West Bank Super Sunday 2019
Indians A Comin'!
I went over the bridge to Algiers to see the Mardi Gras Indians parading for West Fest. It is much more intimate than the uptown and downtown Super Sunday events. There are very few photographers at the beginning and none along the route. Of course, I’m a writer not a “real” photographer, but I took some shots anyway. There were about ten tribes out including the Mohawk Hunters, the Algiers Warriors, the Creole Apache, Spirit of the Fi Yi Yi, Black Feather and Black Hatchet.
There are lots of children masking these days. This young man was totally into “playing Indian.” If you look closely at the chief’s suit his patches commemorate people and places that “ain’t dere no more” including K&B Drugs, Hubig’s Pies, Schwegmann’s grocery stores, Tom Dempsey and the Dome Patrol of the New Orleans Saints among many others.
It’s not all fun and games for some of the black Indians. This chief told me that his suit is dedicated to everyone who has lost their lives to gun violence.
The photo on the back is of his late nephew who was shot and killed at the young age of 21. The image is of him masking as a black Indian when he was around the same age as the child in the above shots.
I included the following three shots to give you an idea of how intimate this parade is.
This last shot is of me with Tyrone Casby, the Big Chief of the Mohawk Hunters and the organizer of the West Fest parade. He wasn’t masking yesterday because he recently had rotator cuff surgery. The photo was taken by Ann Marie Brennan at uptown Super Sunday 2019. The chief is a public school principal.
