Mardi Gras is my favorite holiday next to Halloween. Clearly, I'm partial to any holiday or celebration where dressing up and glitter are customary and encouraged. Even though I'm here in NYC for this year's Mardi Gras, I want to share a post I wrote last year after my experience masking with the historic Baby Doll Ladies as part of their centennial celebration. It was an honor and one of the most thrilling and surreal experiences of my life. Thank you Andrea Plaid and Racialicious for providing the space to talk about Black women's herstory in Mardi Gras.
Here's an excerpt and the full post is available at Racialicious.
What is the significance of Mardi Gras in the African-American community? What is masking about? I read about the connection between the Skeletons (Skull and Bone gangs) and Baby Dolls as symbolizing death and rebirth. Can you explain further?
Dr. Kim Vaz: African Americans have been participating in Mardi Gras from early on. It gave black people another opportunity to draw on their African heritage of singing, having processions, and dressing in costumes. Their background mixed with the fun and festive air of the French-inspired Mardi Gras created a time-out from the toils and drudgery of their work and the realities of their political condition. For those who could get away from the White people they worked for on Mardi Gras, it provided a special opportunity to have fun with friends and family. Before integration, Mardi Gras was an event that was local to specific neighborhoods for African Americans. Claiborne Avenue, with its swath of oak trees and large “neutral grounds” and which was a hub of black shopping and business, served as a gathering place where blacks dressed in hand- made “Indian” costumes. Members of the Skeletons, the Baby Dolls, the Zulu Social Aid and Pleasure Club, and many other marching clubs and maskers could thrill the crowds. Black people called Mardi Gras “Old Fools Day” in recognition of the ability to let go of cares and worries.
The Baby Dolls themselves never gave a thought to the symbolism of birth and death. This is an imposed idea that makes sense when we think about the inherent meaning of dressing like a doll and dressing like skeletons. But the Baby Dolls in the beginning up through the mid-twentieth century saw themselves as sex symbols, entertainers, and people out to have a good time.
I took that picture this April walking back from the 40th Annual New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Fest, probably the biggest annual live music festival hosted by the city. As I walked by, belly full of assorted varieties of crawfish, all I could think about was Spike Lee's "When The Levees Broke" and learning that the spray-painted X found on many of the homes, indicated the number of dead people found in that home. These chilling and humbling reminders remain throughout the city four years later, a symbol that the struggle for recovery continues.
Today marks the 4th Anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, completely changing the landscape of the Gulf Coast, and particularly New Orleans, undeniably one of the country's greatest historical and cultural centers. I don't want to focus on the negative because there are a lot of beautiful things that remain, have returned, or have emerged post-Katrina, but it is undeniable that the city and its people need our help. Yes, OUR as in American citizens, as humanitarians, as fellow humans.
Princeton University professor, MSNBC commentator (and brilliant, fierce, down-to-earth diva) Melissa Harris Lacewell and 2010 New Orleans mayoral candidate and Executive Director of the Greater New Orleans Fair Housing Action Center (GNOFHAC) James Perry, have been on the soapbox (rightfully so) making rounds, speaking out on the needs of the New Orleans community and Gulf Coast, offering perspective on how Katrina affected, and continues to affect, the entire country. Their thoughtful piece "Katrina Nation" asks the government and this country to look past racialized politics, to start connecting human development with economic development, and to concretely invest in infrastructure. Not only are these 2 a dynamic force in advocating for the future of New Orleans, they are a fly power couple following in the footsteps of our favorite image of Black love, Mr. and Mrs. President Obama. My heart smiles :)
Also in the wake of the 4th anniversary of Katrina, the Institute for Women's Policy Research, released their report "Women in the Wake of the Storm: Examining the Post-Katrina Realities of the Women of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast". Apparently pre-Katrina, women in NOLA were already subjected to lower wages, having one of the worst gender gaps in pay out of the 50 states. Post-Katrina the trend has worsened along with less health and child care facilities, along with a rise in sexual assault and violence due to the severe housing shortage. Many women are living in dangerous situations, just to have a roof over their heads. The report also offers solid policy recommendations, and with a commitment from Obama, we hope to see special attention given to the special needs of Gulf Coast women. When the women are unwell, a community cannot survive.
The report notes the New Orleans Women's Health Center which I've just found out has closed because they can't find a medical director who is willing and able to work with trans-women. This clinic served primarily women of color, low-income women, and trans-women, a part of the community in dire need of services, especially since Charity Hospital has never been re-opened, and will now become part of Tulane University's massive industrial medical complex (which is not being designed to replace the Charity's services). According to RaceWire, the complex is also displacing 600 NOLA residents from their homes, 88% of those people are people of color. Let me not get started on that. This article from Feministe has more details, so in the meantime, please support the work of INCITE: Women of Color Against Violence; their New Orleans chapter is at the forefront of this movement.
There's a bunch of organizations doing direct service work around New Orleans that you can donate to, ensuring your money is helping actual people. One is YOUTHanasia Family, which operates the Teen Center for Non-Violence providing mental health services for young people. They will close on Monday, August 30th, if they do not raise enough money. From what I've read, there's a scarcity of mental health services, specifically for post-traumatic stress. Please help young people process these events through peaceful means.
Josh Charles, a pianist, singer/songwriter, who has been heavily influenced by New Orleans, is donating ALL proceeds from his song, "Healing Time," dedicated to the Preservation Resource Center of New Orleans. In an interview with Tavis Smiley, he talks about moving to New Orleans 4 days before Katrina hit, and his dedication to the city ever since. Although he hasn't moved back, he considers himself a traveling champion for the cause. You can purchase his song on Amazon, and on iTunes, it's only 99 cents, but will go a long way!
The Katrina Information Network, a national colloboration of groups working for change, has a page dedicated to how you can support New Orleans organizations through political advocacy, donations, or even joining their Facebook and Twitter pages to stay informed. They only ask for 5 minutes a day, or even each week.
If you are visiting New Orleans, venture off of Bourbon Street and visit local museums that represent African-American culture and history in New Orleans, such as the Backstreet Museum in historic Treme, and The House of Dance and Feathers in the Lower 9th Ward. Learn about Mardi Gras Indians culture, paying homage and respect to the historic connections between Native American and Black peoples. Support local businesses and artists.
(Member of the Mohawk Hunters from July 4th tribute to the Ancestors, Algiers Point)
Survivors are also telling their stories through documentary films, notably Sundance winner, "Trouble the Water." A couple with no means to evacuate turns the camera on themselves, capturing the storm and their 2 year struggle to fight for their city. It's finally available on DVD after receiving critical acclaim and being featured at IFC theaters and various other independent art houses. Check out the trailer below:
This was a long one...and I still don't feel I've even scratched the surface. I feel like I left a lot out. New Orleans changed my world. I fell in love. I'm still in love. It opened my heart, my soul and my eyes. There's an indescribable energy there, perhaps a thin veil between living and unliving that touches your spirit. I wish I had been able to experience it before Katrina, where locals and folks who visited say it was even more vibrant, COLORFUL, musical and downright amazing. Kinda unfathomable. It's one of my biggest regrets. Perhaps this is why I'm committed to the fight to maintain this magical city. Everyone is richer for knowing her.
I have to end with my favorite brass band, New Orleans staple, the Soul Rebels. I saw them in February 2008 at their annual Lundi Gras jam session bash at the Blue Nile. I had no idea...incredible! It was my first trip to New Orleans and I haven't been the same since. Truly. Thanks to GR contributor, NPR Fan, for introducing me to them, I couldn't have asked for a better birthday present :) Below they talk about re-grouping after Katrina and love for their city. There truly is no place like home.
I've been here in New Orleans, the beautiful Crescent City, for the 40th Annual Jazz Fest, to hang with old and new friends and family, and to feed my mind, belly and soul. I'm out today (sadly) and this is my first time next to a computer so I consider it a successful vacation. Appropriately as I'm leaving today, I found this HuffPost article (thnx @huffingtonpost on Twitter) about how Obama's first 100 days haven't really done much to benefit the city and make good on Dubya's empty promises.
I am always blessed to learn, expand and grow when I'm here by encountering living history. The history, energy and flavor screams to be preserved, yet it's an incubator for new realms of creativity. I'm slowly understanding this even more from my Yankee lenses. This city always seems to welcome me and my spirit. Thanks for reviving me, ami until our next rendezvous...
(thanks to @bfp on Twitter and the Huffington Post for the picture and article)
...and I'm in New York City, not really the most poppin' Carnival celebrating city. But I did go out and see "Men Love Vaginas," a V-day tribute at the Nuyorican tonight...that's another story to be posted soon...
Anyway, I've been kinda celebrating Mardi Gras/Carnival here in NYC, more so by learning more about some of the history of New Orleans, and the Black Carnival traditions. I've been doing a little dancing too...there's spirits in my bones making move, I can't help myself everywhere I go I must dance! I've also been sad because I really wanted to go this year and thought about it earlier and bullshitted and...doesn't matter. I'm here in my bed writing this now, that says it all.
To get my fix, Goddesses Rising sister Queen Makeda, brought this documentary last time in NOLA, "All In A Mardi Gras Day", and we watched it about 3 times, showed more people who came to the crib, even watched the extras. Learned something new every time. There is a rich history and unrelenting spirit that needs to be preserved and respected.
Above, there's a picture from Rio's Carnival from the famous, or infamous, carnival queen, Viviane Castro, silently protesting the sale of the Amazon to the U.S. which many Brazilians oppose.
As Carnival is happening around the world, get your party on wherever you are. In the shower, in your office, on the subway platform, at the grocery store, cooking dinner. You've got til midnight to do so. Let those spirits out!
(Mardi Gras 2008, jaz and QueenMakedaB, New Orleans)
Today is the 3rd anniversary of Hurricane Katrina touching down and wreaking havoc in New Orleans (my beloved). Though I never had the pleasure to know the city before Katrina ravaged her; I'm in love after 2 visits this year and look forward to going back sooner than later. There is an undeniable resilience and spirit that can't be drowned and I encourage people to visit with an open mind and heart.
"Trouble The Water" is a Sundance award winning documentary filmed by 2 survivors of Katrina who filmed their experience living in the 9th Ward as Katrina hits their community. It brings the unimaginable to life with poignancy and power. Go support this independent film now showing in Harlem at: Faison Firehouse Theater 6 Hancock Place 124th St. btw. St. Nicholas & Morningside Ave. New York, NY 10039
Showtimes are Tues. to Fri. 7pm & 9:30pm; Sat. and Sun. 5pm, 7pm & 9:30pm. For more details, visit www.imagenation.us. Imagenation, a Harlem non-profit arts organization, is supporting this uptown run and they do big things in the community providing an outlet for art from the Diaspora to reach and educate the masses. Big up to Kgantsi and Greg for their constant dedication.
Peace and blessings to those who died in Katrina's wake, those who were and are still displaced, those who still feel the pain and loss, those working to rebuild and those who just love NOLA.
The legal system can't stay out of people's bedrooms. F'n Puritans. Ban sex toys, tax strip clubs or not, those Southerners are freaks anyway...and I love 'em for it.
Some Novelty Manufacturers Still Waiting On 5th Circuit Sales
Is is safe to sell sex toys in Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi?
NEW ORLEANS - Concerned adult novelty manufacturers are wondering if it's safe to sell so-called "obscene devices" in the Fifth Federal Circuit - Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi - since the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals has yet to decide if or when it will reconsider its ruling in Reliable Consultants, Inc. v. Earle.
"We haven't heard anything yet from the Court," said First Amendment attorney Jennifer Kinsley, a member of the team representing Reliable in the original appeal, handed down on Feb. 12, which overturned a Texas statute making it illegal to promote or sell sexual devices, and remanded the case to the trial court for reconsideration in concert with its ruling.
The government quickly petitioned the Court for an en banc reconsideration of its decision, which ruling was largely based on the right to sexual privacy implicit in the U.S. Supreme Court's 2003 ruling in Lawrence v. Texas, but as noted in our previous story, the Fifth Circuit rarely grants en banc hearings, and there is no deadline by which the Court has to decide whether to hear the case.
"We filed our response to the government's petition to rehear on March 9 or 10," Kinsley said. "I remember there was a big snowstorm going on at the time. But we haven't heard anything since then, so we're just sitting here, waiting. But as of right now, the law's no good in Texas, so that's some redemption."
As things stand now, manufacturers who supply realistic dildos, vibrators and other devices "designed or marketed as useful primarily" to "stimulate ... another's genitals" to retailers in the Fifth Circuit can point to the Reliable decision as their basis for the legality of such sales, and that status won't change unless one of three things happens: 1) The Fifth Circuit grants the en banc hearing, and the majority of judges rehearing the case overturns the original three-judge panel's decision; 2) The Fifth Circuit rejects the en banc petition, the case is reheard by the trial court, and that court somehow, even applying the rationale laid out in the Fifth Circuit opinion, issues an opinion that upholds the "obscene device" law (highly unlikely); or, 3) the Fifth Circuit rejects the en banc petition, the government petitions the U.S. Supreme Court to hear the case (which it might, considering that the Fifth Circuit holding conflicts with the Eleventh Circuit opinion in the Sherri Williams case) and, several months from now, that court overturns the Fifth Circuit's ruling.
Needless to say, novelty manufacturers wishing to sell their wares in the Fifth Circuit should consult with their attorneys as to any legal liability they might face from such sales, but at this moment, it is legal to sell the vast majority of commercially available sex toys throughout the Fifth Circuit.
