For decades, Central Brooklyn has thrummed with energy and pounding music in the pre-dawn hours of Labor Day. Armed with gallons of motor oil and baby powder, thousands of costumed revelers normally pack the streets for J'Ouvert, the exuberant Caribbean celebration in honor of the emancipation of Trinidadian slaves.
But after organizers cancelled all West Indian Day events earlier this summer, and with Mayor Bill de Blasio vowing to crack down on any unsanctioned parade activity, the streets of Crown Heights and Flatbush stood eerily, unusually quiet on Monday morning.
"It was pure crickets," said Moses Edouard, a 30-year-old East Flatbush resident. "Nothing but police."
After a spate of shootings during previous J'Ouvert celebrations, the NYPD added additional security measures, and mandated a later start time, angering many participants in recent years. This year, police leaders vowed to flood the streets with officers and bright lights in anticipation of large gatherings.
"Police were on every corner on Church Avenue," Edouard said. "They had lights all over Church and Synder Avenue as if people were going to be outside."
At 3 a.m. on Monday, gun violence erupted as a small group of marchers walked peacefully through Crown Heights. Five people, including a six-year-old child, were hospitalized in stable condition following the shooting, which police said was gang-related.
But for the most part, Brooklynites largely heeded the city's warnings to steer clear of the parade route, which encompasses Flatbush Avenue, Empire Boulevard, and Nostrand Avenue. Along Church and Nostrand, an area normally teeming with J'Ouvert activity, "there was hardly anyone outside," said Edouard.
Elsewhere in Brooklyn, a few committed partiers marked the holiday with their own scaled-down celebrations. On Pennsylvania Avenue in Brownsville, members of the Greenhouse Jab Jab, a drum ensemble and fixture of J'Ouverts past, held a small get-together on the sidewalk — featuring a DJ, a single float, but none of the thumping drums.
A small group gathered in Brownsville on Monday morning
"Nothing big is happening this year, the COVID cancelled everything," said Duran Griffith, who usually passes out red paint and devil costumes to J'Ouvert participants. "So we're bringing it here for the entire night. This is our shrine, we're still doing jab jab 'til the morning."
At 2 a.m., Griffith and a handful of revelers, doused in motor oil, danced in a small cluster on the sidewalk.
“In the midst of a pandemic, still having the opportunity to display our culture in some capacity makes it a successful night," he added.
In place of the standard parade, J’Ouvert City International held a press conference on Monday morning honoring essential workers, Black Lives Matter activists, and three members of the steelpan drum community who died from coronavirus.
The West Indian Day Parade is also holding a virtual parade with DJs and costumes throughout the day on Monday. The event can be streamed online here.
