Krewe Member Files Suit, Says Mardi Gras Parade After Storm Is Unseemly

Ratcheting up the debate over whether New Orleans should stage Mardi Gras, a senior member of a storied, largely African American krewe filed a lawsuit Monday to block his club from parading through the streets as it has each winter for nearly a century.

“I love Mardi Gras,” said David Belfield, a New Orleans attorney who has been a member of the Zulu Social Aid & Pleasure Club for 29 years.

“It hurts me in my heart to even think that we won’t be having Mardi Gras. But it’s not giving the right message,” he said. “This city is far away from recovery. And we need help.”

Belfield said that staging Mardi Gras, which in the past has generated $1 billion in economic activity, would be unseemly when authorities still are pulling bodies from the rubble left when New Orleans flooded in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

It has been hard enough, he said, for Louisiana to lobby the federal government for a significant commitment to rebuild -- and “the people who write the checks are less likely to send money if they see us frolicking.”

Zulu president Charles Hamilton Jr., however, argued Monday that the festival would provide a crucial economic boost to the city. He said that New Orleans already has lost numerous events that generate tourist activity, such as the upcoming Sugar Bowl, which will be held in Atlanta, and next year’s Essence Music Festival, now scheduled for Houston.

“We lost everything,” Hamilton said. “But we do have control over Mardi Gras. I feel like we should do our part.”

Once Mardi Gras is over, he said, “we will get right back to what we were doing, helping the people rebuild.”

Belfield’s petition argues that his krewe violated its internal rules and state laws governing nonprofit organizations when it met this month to vote on whether to go forward with its parade entry.

With many of the group’s members scattered about the country, fewer than a third attended, Belfield said. Club leaders should have known that their mailings publicizing the meeting would not reach the majority of the krewe, he said.

Belfield is seeking a restraining order that would force his club to vote again. He said it was unlikely that could happen before late February because of notification requirements, meaning a restraining order would effectively keep Zulu from participating in the eight-day celebration ending with Fat Tuesday on Feb. 28.

Hamilton declined to comment on Belfield’s contention, but said: “From my point of view, everything was done properly.”

District Judge Yada T. Magee said arguments would be heard Jan. 23, Belfield said.

The dispute comes at a time when many storm victims, particularly leaders of New Orleans’ black community, are lobbying city and tourism officials to cancel Mardi Gras.

African Americans have had a standoffish relationship with Mardi Gras, which has long been dominated by exclusive, all-white social clubs.

Zulu has been one of the few outlets for black involvement. The krewe’s parade “throws” -- particularly its ornate, painted coconuts -- are among the carnival’s more popular trinkets.