parade.
The costumes include dresses decorated with miniature Haitian flags and skirts featuring national football players Duckens Nazon and Emmanuel Sanon, who hold Haiti’s international scoring records with 44 and 47 goals, respectively.
An orange T-shirt called the “Freedom” tee features the flags of countries whose independence Haitian revolutionary leaders supported with shelter, money, weapons and troops. The countries include Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Panama, Mexico and Greece.
Music will also play a major role in the Haitian “mas.” Jesus Luc, a Harlem native and Lespri Ayiti’s band manager, organized a lineup featuring Raboday, a popular contemporary Haitian and Caribbean music style, along with Kompa, Haiti’s signature dance music.
DJ Comix of Team Madada will headline the musical lineup. Luc described the group as one of the most popular in Haiti and said its sound represents a new generation of Haitian youth culture.
“It’s electrifying. It’s music that will touch your soul,” Luc said, adding that the combination of music and costumes would bring the spirit and heart of the Haitian people to the parade.