TIME - Man of the Year/CompactPublishing-TimeMagazine-TimeManOfTheYear-Win31MSDOS.iso/moy/021792/0217104.000

Text File | 1992-10-19 | 5KB | 106 lines

                                                                                NATION, Page 34

NEW ORLEANS

The Grinch That Stole Mardi Gras


A nasty fuss about a new anti-discrimination law casts a pall of
gloom over the city's big carnival

By RICHARD WOODBURY/NEW ORLEANS


    With Mardi Gras season under way, New Orleans was caught
up last week in its traditional flurry of preparations for the
10-day pre-Lenten revelry. But much of the euphoria that
usually surrounds the celebration has been replaced this year
by anger and anxiety. Reason: an ordinance passed by a unanimous
vote of the seven-member city council last December that
requires the racially and sexually homogeneous private
organizations that stage the carnival to stop discriminating or
lose their right to parade.

    Though the law would not take full effect until 1994,
opposition has been swift and forceful. The 60 carnival groups,
known as krewes, assailed the measure as a "tragic mistake" that
could drive the festival out of New Orleans. Two of the most
prestigious groups, the Mistick Krewe of Comus and the Knights
of Momus -- both all white, all male -- have announced that they
will not parade, citing government intrusion. Other krewes have
threatened to cancel their parades or relocate them in future
years unless the ordinance is radically altered. Such an exodus
would be devastating for New Orleans, which depends on Mardi
Gras to pack its hotels with thousands of wild-spending tourists
who help give the local economy an annual half-billion-dollar
boost.

    Because Mardi Gras is so indelibly a part of New Orleans,
the debate is threatening the city's social and cultural
fabric. New Orleans now has a 62% black majority, largely
because of white flight. A Times-Picayune poll last week showed
that 66% of voters, including most blacks, want the ordinance
repealed. The law's chief sponsor, councilwoman Dorothy Mae
Taylor, was reviled on posters and T shirts as THE GRINCH THAT
STOLE MARGRAS. Said carnival spokesman Beau Bassich: "The law
wasn't needed. It tampers with a very special tradition that
makes New Orleans' appeal so unique. It is putting everybody
into a no-fun mood."

    Some festival boosters are worried that racial tensions
ignited by the debate could flare into attacks on the 30,000
participants who ride the lavishly designed floats amid crowds
of onlookers. Some wives pressured their husbands not to ride
the floats. "There's an ugly spirit; people are angry," said
councilwoman Peggy Wilson. "People on the floats feel like
they're going to be sitting ducks."

    Backers of the law consider it long overdue. The old-line
krewes, secret outfits whose memberships are never revealed,
exclude not just blacks but also women, gays, Jews and Italians.
They pay only $100.25 for parade permits but enjoy full city
support, including police protection and street cleanup.
Proponents of the new law argue that the issue goes beyond
racial discrimination during Mardi Gras. Some of the most
important krewes have direct ties to such hallowed hideaways as
the Boston, Louisiana and Pickwick clubs, where important
business deals are often hammered out. Says Taylor: "The Mardi
Gras issue is only a smoke screen. There are no crowds of blacks
waiting to jump on floats, but they are waiting for a cut of the
economic pie."

    But Taylor's critics contend that the makeup of the krewes
is the very essence of Mardi Gras's mystical allure, and that
gender bias is actually more prevalent than racial
discrimination. The mostly black Zulu krewe, for example,
excludes women, while the all-female Iris group bars men.
Moreover, opponents question Taylor's motives in pushing for
carnival reform, which was never a real issue until she suddenly
brought it up. They say Taylor not only wants to run for mayor
but is also out for revenge against Wilson, her council
colleague, for successfully pushing a term-limit ballot
amendment last fall that has turned Taylor into a lame duck.
Many residents, black and white, believe Taylor and her allies
have badly misplaced New Orleans' priorities at a time when
crime, housing and other ills are at a peak. "The city's falling
apart, and they go after one of the few things that are still
really working," complained float designer Henri Schindler.
Agreed carnival historian Errol Laborde: "We were just getting
over the David Duke mess, and this hits. This has turned brother
against brother for no good reason at all."

    The city council last week seemed to come around to that
view. It weakened the law by removing jail terms for violators,
leaving only a $300 maximum fine, as well as shifting the burden
for proving compliance from the clubs to those who complain of
discrimination. But that seems unlikely to end the debate. "I'm
worried about long-term effects," observed Bassich. "The damage
may already have been done."