No Bajan band for Labour Day

It was a sight to behold.
Jubilant Bajan revellers, hundreds of Barbados National Flags fluttering in the breeze along the parade route, and scores of uniformed police and prison officers, many of whom traced their roots to Barbados.
But one thing was missing, perhaps for the first time in many years: a Barbados costumed or T-shirt band with revellers riding on a flatbed truck or dancing behind large vehicles, winding their way down Eastern Parkway during the West Indian carnival that attracts a million masqueraders and spectators on Labour Day in Brooklyn.
“I am glad I have an opportunity to be here and to enjoy the music, see people dance and take in the colour of the costumes on parade,” said Sophia Hinkson, a New York City police officer with 16 years on the force as she waved a Barbados Flag.
“It’s my understanding that we didn’t have a band because the organizers weren’t able to complete all of the documentation needed by the authorities to get permission to participate,” she said.
But Wendell Sealy, a retired captain in the New York City Corrections Department, was undaunted by the absence of a Bajan costumed band.
“We are here to celebrate our culture and we are out in full force and in uniform as corrections officers,” said the Bajan who heads the Association of Caribbean-Americans in Corrections.