Fat Tuesday In Lean TimesFat Tuesday is Feb 28, marking the conclusion of this year’s
Mardi Gras festivities in New Orleans --the cosmopolitan city devastated most by Hurricane Katrina last September. For some, the tradition of annual revelry taking form less than six months after the national disaster is viewed as a great sign of hope. For others, well, it signifies business as usual for the corporate machine and power wielders that have always focused on reaping the financial fruits, as opposed to the welfare of its residents. “They are staging that because they are trying to find some kind of happiness,” comic legend
Paul Mooney told Black Voices. The Louisiana native, who has collaborated with
Red Foxx, Richard Pryor, Keenan Ivory Wayans and
Dave Chappelle over the years, has made sharp social commentary part of his sell-out comedy act. “I think they have to do everything they can to try and get back on their feet.”
According to
J. Stephen Perry, the President of the New Orleans Metropolitan Convention and Visitor’s Bureau, the event “is one of the most important cultural events in the world,” manifesting the spirit, heritage, creative and unique culture of the city.”
“Look, I understand the city’s gotta get back on its feet and there are people who want to celebrate Mardi Gras to try to simulate a sense of normalcy,” veteran journalist and television personality
Arthel Neville told Black Voices. “But for me, I can’t fathom having a parade and a party when I know that so many people are hurting spiritually, emotionally and financially as a result of the disaster.”
The proud New Orleans native added: “People are far from being okay. I’m not trying to be a doomsayer, of course I want my city to come back and come back strong, of course I do. I’m just saying right now that I can’t in good conscience just go out and yell ‘throw me something mister,’ when there are people … where are they going to live? Some people are living in homes with no roofs so I just can’t, I can’t, I can’t!”
Neville, whose relatives comprise the New Orleans musical dynasty,
The Neville Brothers, founded Arthel’s Angels in the wake of the Katrina aftermath. “I was down there covering Katrina for just shy of a month, and needless to say, that was the most difficult assignment of my career. I think I only recently had the true affects of everything because I had to hold it together on so many levels…I wanted to come up with something that would be user-friendly both for the donors and the recipients, and that’s what Arthel’s Angels is.”
MC Hammer is one of the many celebrities taking interests in the rebuilding efforts. The 1990’s hip-hop icon and dance music diva
Crystal Waters will headline Manhattan Mardi Gras, presented by LIFEbeat -- the Music Industry Fights AIDS. The one-night-only event will take place Feb. 28 at The Roxy in New York City, benefiting NO/AIDS Task Force, a New Orleans based AIDS service organization that was virtually wiped out. “I'm excited to be performing at Manhattan Mardi Gras,” Hammer told Black Voices. “New Orleans still needs our help, and with all the uncertainty in the world right now, helping to rebuild is one thing we can all do to make an impact. Mardi Gras is the ultimate party, and I'm coming to New York to help get the party started."
And though he’s not a native,
Hill Harper remains passionate about the Crescent City. The ‘CSI: New York’ actor is a budding commercial real estate magnate who co-owns two luxury boutique hotels (The International House and Loft 523) outside of New Orleans’ French Quarter. “A part of me is encouraged and happy about the idea that we’re trying to encourage people to come back to New Orleans and the idea that we are here and we are going to carry on traditions that are long standing and the city is moving forward,” he said. “What saddens me the most though is the fact that Mardi Gras is speaking a very specific history that dates back to the Mardi Gras Indians, and some of the most powerful and interesting African-American history and Black history in this country and most of the descendants of those individuals that have carried on that level of tradition have been displaced. And many of them can’t afford to even return. So what potentially can happen with Mardi Gras is that it becomes a Disneyland version of itself, rather than the Mardi Gras that is steeped in the true history that comes out of Mardi Gras Indians, which are black people, and the celebration from where that comes from.”
Harper, a Brown University alum and Kennedy School of Government graduate who will release his debut book ‘Letters to a Young Brother: Manifest Your Destiny’ in May via Gotham/Penguin, told Black Voices that his hotels are the only major properties with a home ownership program for its employees. “You have to remember that before Katrina, New Orleans was easily 75% --if not more-- African American and particularly people who work in the service industry are African American. Clearly something like Katrina makes that program really more important.”
Mardi Gras 2006 is the 150th anniversary of residents parading down the streets of New Orleans. Perry also stated that tourism dollars are vital, representing 30% of the city’s operating budget. “They directly fund the city services necessary for the Mayor and City Council to bring the residents of New Orleans home.”
The rapper
BG concurs. But is ambivalent about the celebration. "In a way I think it's good because the Mardi Gras always brought tourists to New Orleans every year,” he told Black Voices. “But it's bad that the city is concentrating on the Mardi Gras rather than rebuilding homes for people …what's important to me is that New Orleaneans just come back home and start rebuilding.” BG , born
Christopher Dorsey, a former member of the New Orleans-based Cash Money rap collective boasting platinum-selling hip hop artists such as
Baby, Mannie Fresh, Juvenile, and
Lil' Wayne, divides his time between Detroit and the Crescent City.
“It’s what New Orleans does,” comments legendary soul singer
Irma Thomas
, a native of the region who performed a stirring ode to the city during this year’s Grammy Awards telecast. “People can help by seeing the glass as half full,” she said. “Do what they can to change the mindset and have a better New Orleans. It's going to take a lot of work and support to get back close to what it used to be.” Thomas, known as the unrivaled Soul Queen of New Orleans, will be featured on the ‘Sing Me Back Home’ album, as part of the
New Orleans Social Club – along with a parade of Crescent City musicians including
Dr. John,
Marcia Ball and members of The Neville Brothers. The project, due April 4, was recorded in Austin, TX six weeks after Hurricane Katrina.
“They are trying to hold on to something that they had,” Mooney added. “Come on. Anybody would do that.”
