Noting that there appears to be a growing trend in the Caribbean community in New York City, where individual Caribbean islands\/territories are celebrating their independence and national pride with parades in the streets of Brooklyn, a prominent Brooklyn pastor has expressed deep concern over this proliferation.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith our borough being home to over half a million people of Caribbean descent, it is only right that Brooklyn would be the central location where these celebratory events would take place. From the traditional Haiti Flag Day events to the more recent jubilations of Guyana\u2019s Independence Parade and Jamaica\u2019s Rising Day Parade, it appears there is a newfound form of national expression that may develop into multiple islands seeking to host their own Independence Day Parades,\u201d Pastor Louis Straker, Jr., the lead pastor of Reflections Church on Utica Avenue in Brooklyn, told Caribbean Life on Saturday, Aug. 15.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile I am fully supportive of our Caribbean nations celebrating their independence, I must admit that I have some concerns and reservations about the potential of having a myriad for individual Caribbean countries holding their own parades in Brooklyn,\u201d added Straker, the son of a Trinidadian mother and a Vincentian father.<\/p>\n
His father, Sir Louis Straker, Sr., is a former Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade Minister in St. Vincent and the Grenadines.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery year on Labor Day, our Caribbean islands come together for the West Indian Day Parade on Eastern Parkway. It is a tremendous display of unity where people from across the Caribbean can proudly celebrate and showcase their heritage, culture, and traditions together as one community,\u201d continued Pastor Straker, also board chair and acting executive director of the 67th Precinct Clergy Council, Inc., in Brooklyn, popularly known as the \u201cThe GodSquad,\u201d a faith-based anti-gun violence organization, under the NYC Office of Neighborhood Safety and Mayor\u2019s Office of Community Safety, providing \u201cSafe J\u2019Ouvert\/Labor Day\u201d public safety support for the past 10 years.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile the organizing of this historic event has had mixed reviews, along with its challenges with respect to public safety, it is still recognized as the largest cultural parade in North America, drawing 1.5 to 3 million people who attend annually,\u201d he said. \u201cThe parade provides an opportunity for people to experience the beautiful mosaic of Caribbean nations celebrating in unity.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pastor Straker said the trend of individual celebrations may expand over the next few years, with Trinidadians, Vincentians, Grenadians, Barbadians, and many others desiring to hold their independent parades.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat can be meaningful and important, [but] I cannot help but wonder whether the growing number of separate celebrations could, intentionally or unintentionally, contribute to diminishing the significance of the Labor Day Parade on Eastern Parkway.<\/p>\n
Pastor Straker said the concept of \u201cdivide and conquer\u201d has been \u201ceffective throughout history,\u201d stating that fragmenting a unified community can create \u201cthe appearance of greater individual strength while ultimately weakening the collective power and influence of that community in itself.<\/p>\n
\u201cLet us also remember the historical impact of colonization that has divided Africans into these respective islands that we call \u2018Back Home,\u2019 and utilizing its colonial power to foster isolated island nationalism, often pitting them against each other through various stratifications, colorism, economics and social rivalries,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He said if every Caribbean country increasingly holds its own parade, \u201cwe could potentially find ourselves divided into smaller celebrations rather than preserving the powerful collective presence that the West Indian Day Parade, and even J\u2019Ouvert, represents.\u201d<\/p>\n
In addition, Pastor Straker said there is \u201ca practical consideration: Is it sustainable for every Caribbean country to have its own parade or large-scale celebration throughout Brooklyn?\n<\/p>\n
\u201cEach event requires significant coordination, traffic management, policing, and public-safety resources,\u201d he said. \u201cAs the number of these events increases, we should consider the strain this could place on our city and relevant agencies responsible for keeping these celebrations safe.<\/p>\n
\u201cI hope the thoughts I have expressed here are not misconstrued as opposition to celebrating our individual cultures or national identities,\u201d he added. \u201cQuite the contrary, I absolutely love seeing our people come together, enjoying themselves, embracing their heritage, and celebrating the freedom and independence of their respective nations.\u201d<\/p>\n
Even as faith leader, Pastor Straker said he recognizes that pastors in the Caribbean were \u201conce slaves as well and should also acknowledge the cultural expressions used to celebrate their freedom.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy concern is simply about where all of this is ultimately taking us,\u201d he said. \u201cThere is strength in our individual identities, but there is also tremendous strength in our collective identity as Caribbean people.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would hate to see us lose something as powerful and historic as the West Indian Day Parade because, in our efforts to celebrate separately, we may inadvertently weaken the very unity that made the celebration so significant in the first place,\u201d Pastor Straker added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Noting that there appears to be a growing trend in the Caribbean community in New York City, where…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":325892,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[98,100,99,9,24,63],"class_list":["post-325891","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn-headlines","tag-brooklyn-news","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/325891","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=325891"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/325891\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/325892"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=325891"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=325891"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=325891"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}