Boston’s Caribbean Carnival returns a year after mass shooting: ‘I always feel safe’

Boston’s Caribbean community, donning bright, exquisite costumes of crowns, feathers, masks, and rhinestones danced and sang along the streets of Roxbury and Dorchester as a strong police presence kept watch over the celebration.

“I always feel safe,” Montserrat native Jadine Greenaway told the Herald Saturday afternoon as she prepared for the city’s annual Caribbean parade. “The Boston police officers do a wonderful job, they are out here, they’re smiling like they’re confident. The Boston EMS are out here. Everyone is here to make sure we have a wonderful day.”

“Boston is my second home,” Greenaway said. “Why wouldn’t I feel safe here?”

Last year’s Caribbean Carnival was marred by a mass shooting that left eight people injured, leading to concerns and calls for an increased police presence to ensure the safety of all participants, spectators, and the community at large.

Boston Police Commissioner Michael Cox responded to those concerns, changing the route for the morning J’ouvert parade, where last year’s shooting took place, and pledging aggressive enforcement and support from state police.

The J’ouvert parade, which started at 6 a.m. and took place exclusively on Circuit Drive in Franklin Park, went off without a hitch, said Shirley Shillingford, who has served as president of Boston Caribbean Carnival for 34 years.

“So far, it has started out good, and we are hoping it continues,” Shillingford, a Jamaican native, told the Herald. “All of the police have been wonderful. We could have never asked better of them.”

Boston Police made at least 15 arrests and recovered about nine firearms during the day’s festivities, Sgt. Det. John Boyle told the Herald Saturday evening.

Addressing the issues that have occurred at the Caribbean Carnival celebrations in past years, Cox said Friday there would be “zero-tolerance for any kind of violence whatsoever.”

The Carnival celebration is considered to be “family-friendly,” he said, meaning that no weapons, including permitted guns, would be allowed. Cox also urged residents to call police to report any neighbors holding late- or overnight parties, which the commissioner said have led to problems in past years.

Greenaway, 46, has come to the Carnival ever since she was a 16-year-old, having immigrated from Montserrat at age 8. This year, she helped design costumes for the Boston Socaholics, a band that plays music she described as the “R&B of the West Indies.”

“It’s my ability, and our ability, as Caribbean people,” said Greenaway, wearing rhinestones and a purple-and-gold costume, “to showcase our artistry, to showcase our culture, our music, and really show how much spirit we have, how free we are, how we embrace life as it is, and we take time to truly enjoy life.”

Last Sunday evening, five people were shot inside Franklin Park, an incident that Cox described as a “heinous act” that marred the end of the Dominican festival. All of the injuries appear to be non-life-threatening, police said.

Tito Jackson, a former city councilor for Roxbury and Dorchester named the grand marshal for this year’s Caribbean Carnival, pointed out how BPD has told him the city’s “had the safest year so far.”

“We will not allow one person or one incident to cast a shadow on the wonderful people, on the wonderful community,” Jackson told the Herald, adding he looked forward to feasting on jerk chicken during the day’s festivities. “We will not allow any news outlet to tell who and what we are. We know we are this city, we make up this city, we work hard every day to live here.”

City Councilor Ed Flynn sent a letter to the police commissioner in the days before the Carnival, urging Cox to request “law enforcement assistance of neighboring cities and towns for this weekend with many events taking place across the city, including the Caribbean parade.”

“Everything is going well,” Flynn told the Herald as he arrived to Martin Luther King Boulevard before the main parade started in the afternoon. “It’s about working together and respecting each other. That’s a critical part of it.”

U.S. Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-MA 7th District, called the Caribbean Carnival the “perfect capstone” on the heels of having just returned from the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.

“Let us not forget that this is an incredible contributor to our economy, it makes this a destination location,” she told reporters. “It’s a family-friendly event, a tradition that people who’ve grown up in the city their entire lives look forward to.”