Due to the coronavirus pandemic, West London’s yearly Afro-Caribbean street party, Notting Hill Carnival, will be witnessed on computer screens around the world, streaming hours of music and performance. 

An event that dates back to the 1960s, the two-day carnival is held at the end of August and attracts more than a million visitors being a symbol of interracial tolerance and celebration of the Afro-Caribbean community. 

In a report by Reuters, the physical parade was already cancelled earlier this year due to COVID-19 restrictions. As regulations persist, gone are the booming sound systems and extravagantly costumed dancers marching through the crowded streets as well.

To keep the carnival’s spirit alive, organizers have spent a month filming acts to be broadcast over the Internet between Aug. 29 and 31, hopefully bringing it to a more global audience as well.

Matthew Phillip, the carnival’s executive director, expressed his dismay and hope for this year’s festivities saying, “First I was very sad that it wouldn’t be on the streets – I still am – but I’m very excited about the possibilities of this year taking Carnival into unique places.”

A celebration of race, a protest of work to be done

The roots of the carnival can be traced post-war when Britain opened its borders to Caribbean citizens in an effort to alleviate labor shortages and rebuild the country – causing racial tension.

In the same streets where the riots took place, the event celebrating Caribbean music, food, and culture gave way as a significant effort to bring communities together.

The first online Notting Hill Carnival will be set against a milieu of raised alertness regarding racial inequality in Britain, and while a virus that continues to circulate affect Black communities.

Therefore, will this year’s carnival be more meaningful?

“Carnival is always relevant you know… Carnival itself is almost a protest, it’s people claiming the streets,” Phillip told Reuters.

After the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, thousands of protesters marched in London last June under the banner of the Black Lives Matter movement, condemning police brutality and racial inequality. 

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VP Democratic bet is “right person” for the role

Kamala Harris stood in front of the crowd in Wilmington, Delaware, and shared a short story about her roots as she made her first appearance to the public as the running mate of presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden.

“My mother and father, they came from opposite sides of the world to arrive in America. One from India and the other from Jamaica in search of a world-class education. But what brought them together was the civil rights movement of the 1960s. And that’s how they met as students in the streets of Oakland marching and shouting for this thing called justice in a struggle that continues today,” CNN quoted Harris as saying.

Biden praised the California Senator, who he called “the right person” for the role of vice president.

“I had a great choice but I have no doubt that I picked the right person to join me as the next vice president of the United States of America and that’s senator Kamala Harris,” Biden said as quoted by CNN. “Kamala, as you all know, is smart, she’s tough, she’s experienced, she’s a proven fighter for the backbone of this country. The middle class. For all those who are struggling to get into the middle class. Kamala knows how to govern, she knows how to make the hard calls. She’s ready to do this job on day one.”

The 55-year-old vice presidential bet responded by saying that she is proud to stand with Biden, adding that she was “ready to go to work.”

Harris inspires locals in Jamaica

According to an AFP report, Kamala Harris’ father, Donald Harris, served as an economics professor at prestigious Stanford University in California. In his biography published on Stanford’s website, her father is a naturalised U.S. citizen but “had a continuing engagement with work on the economy of Jamaica, his native country.” Donald Harris served as a consultant to Jamaica’s government and its PMs.

This strong string of connection had made the locals in Jamaica feel a sense of joy in Harris’ historic feat.

“My heart is soaring for all the kids out there who see themselves in her and will dream bigger because of this,” said Felicia Mills, a 36-year-old executive secretary, in an interview with the AFP, describing Harris as an “honorary Jamaican.”

Popular Jamaican political commentator Kevin O’Brien Chang also said Harris’s candidacy shined a positive light on the island.

“She has spoken positive about Jamaica in the past, she is aware of her heritage and proud of it,” he said. “It shows greatness, and it translates well, that the daughter of two immigrants born in the United States could aspire to the second most powerful job in America.”

Jamaica’s foreign affairs minister Kamina Smith also took to Twitter her greetings to Harris.

With under three months to go until election day in the United States, people in Jamaica can tell that Harris’ nomination is a masterful step.

“It’s a genius move,” said University of the West Indies politics student Francine James. “Any attempts by the Republicans at being nasty towards her… will likely backfire.”

Meanwhile, Jamaica’s election day has also been announced. And with the COVID-19 pandemic, election campaign protocols were rolled out.

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