Maya McFadden Photo
New Haveners gave “President Trump” a beating hours just before the election polls opened in Fair Haven.
The Trump in question was a pinata.
It took the beating in the final leg of a celebration Monday night of the Mexican holiday Día de los Muertos, or the Day of the Dead (one of two separate simultaneous Day of the Dead celebrations in town).
A caravan of 40 celebrated the holiday in three parts of town, while also touting a message to for voters to “Vote Against Hate” the day before election day.
The 10th annual Day of the Dead celebration was organized by Unidad Latina en Accion (ULA), Black & Brown United in Action, Hamden Action Now, Casa Otoñal, and Bregamos Community Theater.
Organizers joined with the community at Casa Otoñal on Sylvan Avenue Monday to decorate cars with giant puppets, painted floral art and colorful calaveras, also known as sugar skulls.
This year’s parade was dedicated to Covid-19 victims, particularly those affected due to the effects of systemic racism on Black and brown communities, said John Lugo, ULA’s lead organizer.
According to the CDC, Blacks and Latinos have been more than three times as likely as whites to die of the disease and have had more than five times the amount of Covid cases as whites.
The caravan of cars drove in celebration of the culture and political power of immigrants and Latinos.
“This is between life and death. Hate and peace,” said Lugo.
Many community members cannot currently vote due to their immigration status. Monday’s event and its “dump Tump” message gave them a way to play a role in the community as “agents of change,” Lugo said.
The route led drivers through the Hill, Dixwell, Downtown, then Fair Haven. Neighbors stood wrapped in blankets on their front doorsteps cheering and recording the lit up cars parading by. The caravan cars honked the whole way through demanding the message be heard: “Honor the dead! Fight for the living! Vote against hate!”
Doris Navarrete, 52, Dante Petti, 23, and Mallory Crorey, 22 (above) joined the caravan to fight on the side of “truth and reality,” said Petti.
Navarrete, who immigrated to the U.S when young, said New Haven feels like home, especially with its large Hispanic population.
“This is a nation of immigrants. We need a president who sees that and supports us all,” she said.
The caravan stopped on Kimberly Avenue for families to gather briefly for two traditional holiday drinks— fruit-infused tea and cinnamon rice milk, or horchata, paired with a loaf of bread known as pan de os muertos.
New Haven activist Marylou Heiddmann helped distribute the traditional food and drink. The bread she handed to each participant represented the bones of the deceased and the drink honored the tears of the living.
Friends Nayeli Garcia, 22, and Lucia Núñez Del Prado, 16, joined the celebration to honor their culture. The two went car to car with washable markers decorating the windows with neon green, yellow, and pink flowers and skulls.
Lucia Núñez Del Prado and Nayeli Garcia.
“We are political like everyone else,” said Garcia. “We want to say the president is racist, and we deserve fair treatment.”
Per a specific request, Garcia and Núñez Del Prado decorated one car with multiples of the number 43. The number represented the 2014 Ayotzinapa (Iguala) mass kidnapping of 43 students in Mexico, allegedly done by Mexican law enforcement.
Many painted their faces, wore masks and weaved flower decor in their hair.
The caravan’s final stop was on Grand Avenue for more warm drinks and bread. The celebration and political call ended with a giant Trump pinata beat-down.
Mia Gutiérrez, 2, took the first hits to the Trump pinata strung up to a tree on Grand Avenue.
Participants picked up sticks from the ground and used them to break open the pinata. One participant suggested the pinata be set on fire. Lugo agreed, but the group didn’t go through with it.
The night ended to the beats of Merengue and Bachata, as some participants stayed to dance.
Fair Havener Jessica, 17, heard about the Grand Avenue gathering from a neighbor and came with her family. “This felt like a family gathering,” she said.
Kevin Sanchez Walsh
Whether one is for Trump or Biden, it is totally shameful that the NHI would post some of these photos, particularly the one with "F-CK Trump". Doubtful that the NHI would post "F_CK Biden", nor should it. Shameful.