Another Parade

New York loves its parades. But do New Yorkers love them? Well, who doesn't like the Macy's Parade. Big ballons and such. I've never seen it, but hey, sounds like fun, if you could just get rid of those people. What about all those ethic parades though? Why are they there? Are they for the whole city. No, I don't really think so. Last weekend I ran into the Dominican Parade. All I saw was Dominicans. Well, fine, if they want to have a parade it is their right to have one. But what is the point of this parade. To celebrate being Dominican. Why do we need to celebrate our ethinicity in a parade. Aren't we all supposed to be equal. Why isn't there a womens parade, a kids parade, a mens parade, an old person parade, or a white parade. Oh, that's right, white people are evil. They oppressed slaves and founded the country and all that, so they don't get a parade. Or is that white people are just celebrated too much already. That George Washington, well he just says it all. Looking at holidays actually Columbus has one (he was Spanish, which has nothing to do that he was just an idiot), M.L. King has one (he was black, but at least he was a good, intelligent, guy). No, I think white guys actually have less holidays. HMMMmmm.

I guess I'm getting off topic. We're talking about parades. If I said the Dominicans don't deserve a parade then you would label me as racist. How dare he say that. To clear that up, I don't care if the Dominicans have a parde, besides the fact that I find all parades pointless and irritating. What I'm trying to explore here is why the Puerto Ricans have a parade and the Dominicans have a parade, and countless other "minorities" have parades. I don't understand it. I live in West Harlem with many Domicans. They are out every day and every night hanging out on the sidewalks enjoying life, being lively, what is the point of all these parades???? Why can't we just live together as "people" and live life. Why do we need to segregate our differences in parades and if we do, why are we leaving all these other groups out, because to me being a man or woman, young or old, is about as relevant as the color of your skin. So if there is a Domincan parade don't hold back, old women with excessive wrinkles, celebrate and hold a fucking parade.

I dream of a world ( or at least a city) where everyone is just people. We celebrate things as a whole. When there is a parade the whole city should want to be there because it is about everyone. I dream of a city where all neighborhoods are intigrated, everyone is tolerated, where the Dominican hair salon can be next to the Irish Pub, which can be next to the indie rock club, which can be next to the Starbucks. Here's the problem with New Yorkers. Everyone is so worried about their identity and their herritage that they refuse to put into a larger group. It will never really be "New Yorkers." The mentality of this over populated city is that there are so many people here we need to band together in our groups and be strong in our groups and prove we are better than the others, that we won't be taken advantage of. This is our neighborhood, this is our way of life, this is our ways and deal with it.

I don't really care what people do, I'm not judging anyone. That isn't my place. So don't get all pissed off that I'm an asshole. I'm just observing, and in my opinion if everyone just quit trying to be so different and fight over different things and try to isolate themselves and their idenity we could get a lot more accomplished. Imagine if all New Yorkers, no matter where they were from and who they were came together and had a parade for better health care. Together as a whole we could get things accomplished that mattered to everyone. Better pay, better living conditions, better subway service, better health care, better safety, and so on. To me that's what living together in a city is about, the whole trying to better things for everyone. So stop the pointless parades and let's celebrate the things in life that matter to all of us. The mentality of America has always been the "I" and until we come together as a "we" all of us will always be fighting for our individual desires. And I'm sorry, but individuals don't have a change when it comes to the whole system.