BIG EASY NEGROES CELEBRATE ‘SIMPLER TIME’

New Orleans (WPI) - Harkening back to a happier, simpler time in the history of the Negro in America, hundreds of the colored folk donned traditional Black Face, impoverished serving dress and Pickaninny costumes to dance and shuffle through the streets of this city in the popular Fat Tuesday parade marking the beginning of Lent.

Shouts of “Yessau! Yessum! Thank you Sau,!” blended with a dreamy chorus of ”Yowwzas and Lawdy, Lawdy’s!” that could be heard the entire length of the parade. The rhythmic shuffling of worn, lace-free shoes underscored the quaint, long forgotten traditions of hunching, lowering eyes and flinching from impending blows that form so much of the rich history of the region for these gentle darkies.

Stepping out of character momentarily, parade organizer Moutubbou Johnson spoke lucidly about embracing the return to the oppressive past for these few days of the Mardi Gras festival.

“Well, it’s just fun!” he emphasized, “It’s fun to dress up like Steppin Fetchit and act ingratiating and servile. In my real life I’m an executive for a large non-profit agency. Over two dozen people report to me, there's a lot of pressure. This is a great release!”

These happy Negroes don’t seem to fear that their celebrations might set-back the advances they’ve made in their long struggle for civil rights.

“Oh my, I don’t think so,” claimed Keeshwanna Jefferson, who was in the parade wearing a charming red and white calico handkerchief on her head and looking exactly like ‘Aunt Jemima.’ “Americans don’t think of us this way anymore! I’m not an ignorant, uneducated oppressed fool living in bondage to rich whites, I’m a bank manager up in Savannah. This is just dress up!”

“Our children need to know about this relatively stable and content period in our culture. Look at kids today! All angry rap music and ‘gangstas,’ Where is their sense of history?” wondered celebrant Shubeekqua Washington, a Miami physician, dressed in traditional slave garb including coarse ropes scraping her delicate wrists.

“I think we got the idea from all the Gay Pride Parades,” said Kenndrikae Franklin who was costumed in a dusty, tattered- and far too small- tuxedo. Franklin was herding his children, attired in traditional Pickaninny outfits of scanty, ripped sack cloth cinched at the waist with simple hemp string and no shoes.

“Look at all those homos. Why many of them are successful businessmen, teachers, shop-owners, actors and wealthy investors. They wear suits to work and carry briefcases. But, Lawdy, when it’s Gay Pride Day they put on sequined gold lame’ jock straps, or outrageous peacock feathered head dresses or show up as beautiful women complete with wigs, satin dresses and padded bras. It hasn’t hurt the reputation of gay people in America. Why shouldn’t we embrace our ‘flamboyant’ past once a year too?”