America’s 250th fun for some Haitian New Yorkers, a fail for others 

NEW YORK — All along New York City’s harbors, bays and piers last weekend, throngs of residents and visitors floated around to watch the day’s celebrations, including a parade of ships, aerial flyovers and the 50th Macy’s 4th of July fireworks.

But for a lot of people, the day unfolded with more intimate gatherings in backyards, living rooms and neighborhood parks where family and friends came together to enjoy each other’s company.

For Daphney Stephens, who co-owns and runs Cafe Lakay, a coffee shop in East Flatbush, the festivities were a great opportunity to get out of her element. She closed her store an hour early on Saturday afternoon and headed to the annual party thrown by her business partner and his wife in their New Jersey home. Stephens said she saw beautiful fireworks from the whole neighborhood.

“I was able to enjoy the fireworks without having to be in the huge crowd, so that the intimacy was amazing,” Stephen said. “I loved it. It was a great experience.”

For others though, enthusiasm for the 250th was dampened by the recent debates around country’s  the foundational principles, some of them affecting immigrants. Many Haitians especially felt the weight of the Supreme Court ruling last month that clears the way for the Trump administration to end Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haiti.  

Porez Luxama, head of Life of Hope, a Haitian community center in Brooklyn, spent the day fielding phone calls from people who had immigration questions.

“What’s the point of having a party,” Luxama said, “when you feel like there’s a death, or there are people in your family you know are not happy?”

Still, throngs of people made it to the 250th celebration displays, from all over the city from all over the world. A Jamaican woman watching the fireworks from Lower Manhattan said she’s a “Caribbean sister” to the Haitian community, and offered a message of hope. 

“Don’t give up. Look towards the light,” she said. “Maybe this is just a passing cloud and something bright will come out of it, something wonderful. I don’t know what it is, but we have to keep reaching for that light and the stars.”

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