Almanac Travel: Travel Shorts NYC #8.

Blaxploitation or blacksploitation is an ethnic subgenre of the exploitation film that emerged in the United States during the early 1970s. The films, though receiving backlash for stereotypical characters all the while, were one of the first instances in which black characters and communities were the heroes and subjects of film and television, rather than being portrayed as sidekicks or as victims of brutality.  The genre allowed the rethinking of race relations in the 1970s.

“I was born a poor black child and every day I would get up and sing the blues….then one day I decided I wanted to be white….so I had my penis shortened and became a television weatherman…”  Steve Martin

Monday 1 Sep 2014 5.30pm. Just got back from the annual Brooklyn Labor Day parade and celebrations. What can we say? Out of this world! Lynda described it as the Mardi Gras on crack!

Well over a million people on a stinking hot day celebrating black culture and being as uninhibited as they wanted to be is something we will never forget.

On the way, we went to our local corner store for bottles of water as we do every day and bumped into a cop who used to have an Aussie girlfriend and had visited Oz as well. He gently warned us to take care and just be vigilant as the day unfolds because the booze and dope take hold with some of the locals.

The parade started off with a number of politicians who are going up for election on Tuesday, all of them shamelessly selling their white, comfortable backsides to the unwashed black masses. It was quite embarrassing to see these white, upper east side suits dancing, smiling and pretending to be ‘walking in the shoes of my black brothers!’

Anyway they didn’t hang around too long and I couldn’t believe how much security they had! Almost presidential, with CIA-like guards and blacked out SUVs with flashing lights. Obviously a tad nervous as to what their electorate might do if they got their hands on them! Faith in action there!

Then the party got started!  It was really a celebration of the Caribbean roots of this part of Brooklyn. Brooklyn is the biggest borough within New York and the most diverse. There is this Caribbean neighbourhood, the Jewish quarter, Brownsville where Mike Tyson comes from, Russian, Polish and Hispanic quarters, Coney Island and more.

The Caribbeans have a penchant for the carnival and this was pretty evident along with the Jamaican/Trinidad flavour. There was just so much to look at, you needed 360 degree vision to capture half of it!

What strikes you about these people is their total lack of self-consciousness. The girls range from the statuesque, stunningly perfect to the larger frames who can take up a 3 seater couch on their own.  It doesn’t matter. The common denominator is the fun they are having and the joy they are exuding to others.

And it’s not just the girls. Lynda’s been admiring many a black man since we got here! I suddenly felt feel like inferior jail bait amongst this crowd. Again we met some really nice people during the day and ate the best chicken EVER! It’s Jamaican BBQ chicken called Jerk Chicken. Oh boy!

I think we copped some reverse racism today. We were sitting on the curb eating our chicken and this old black man came over and tried to sell us three $2 cds. You know what they were? The Best of Madonna, the Best of Michael Bolton, and the Best of Hall and Oates! That my friends is reverse racial profiling if ever there was! Do we look that white?

Headed home and noticed no one here smokes cigarettes but there was a sickly sweet aroma engulfing us all the way home. Not sure what it was but I’m fanging for a pizza. Top day. Heading to Chinatown tonight love Willow and Lynda.