A stalwart of Labour Day Carnival, Hawks International will not be participating this year:
July 11,2007
To our many friends & supporters who have participated and enjoyed our Labor-Day Carnival presentation over the past 30 + years, and to the general public as a whole, we wish to thank you for your support during this period. Unfortunately we have come to the decision that we can no longer participate in the West Indian Day Carnival presentation because of the increasing cost, lack of funding, inability to host fund raising events, the inconvenient and excessive restrictions imposed by the NYPD and the inability of WIADCA (West Indian American Day Carnival Association) to properly represent the producers of this significant event, perhaps the largest of it’s kind in the USA.
This festival generates almost $300 million for the City of New York while the producers are forced to pay their own way even a fee to WIADCA to participate in the Carnival Celebration on the Parkway. While we are certain that the absence of Hawks International alone will not be felt, we have decided that this is an exercise in futility which must now come to an end. We are cognizant of our commitment to sustain the rich culture of the Caribbean and the necessity to pass the tradition on to generations of the future. Should conditions change for the better to foster an infrastructure in which we the producers can thrive we stand poise to continue our contribution. We look forward to the continued support at other Hawks International fund raising activities.
Our Motto: Dare to Forge the Future.
For further information visit Hawks International call 732.406.5231or email info@hawksintl.com
Source:
www.hawksintl.com
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7 comments:
This makes me very sad. I have been going to Eastern Parkway since I was 10 years old. It is true, the restrictions have gotten out of hand. The NYPD simply does not know how to handle a large crowd of mostly innocent fun-loving revellers. If bands start dropping out, I am going to have to consider not going!
Truly a sad occasion. Damn, I have family that has been talking about this band for years....and for them to be gone now...their abscence WILL be felt. Kudos to them for standing up for themselves though, but it really didnt have to come to this...
I have mixed emotions about this. On the one hand I hope the other big bands will stand with them cause 1 band alone will probably not accomplish anything. On the other hand, if all the big bands pull out with, that means no pkwy for me this year.
It's sad that they felt the need to pull out of the parade, and I don't even know if it was entirely necessary, but I can't speak for them.
As for the police restrictions being excessive, from what I've seen they have become more and more necessary over the years. What many people don't want to accept is that this is NOT Trinidad and the parade is NOT Carnival. There are rules and regulations governing every parade that takes place in the city, and just because Carnival is a 'freeness' in Trinidad doesn't mean the same thing can happen on the streets of Brooklyn.
This parade attracts over a million people every year. That's almost the entire population of Trinidad on the streets of one neighbourhood!!
The logistics of handling a crowd that size are absolutely mind boggling, so I think it's better to be safe than sorry in that regard.
Anyway, I hope that the Hawks organization can work out its issues with the WIACDA and the NYPD, and return to the scene in 2008.
I have only been to Labor day one time (last year) and I was really impressed with the job the NYPD did with crowd control. True there were plenty cops, but we spoke to many of them and they were helpful and pretty cool. I especially liked the diversity in the force, they even had uniformed officers with dreadlocks.
Stormers were kept to a reasonable level and it looked to me like everyone was having a good time.
I'm kinda torn, because I feel we have a more "freeness" atmosphere in Toronto that I kinda missed, but the lack of crowd control causes some serious problems for the band leaders here in Toronto.
I guess you have to strike a happy balance.
Hawks have been around before I was born and its a sad thing to see them leave. Even though I play with Sesame Flyers... Hawks produce some of the most beautiful costumes I have seen up to date. Brooklyn has some rowdy people livin there so copz are neccesary. Hopefully they will come back next year.
I stopped going to the parkway for Labor Day. I grew up playing mas there and it went from a Trini, relaxed, fun, environment to everyone from all countries (mostly young who don't appreciate the culture of the parade but are there to start trouble)and total wildness. It was only going to be a matter of time that things would come to an end. I just hope that Trinis can find somewhere else free and safe to congregate, lime and continue to experience a piece of Trini carnival in N.Y.C.
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