New Orleans funeral processions — brass band parades that are one of many rich traditions among the cities black residents — might become a thing of the past.
If police have anything to do with it.
According to Salon, police have been cracking down hard on these processions, citing noise ordinances. But for many it seems that the powers-that-be don’t consider a lot of New Orleans traditions appropriate for their vision of a post-Katrina city.
“The musicians were no longer playing but instead singing “I’ll Fly Away” when the cops converged and the cuffs came out. A New Orleans police spokesman claimed the department was simply acting on a neighborhood resident’s phoned-in complaint. And the department maintains that such processions require permits.
But when they busted up the memorial procession for a beloved tuba player, arresting the two musicians for parading without a permit and disturbing the peace, they didn’t just cut short a familiar hymn — they stomped on something sacred and turned up the volume in the fight over the city’s culture, which continues amid the long struggle to rebuild New Orleans…
For black New Orleans residents who have returned to the city, these and other street-culture traditions — second-line parades and Mardi Gras Indian assemblies — offer perhaps the only semblance of normalcy, continuity and community organization left. In a changing Tremé, within a city still in troubled limbo and racked by violent crime, long-held tensions regarding the iconic street culture have intensified. The neighborhood, the breeding ground for much of this culture, has a history of embattlement. And now more of that history is being written.
We shouldn’t give the cops a hard time about this. We all know how boring life must be for a cop in that city. I’m sure they have nothing better to do than break up funeral processions.
In a city where grave yards are top attractions, how are you going to ban their loud funeral processions? It’s part of the culture that attracts tourists.
this is shameful and outrageous. everyday i grow sicker and sicker of this country.
They simply just don’t want blacks to return to NO. This certainly proves it. Disrupting a funeral? The celebration of the death of a loved one? And you’re going to turn an already somber occasion worse?
I commented on this elsewhere:
Growing up in New Orleans, one of my favorite traditions was the jazz funeral procession. The first time I saw one, I was sitting in class, a high school freshman. The music was so vibrant, many of us starting dancing in our seats. We had no real clue about what was going on. Then our teacher explained the honor and tribute that was being paid to someone in that moment we celebrated. The music moved our bodies, our hips. But the musicians were pouring out their hearts for a dear friend, sending them home in style.
To know that this tradition is being hampered and hindered by people who call it in as a noise complaint bothers me in a way I can hardly qualify. Anyone who really cares about the heart that beats in the city would never, ever want the beauty of that music, wishing loved ones a sweet journey into eternity, to be quieted. I really hope that the bands continue to play on…
I’ve always loved the concept of those lively funeral processions and when that time comes for me (which I how will be a very long time away) I would like to have one.
The plan is ridiculous. Pretty soon, they would want to get rid of Mardi Gras.
I’m too angry to even comment on this story. Lets not forget that the ppl running NO are black so if they don’t want blacks to return what does that tell you? If the city was run by all whites we’d be picketing ala the Jena 6, but it’s our own people fucking everything up so the rest of us just sit back and give the as much leash as they need?? We can talk about the feds as much as we want, but it’s the inept black government in NO that’s doing as much damage as the white feds who didn’t care during the immediate aftermath.