Remembering the Steelband Raids of Brooklyn

Chapter 35 - Giuliani Declares War on Carnival

Why Blacks Fear 'America's Mayor'
Reporting Police Brutality and Black Activist Politics
Under Rudy Giuliani
by Peter Noel

This chapter appeared in a different format in the Village Voice. Republished by When Steel Talks with permission from the author - Peter Noel. Copyright © 2007 by Peter Noel All rights reserved. No part of this article may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author.

Giuliani Declares War on Carnival We have insisted and continue to insist that the uniqueness of the West Indian kar-na-val is one that has to be understood in its own cultural context. This is not a parade. We’re not marching. This is not a festival. We don’t put on cultural dances. This is kar-na-val.

—Pan Rebel steelband advocate Dawad W. Philip


PLAYING TO FEARMONGERING BY BILL O’RILEY and his ilk, the Giuliani administration unleashed an army of police, firefighters, and building inspectors who consistently raided a Brooklyn lot occupied by steelband players and masquerade designers preparing for Carnival 2000. The crackdown coincided with borough-wide raids, which disrupted or completely shut down some pan yards, mas’ camps, and backyard parties, and the Giuliani administration’s ban on the sale of alcohol during the nation’s largest ethnic gathering. “Why do we have to take medicine for someone else’s fever?” asked an irate Dawad W. Philip, a steelband advocate. “If people at the Puerto Rican Day Parade got out of hand, why clamp down on us? That’s not the way we behave.” One week before Carnival, a lawyer for the Pan Rebels, Metro, and Nu-Tones steel orchestras, acting on information obtained from Philip, filed a complaint in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn seeking to bar the NYPD from “proceeding with the threatened closure of their assembly and rehearsal location” at 660, 670, and 680 Parkside Avenue in Flatbush. According to the complaint, Philip and steel band captains Anthony Joseph and Anthony Trebuse allegedly had been “informed and instructed by high-ranking officers” that August 24 would be “the last night to practice and rehearse ... since [cops] would be closing down the block” between Rogers and Nostrand avenues. The complaint also named Mayor Giuliani, newly appointed Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik, the fire department, and the Department of Buildings as defendants.


Lots previously occupied by steelbands on Parkside Ave. after suspicious fire - picture January 8, 2001 WST

Although the Parkside Avenue steelband players and masqueraders had grown accustomed to sporadic harassment from the Giuliani administration over the years, it was an unusual collusion between cops and Klyn Properties Inc., owners of the lot, that sparked a 10-night, tension-riddled standoff with authorities. Shortly before the new spate of raids, the landlord—bypassing legal proceedings in which he might have obtained a warrant for eviction—filed an affidavit at the 71st Precinct stationhouse, complaining that the steelbands, which occupied three buildings on the lot rent free since 1994, were trespassing. Instead of marshals and sheriffs, the revelers suddenly had to contend with the stationhouse’s private eviction squad. “The cops acted as surrogate marshals,” recalled Philip. “Once the landlord made the call, it became convenient for the police. More than likely they viewed the nightly congestion on the block as a nuisance—these natives running wild—and ordered the place shut.”

Pan Rebels as capture by Basement on Parkside Ave right before NYPD shutdown -  2000 Panorama

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Parkside Avenue today

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  • What Trinidad does not want is American Style policing, especially from Juliani who never had anything good to say about or in defense of black people, and during his reign as mayor supported harsh measures against minorities in NYC. He defended every police shooting of blacks and began an era of tyranny against the minority community that exists until today. Bratton resigned during investigation over the propriety of a book deal that he signed while in office as well as accepting unauthorized trips from multiple corporations and  individuals, while employed as NYC police commish - what a choice, what's going on here? and why does every solution need outside assistance as if as in this case the solutions aren't commonly known. these guys don't come cheap and have a cultural mindset not applicable to the local issues. I wonder if whoever hired these two are familiar with how Juliani wreaked havoc on the Brooklyn West Indian community carnival pre celebrations, closing down some panyards and mas tents using the notorious eviction police. There ought to be better oversight into these type of hirings. This is troubling.

    • Focus on police corruption, not foreign experts
      JAMILLE BROOME Sunday, December 28 2014

      The December 13 headline, “TT to lean on NY commissioner’s skills” left me with a feeling of deja vu. I had to ask myself: why exactly are we bringing former NYC Mayor, Rudolph Giuliani, and current NYC Police Commissioner, William Bratton to TT? Isn’t this akin to spinning a top in mud? We imported the Canadian system under the leadership of Dwayne Gibbs, we’ve brought experts from the FBI, the DEA., the New Scotland Yard and a myriad of other police training agencies, and they all encountered the same problem - a lack of local police support due to institutionalized corruption. Despite this, another National Security Minister has decided to import more foreigners to assist with fighting crime in the country, in order to placate public anger. The fact of the matter is that only a government willing to put our country before re-election would be able to fix the crime problem.

      http://www.newsday.co.tt/commentary/0,204821.html

      • ODW, this might be a case of it takes a criminal to catch a criminal. But seriously there has to be another agenda here.

        bugs

        • Bugs,
          I’m clueless as to what’s the real agenda; it seems less about protecting citizens and more about profiteering. I found this article by Vaneisa Baksh quite interesting…

          Common sense and culture

          It would have been surprising coming from someone else, but when National Security Minister Gary Griffith issued his recent press release stating that, “Culture has very little to do with dealing with law enforcement,” it was so at one with his general approach that you could only marvel that in his case, what you see is really what you get.

          Griffith was responding to an offer made by Hafizool Ali Mohammed – who sat comfortably on the commission of enquiry into the July 1990 attempted coup, despite his mishmash of a CV calling his credentials into question – to come and help out with the law enforcement situation.

          Perhaps Mohammed excited the ire of Griffith by his gall in saying he would charge less than Griffith’s first choice of former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani and Police Commissioner of the City of New York, William Bratton to provide for his culturally relevant services.

          “Culture has very little to do with dealing with law enforcement. By Dr Mohammed not being versed or tactically trained in law enforcement, and security management, he has the unfortunate misconception that crime can be cultural. Criminological theory has confirmed that crime is not cultural; there is no such thing as a Trinidad and Tobago crime, or a USA crime. When crime goes up or down in a country, it is not because the culture has changed. It is primarily based on successful law enforcement policies being implemented,” was part his response.

          The general tenor of his statement suggests that Griffith is not too clear on what is meant by culture; and if he is, then he really must believe that the way to deal with crime and law enforcement is simply by standing at the front line with a hammer and squashing “cockroaches” underfoot.

          http://www.trinidadexpress.com/commentaries/Common-sense-and-cultur...

  • We don't Need Giuliani to Come to our Sweet T&T to help solve Our Crime. [1] He is a Racist - [2] He knows nothing about Our way of Life. A Lot of People feels because He helped Lower the Crime Rate in New York  that He is suited for the Job, far from it. He and Kerik  used their Authority to Persecute the Blacks of New York. They will treat us as a 3rd World Country while laughing their way to the Bank.They never had any Respect for the Black Folks. It would be a waste of time and Money to Hire Him and Ex-Convict Kerik. They will be getting a Free Pay- Check.  They are both Racist and is not a Good Fit for Our Country. Nothing will Change after they left, its a whole different Scene, they wont have a Clue. They will take the Money and Run. Its wasting Money. Any body but Giuliani and Kerik. Square Pegs in Round Holes. T&T Dont need them.

    • Val there is no doubt that Giuliani is a racist. His record speaks for itself. Before 911 even his own Republican party was distancing themselves from him.

      Martin Luther King said the logical conclusion of racism is genocide. Trinidad is playing with fire.

      bugs

    • The money that they are going to pay these guys could be used to send away a few high ranking  police officers to study crime fighting.

      • Study where, by sending them to the IACP International Police Education and Training Program (IACP) funded by the U.S. Department of State International Bureau of Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs? You'll get the same results whether you hire Giuliani and Bratton for a consultation or send high ranking T&T officers to the U.S. funded/sponsored IACP training program.I don't endorse either one. 

        • Nutones, the truth of the matter is they are just doing that to show the public they are doing something to deal with the crime situation. Corruption is the biggest problem in T&T, murder is a by- product, in any society where their is a huge gap between the have and the have not there will be problems.

      • Cecil,


        I have to agree with you, you can’t tell me in T&T they don’t have dedicated crime-fighters, who are willing to server with pride and conviction. This was the practice before.

        Looks like in this age of out-sourcing, crime prevention/detection in T&T is a good business opportunity.

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