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J’Ouvert Moved to Daylight This Year Following Violence

From DNAinfo by Rachel Holliday Smith:

After years of violence at the pre-dawn Caribbean festival of J’Ouvert, organizers and officials said the celebration will take place during daylight hours this year.

The Labor Day event, which is a precursor to Carnival and the West Indian Day Parade on Eastern Parkway, has been marred by fatal shootings for three years in a row, including the death of Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s aide Carey Gabay in 2015.

In response, the NYPD and those responsible for the official J’Ouvert parade are moving the festivities to 6 a.m., rather than its previous 4 a.m. start time, according to Police Commissioner James O’Neill.

“We’ve been working on this since the day after J’Ouvert last year, working with the community, working with [Brooklyn Borough President] Eric Adams, Laurie Cumbo from the City Council, with the community and the people who run the J’Ouvert parade. This is the best decision going forward to try to keep people as safe as possible,” he said on Friday at an unrelated NYPD event.

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10 Comments

  • MJ

    How does Daily News author get that J’ouvert means “daybreak”? Je=” I”, ouvert= “open”, so J’ouvert= “I open.” Even for those who don’t know basic French (which this is), “overt” in English is an adjective which means “open.”

  • sad but true

    zol’n zei alle geharget voren

    move it to prospect park or 5th ave in the city as all other parades are get it out of the community

  • Mob

    I bet my next paycheck that the “violence” will still happen even with the time change.

    Any one wanna take on my bet?

  • DeClasse' Intellectual

    #10 Is right! Move out a this residential area into an area that can handle the affair; i. e. downtown New York

  • My understanding is that

    The parade organizers have wanted to move to Manhattan for years bc that is where all other big parades are. THEY feel like second class citizens stuck in Brooklyn. But Manhattan is smart & doesn’t want them & tells them that there are no more available parade permits ! Why not at least a move to Flatbush Avenue where their chevra will be delighted to host them ?

  • Dog and Pony Show "changes"

    What a joke! Halevai this would help!

    But it sure LOOKS impressive, just like when the big white tower gets moved to an intersection AFTER a calamity happens. But it’s another “Dog and Pony Show” by a clueless mayor.

    He is quoted as saying, “we needed to something different.” But this doesn’t address the slayings, assaults, and other violent acts. Those who want to perpetrate such things will not be stopped by these measures. (“OH, I wanted to shoot someone, but I only do so within the hours of 4 p.m. and 5:59 a.m. So if the J’ouvert is moved to 6 a.m., I refuse to shoot someone THEN!”)

    Don’t they realize that J’ouvert is WAY more than just the processions of the floats and the parade itself?