Page 4 - ARUBA TODAY

A4 U.S. NEWS
Monday 4 SepteMber 2017
NYC tries fencing in often-violent Caribbean celebration

By COLLEEN LONG longtime merrymakers. tended for decades. and just looking for an op- York Caribbean Carnival
Associated Press “Those of us really involved The precautions, he and portunity to create may- Parade later Monday fea-
NEW YORK (AP) — Before in J’ouvert are not creat- others predicted, likely hem. turing “pretty mas,” or mas-
sunrise Monday, tens of ing this violence, and we won’t dissuade the devout “I can tell you I’m going querade, revelers in giant
thousands of costumed, shouldn’t be punished or from turning out early. He out there either way, be- feathery costumes riding
paint-slathered revelers on bright floats.
will gather on the streets of J’ouvert’s costumes, called
Brooklyn for a joyous Carib- “ole mas,” are different but
bean celebration rooted in just as wild. Some people
emancipation. dress in rags and don hel-
This year, though, they’ll be mets with giant horns paint-
doing it behind police bar- ed a thick-as-molasses
ricades and metal detec- black. Others cover them-
tors. selves in red paint or black
Brooklyn’s version of the oil. The costumes are a nod
Caribbean carnival, called to the original celebrations
J’ouvert, has been held for that began in Trinidad in
decades in the pre-dawn the mid-1800s when slaves
darkness on Labor Day, were emancipated.
but there was serious talk Devils symbolize slave mas-
of canceling the party this ters; revelers dress as politi-
year because of violence cal figures to mock them.
accompanying the event. People wear rags or paja-
Even after stepped-up se- mas because slaves had
curity last year, including no proper clothes. Some
the installation of light tow- don sailor costumes to
ers that cast blazing light mimic the U.S. Navy after
on a party that traditionally World War II; they puff tal-
begins in the dark, three In this Sept. 1, 2017 photo, Alexander Smart rehearses on steel drums with Despers USA in the cum powder into the air as
people were shot in the Crown Heights neighborhood in the Brooklyn borough of New York. The group will join tens of both a nod to African rites
crowd. Two died. thousands of costumed revelers early Monday in New York City for a Caribbean celebration and to the skin color of the
In response, city officials called “J’ouvert.” sailors. “J’ouvert is pain and
this year changed the start (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan) pleasure together. It is pain
time of J’ouvert’s steel for being enslaved, and it is
band procession from 4 forced to change,” said Mi- hoped it would discourage cause I am committed to the pleasure of being free,
a.m. to 6 a.m. and added chael Manswell, a dancer, the troublemakers, who he the mas,” said Manswell, and these elements exist
strict security layers that choreographer and col- said were people ignorant referring to the costumed together in the mas,” said
don’t sit well with some lege professor who has at- of the event’s meaning performances. Roland Guy, 74, a longtime
The name J’ouvert means player who often dresses in
daybreak, put together drag for the occasion. One
from the French words year he was “Kate and the
“jour” and “ouvert.” It is Prince.”
the start of a carnival that But’s also a collective mo-
includes the separate New ment of letting off steam.q

Texas expects EPA to ‘get

on top of’ toxic water risk

WASHINGTON (AP) — Tex- the greater Houston area
as Gov. Greg Abbott said or any other place,” he
Sunday he expects the said.
Environmental Protection The Houston metropolitan
Agency “to get on top” area is home to more than
of the threat of possible a dozen Superfund sites,
water contamination after designated by the EPA as
an Associated Press report being among America’s
of highly toxic waste sites most intensely contami-
flooded in the Houston nated places. The AP sur-
area. “The EPA is monitor- veyed seven of them and
ing that. The EPA is going reported Saturday that all
to get on top of that,” said had been inundated with
Abbott, when asked on water, in some cases many
“Fox News Sunday” wheth- feet deep, raising the con-
er toxic floodwaters could cern that floodwaters may
pose a continuing health wash in pollution.
threat to Texas residents. On Sunday, Abbott said
“We are working with the there will always be a
EPA to make sure that we threat of contaminated
contain any of these chem- water whenever there is a
icals harming anybody in flood situation. q