The concept of an “African Band” was birthed after
almost fifteen years of the Washington DC Caribbean Carnival
taking place on Georgia Avenue. In the previous years, there
has of course, been mass participation from the different Caribbean
countries. As the Carnival grew bigger, a good number of Africans
started to take part in the festivities, dressing up in costumes
and enjoying the parade. Culturally speaking, both African and
Caribbean are similar for the most part so assimilation was not
an issue. However, the sad part is that there were many more
Africans watching from the corridors with a feeling on “not-belonging”.
AfriCarnival will be the newest addition to the DC Carnival
in June 2006. AfriCarnival, just as the DC Carnival Committee
received
us with opened arms, is not limited to Africans only.
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