Walkabout: A Parade of Champions, Part 2

Read Part 1 of this story.

Central Brooklyn has been home to immigrants from the Caribbean Islands since the 1930’s. They came here for the same reasons immigrants from anywhere else came here; in search of a better life for themselves and their families. Some also came to escape oppressive regimes back home, or persecution for their faith, race or ethnic origin, or political beliefs. The history of the various Caribbean Islands is a tale of many histories, many nations, but all come back to the same root: the proliferation of the African slave trade in the New World, and the ramifications of that trade. West Indians come from islands and nations once governed by Britain, France, Holland, Spain and Portugal, and speak the varied languages of those nations. They are a mix of African, European, East Indian, Asian and Native peoples, and all have the rich cultures that have been shaped by their varied histories. But one thing joins them together, both on the islands and here, and that is Carnival.

Carnival is old, dating back to medieval Catholic Europe. The Latin phrase carne vale, means “farewell to meat”, and was a festival that was the last party just before the solemn period of Lent, which ended at Easter, the holiest day of the Christian calendar. It was a time of fasting and doing without as a reminder of Christ’s forty days in the wilderness, with more than a hint of pre-Christian pagan practices in there, as well. The Carnival of Venice is the most well-known of these European festivals. The practice spread throughout Europe, including France, Spain and Portugal, and when these countries began to explore and settle in the New World, they brought the idea of Carnival with them.

The history of the Caribbean is the history of Western slavery, of both native peoples and the enslaved African people brought in to replace them, all toiling to clear the land and harvest the abundant natural resources of the islands. Native plants and imported species such as sugar cane, coffee, mahogany and other hardwoods, fruits and vegetables, and the precious minerals in the ground, were all labor intensive ventures, and a cheap labor force was needed to assure maximum profit. After more or less wiping out the native peoples on many islands, the African slave trade went into full swing to provide the island plantations with labor.

It is impossible for cultures to live in close proximity and not find common threads. The West Africans recognized many aspects of Carnival as mirroring their own festivals. The idea of parades with bright costumes and masks fit in with their own traditions of processions through villages in costumes and masks, moving in circles to honor the ancestors, bring good fortune, and chase evil spirits away. Many of these costumes would be decorated with strings of beads, small animal bones, feathers, and other tokens of luck.

A costume was more than just fancy dress-up, it became a garb of power and magic. Each object had a hidden meaning. For example, feathers represented the ability to fly over one’s situation and rise to another plane, something an enslaved population could certainly relate to. Feathered costumes are among the most popular today, in ever larger configurations, the ancient meaning lost to most participants and observers. The African people brought drums, rhythm and dancing to the Carnival and the pre-Lenten Bacchanals of the European Catholics took on a whole new meaning, much of it lost on the plantation owners, but a vital part of an emerging Afro-Caribbean culture.

New Orleans’ Mardi Gras is the most famous of these Carnivals in North America, the unique combination of African, French, Spanish and Native American cultures, but most of the West Indian nations have had their own versions of Carnival since the 1800s. Jump-up, J’ouvert, Jonkannu, Bacchanal, los Carnavales, Crop Over; these and more, are the names of the yearly Carnival festivals that take place in almost every nation of the Caribbean, and Central America, festivals that have survived slavery, and colonialism, and are now a proud part of these nation’s heritages. And the Trinidadian Carnival is the king of them all.

When Caribbean immigrants settled here in New York, in the early 20th century, they brought their tradition of pre-Lenten Carnival with them. Carnival is too good a party to abandon, even in the cold of early Spring, but where to celebrate? The first Carnivals in New York City took place indoors, in the Savoy, Renaissance and Audubon Ballrooms in Harlem in the 1920’s. But a costume party in small enclosed spaces wasn’t going to work for long, especially as more and more people came to NY from the Islands. The first outdoor street parade was on September 1, 1947, sponsored by the Trinidad Carnival Pageant Committee. They marched down 7th Avenue in Manhattan, from 110th Street. The parade would be in Manhattan until 1964, when the City revoked the parade permit.

By this time, central Brooklyn’s West Indian population far exceeded Harlem’s, as Bedford Stuyvesant, Crown Heights and Flatbush became home to a growing West Indian community, with people from many islands, and many languages and customs moving into the homes and apartments of Brooklyn. One of these Brooklynites was a Trinidadian machinist for the MTA named Carlos Lezama. He and his wife and children settled in Brooklyn, as Carlos was becoming a leader in the Trinidadian-led Carnival movement. It was his idea to try to move the parade to Brooklyn, and in 1969, the first West Indian Parade was held on a small section of Atlantic Avenue.

By this time, Carlos Lezama was president of the West Indian American Day Carnival Association (WIADCA), the organization that still runs the parade. In 1971, Lezama and his Association lobbied for, and received permission to move the parade to Eastern Parkway, and that year saw the first West Indian Day Parade go down one side of the Parkway only. It was a huge success. The parade soon grew to take up the entire width of Eastern Parkway, with not only a parade, but food and vendor concessions along the way.

In the space of twenty years, the parade went from a local event to an international festival of Caribbean cultures, with extensive media coverage, and millions of people attending, of all nationalities and cultures. It is now one of New York City’s largest and most popular parades, bringing millions of people into Crown Heights every year.

In 1973, the Lezama family bought their house at 1028 St. Johns Place from Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm and her husband, Conrad. The story of Shirley Chisholm and this house was told in Part One of our story, last week. The house became not only their home, but the headquarters for the Carnival Association. As the parade grew on Eastern Parkway, only a few blocks from this house, WIADCA meetings were held here, strategies planned, problems solved, and alliances made. Carlos Lezama’s children remember growing up with the parade growing up with it, all in their living room.

As the parade grew from an Island celebration into an international event, the organization grew as well, and was soon a full time job for Mr. Lezama, one he jumped into with great enthusiasm. He was well known to all of the powerful offices in both Brooklyn and New York City, with the number of every important official in the city in his Rolodex. The parade was not only a celebration of costume and music; it was an introduction to the achievements and culture of the myriad Caribbean nations who participated in it. It is not an easy job to coordinate the food, music, cultures and peoples of at least ten nations, speaking at least four languages, national patois notwithstanding. But somehow they did it.

Carlos Lezama retired from WIADCA in 2001. In honor of his achievements, Eastern Parkway was named “Carlos Lezama Parkway” for the day of the parade. In 2007, Carlos Lezama passed away, at the age of 83. His funeral at St. Gregory the Great Catholic Church, across the street from his home, was a Who’s Who of New York City’s powerful and influential, as well as a huge gathering of his family, friends and fellow workers who had been his supporters and helpers in creating a legacy that continues to this day. M

r. Lezama was lauded by four governors and every NYC mayor since John Lindsay. He received countless awards for his work, and the gratitude of West Indians everywhere. Not just for the parade, but for his work in bringing Caribbean culture to the forefront of American life, and adding it to the proud heritage of all of those who have made America what it is today.

Today, the little house at 1028 St. Johns Place is the Carlos Lezama Archives and Cultural Museum, run by his daughter, Yolanda Lezama-Clark, who is now president of WIADCA. The exhibits in the home celebrate Mr. Lezama’s many achievements and awards, as well as those of Shirley Chisholm, and feature costumes and photographs from the many West Indian Day parades that have proudly marched down Eastern Parkway, all because of the determination and will of an MTA machinist from Trinidad, who saw in his people’s cultural celebrations, something that we could all relate to, and enjoy. GMAP