Lafontant says somber cloud hangs over Haitian community as TPS ends
The West Indian Day Parade drew hundreds of thousands of people to Brooklyn’s Eastern Parkway on Monday, with steel drums, flag-draped floats, and the smell of jerk chicken filling the route. The annual event is one of the largest celebrations of Caribbean culture in the United States.
The parade took place after Haitians lost Temporary Protected Status, a federal protection that had allowed hundreds of thousands of Haitians to remain in the U.S. legally, according to the Associated Press. Federal immigration enforcement has intensified against Caribbean and other Black immigrant communities over the past year, the AP reported.
Natalie Lafontant, a Brooklyn native, organizes Lespri Ayiti — “Spirit of Haiti” — the largest Haitian “mas,” short for masquerade or marching community, in the parade. Lafontant spoke at a community center while taking stock of parade costumes.
“There’s a somber cloud over it with everything that has happened from last year to this year with TPS … what’s happening in detention centers, and those who are being sent back with no valid way of living or supporting themselves,” Lafontant said.
Lafontant described the role of cultural expression for the Haitian community. “But if you know anything about the Caribbean, especially about Haiti, we use music, dance, art, to continue to strive and push through,” she said.
Organizers characterized the gathering as “a defiant assertion of pride and a rare bright spot in a traumatic year,” the AP reported.