Earlier in the day I biked around town to get some shots of Carnival decorations. Some of what I found were these krewe flags flying from houses in and around the Garden District. As the local readership of this site knows, these flags are given by the old-line krewes each year to their kings. Every year during Carnival the former kings (or their descendants) fly these flags at their homes. The bottom right of each flag denotes the year in which this particular king reigned. This flag belongs to Rex from 1983. (It hasn't been very well maintained)
These belong to a former Comus (1959) and Proteus (2003). Comus is the oldest of the krewes. It staged the first "modern" Mardi Gras parade in 1857. The city had celebrated Mardi Gras long before that but the Comus parade was the first of the kind that most of us would recognize today. The Comus organization along with the other "old-line" krewes (Rex, Momus, Proteus) is home to the bluest of the city's blood. These krewes are more than parades. They are elite social and business clubs through which the gentry traditionally make decisions of consequence for the rest of us peons.. and introduce each other's daughters and sons to one another. The fact that they take on the guise of actual royalty is no coincidence.
In 1991 the city council, passed an ordinance requiring such clubs to prove that they do not discriminate on the basis of race or gender. This was, at the time, an issue in most major cities whose business climate is ruled by similar organizations. The city told the krewes that if their clubs are found not to be in compliance with the anti-discrimination ordinance, they would not be granted parading permits. That year Comus Proteus and Momus, each obviously an all white male outfit, declared the ordinance an insult and decided they would no longer grace the ungrateful citizenry with their public processions. Rex, being a somewhat different case due to its elevated status as the organization of the "King of Carnival" decided to tweak its rules enough to remain in compliance. A few years ago, Proteus finally did the same. Comus and Momus still have not returned to parading.
The Old Line Krewes are tied to a history of racial hatred and upper class arrogance that goes far beyond the 1991 anti-discrimination controversy. (A good book to start with here is James Gill's Lords of Misrule: Mardi Gras and the Politics of Race in New Orleans ) But Carnival doesn't only belong to the rich. This year, with so many poor and middle class and black New Orleanians displaced, Mardi Gras 2006 will be missing much of the traditions and folk art that make it a city-wide celebration instead of a plaything for the (literally in our case) silk stalking crowd. The old krewes are comprised of people like Ashton O'Dwyer who are actively seeking to change the city's demographics by shutting out most of its population. They are looking to this Mardi Gras as an opportunity to plant their flag (so to speak) in a whiter New Orleans. While I am glad we are still a city that has Carnival and Krewe Du Vieux to help us rally and recover from our tragedy, I continue to be wary of the symbolism involved in allowing the krewes to strut and flaunt their presumed privilidge in the wake of so much loss.
Mardi Gras 2006 is here... for better or for worse.
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