Brooklyn's West Indian community celebrated J'Ouvert, an annual street party held at dawn to remember the end of slavery in the West Indies, September 4, 2023, in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York. (Photo by Andrew Lichtenstein/Corbis via Getty Images)
News Americas, BROOKLYN, NY, Weds. Sept. 6, 2023: J’Ouvert in Brooklyn, NY, concluded another violence free year on September 4, 2023.The 2023 celebrations took place early in the morning at Grand Army Plaza and was a major security event for the NYPD, as the department worked to keep weapons and alcohol out of the mix with checkpoints and drones overhead. J’Ouvert originates from the French words “jour ouvert,” and pronounced “Jou- Vay,” meaning daybreak and signals the start of Carnival with historical linkage to slavery when the slaves used the event to mimic their white slave masters. See some of the more artistic participants at this year’s J’Ouvert.
People wear horns to embody a character called “Jab Jab” (from the French for Devil) in a Caribbean street carnival starting at dawn called J’Ouvert on September 4, 2023 in the Brooklyn borough in New York City. (Photo by Stephanie Keith/Getty Images) (Photo by Stephanie Keith/Getty Images) (Photo by Stephanie Keith/Getty Images) (Photo by Andrew Lichtenstein/Corbis via Getty Images) (Photo by Stephanie Keith/Getty Images)People cover themselves with paint and powder called “playing mas” during a Caribbean street carnival starting at dawn called J’Ouvert on September 4, 2023 in the Brooklyn borough in New York City. (Photo by Stephanie Keith/Getty Images) (Photo by Stephanie Keith/Getty Images) (Photo by Stephanie Keith/Getty Images)(Photo by Andrew Lichtenstein/Corbis via Getty Images)
