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Hail To New Orleans-Short

It was 2006 and New Orleans officials were ‘in flux.’ Mardi Gras season was fast approaching. Their challenge of holding this long-standing tradition was in debate. Eventually, the decision was made to go forward with the festivities, realizing the spirit of the city was badly in need of this opportunity to celebrate and heal. Canal Street was lit up with revelers, floats, second lines, Native Americans dressed in full regalia and the Zulu Social Aid and Pleasure Club marched proudly, to the delight of a screaming audience.

This is what the city needed, a celebration; a chance to see themselves anew, to look forward to a life of new beginnings, of hope for a better tomorrow. Katrina had taken normality out of their everyday living. Major emotional and behavioral adjustments had to be made in the city they had come to know as home.

The night before, the festivities and in the shadows of the Zulu’s Social Aid and Pleasure Club, I met the newly anointed Minister of Fun. He had relatives in The Bronx, NY and happily invited me to hang out with their organization, granting me full access to all their activities. In full dress, to rising roars and deafening cheers, they took over Canal Street as the Zulu Grand Marshall, in rich blackface makeup, blessed the crowds with normalcy and love in ‘The Big Easy.’