Photo: Mike Macklin/WBZ NewsRadio
BOSTON (WBZ NewsRadio) — Pride was on full display at the 52nd Annual Boston Caribbean Carnival Parade on Saturday.
Colorful costumes and boisterous music filled the streets of Roxbury as residents participated in two parades to celebrate their Caribbean heritage. The celebration started with the J'Ouvert Parade at dawn and continued into a larger processional known as the Caribbean Carnival on Blue Hill Avenue.
"As a daughter of Haitian immigrants is someone who grew up proudly in Caribbean communities and the Trinidad community and the Jamaican community, carnival is a day of joy, it's about expression," one resident stated.
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Several elected officials were present for the occasion, including Mayor Michelle Wu, who cut the ribbon for the main procession. The celebration came on the heels of Mayor Michelle Wu refusing to comply with President Trump's order to end the city's sanctuary laws.
"Here we're being asked not to help enforce criminal law, but actually to carry out mass deportations when there has not been a criminal warrant obtained," Wu remarked.
Boston City Council President Ruthzee Louijeune, the first Haitian American elected to the Boston municipal government, who was also at the parade, says the city will continue to support the culturally rich community regardless of what the Trump administration says.
"We are who we are, we know who we are, our values and our identity, regardless of what's happening at the federal level," Louijeune said.
WBZ NewsRadio’s Mike Macklin (@mikemacklinwbz) reports.