RAM to lead Labor Day parade’s Haitian lineup in major bands’absence 

NEW YORK — RAM and Lespri Ayiti/Team Madada, featuring Colmix, will headline the Haitian presence on Eastern Parkway for the 59th edition of New York Carnival, commonly known as the Labor Day parade in New York’s Caribbean community. RockFam/KG and Lamar Mas will also join the lineup for the iconic parade on Labor Day after three major bands received suspensions.

Held annually in Brooklyn, the 2-mile procession through several neighborhoods draws more than 1 million people, making it one of the Caribbean diaspora’s largest showcases of music, costumes and traditions.

RAM’s participation in the 2026 Labor Day Carnival is intended to be a response to the way Haitians participated in this year’s Boston Carnival and convey a message about leadership, Haitians’ identity and history, said Jensen Desrosiers, one of the organizers for RAM. 

RAM and the spiritual community will dress entirely in white, with about 200 people expected to accompany the band’s float in a solemn procession. Desrosiers said the presentation is meant to convey the message that Haiti can hold another Bwa Kayiman ceremony.

“It is as if we are recreating the Bois Caïman ceremony, which was also held with the participation of the spiritual community,” Desrosiers said.

“Because it is as if we see them trying to enslave us again.”

Nathalie Lafontant, co-founder of Lespri Ayiti/Team Madada, is looking forward to returning to the parade after showcasing Haiti last year with costumes designed by Michel Chataigne.

“This is our second year and we’re going all out,” she said. 

“We know there’s a little cloud hanging over everybody with TPS, [news of Pierre Damas Bel] and how everybody is being treated,” Lafontant said, “but we want to bring a little bit of Haiti back because no matter what, we love our music, we love our colors, we love our country.”

Nathalie Lafontant, co-founder of Lespri Ayiti/Team Madada, poses for a photo with the costumes being drafted for the Labor Day parade on Eastern Parkway on Friday, September 4, 2026. Photo by Bill Farrington for The Haitian Times

Familiar Haitian acts missing 

Several familiar Haitian crowdpleasers, however, will be missing from this year’s celebration. Organizers imposed one-year suspensions on T-Vice, Tony Mix and Sak Pase Nation over alleged violations of festival rules that the bands have disputed as “bogus” and “lies.”

Jessie Al-Kahl, T-Vice’s manager, said the band had already decided not to participate because of ongoing crises affecting Haitians in Haiti and the United States. Because T-Vice never applied for a permit, Al-Kahl said, organizers could not have denied the band participation.

“T-Vice was not denied a permit,” Al-Kahl said in a statement posted on social media. “T-Vice made the conscious decision not to participate on Eastern Parkway this year.”

Sources close to the parade’s planning, however, offered a different account, saying organizers notified the affected groups of their suspensions before registration opened. Permits are also typically issued not to bands but to promoters who contract with the bands to play from their decorated trucks.

“The bands that were suspended were informed of the decision before registration opened and before they could request a permit,” said Mickael Marabou, the Haitian community liaison for the WIADCA Labor Day committee. “This was not a case of the bands applying for permits and then being denied. They were notified in advance that their participation was suspended this year.”

News of the suspension immediately sparked debate among Haitians on social media over whether the community should support the parade. Some said Haitians should sit out the event in light of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detentions ratcheting up fear and exacerbating mental health conditions across the country and loss of income for thousands of former TPS holders. Others support WIADCA’s decision, saying Haitian participants need better structures and organization. 

Others mentioned that they were not feeling festive, listing the recent apparent suicide death of Pierre Damas Bel in Springfield because he had to wear an ankle monitor ICE fitted and mass killings in Kenscoff by gangs still wreaking havoc in Haiti.  

Weighing in during an interview with The Haitian Times, Marabou said she encouraged all Haitians who can to come celebrate. Otherwise, a marked absence may leave the incorrect impression that most Haitians do not have legal status, which is not the case.

On Sept. 4, New York City Public Advocate Jumaane D. Williams joined Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani and other city leaders at a press conference in Brooklyn ahead of Monday’s festivities. Officials sought to reassure attendees about security and other concerns surrounding the parade.

“I don’t want to say there’s no reason to fear any day. I don’t think there’s any more reason to fear to come out on Labor Day,” Williams said.

“I think the fact that we have the mayor that we do, the police commissioner that we do, and the elected officials that we do, we’re going to do everything in our power to protect everyone that’s here, and so we want everybody to come celebrate. It may be a moment of reprieve in a very tough time.”

For Marabou, “this is the perfect year for Haitian Americans and Haitians that have their paper straight to come and support the movement of Haiti to show that we are here in support,” she said. 

“There are enough Haitians that can come out and stand for the nation and show solidarity and show that we are here too. We are part of this one Caribbean fabric.”

The parade steps off at 11 a.m. on Eastern Parkway and Rochester Avenue.

Macollvie J. Neel, Darlie Gervais and Bill Farrington contributed to this report.

The post RAM to lead Labor Day parade’s Haitian lineup in major bands’absence  appeared first on The Haitian Times.