Susan Slyomovics’ “New York City’s Muslim World Day Parade” paints a detailed picture of the Muslim World Day Parade, a parade that South Asian Muslims use to “speak for the larger Muslim community to other New Yorkers” (158). As Slyomovics reveals, the way that Muslims go about doing this is intriguing.
The parade appeals visually to bystanders through the use of colorful costumes, floats, and oversized signs. Already, this can be seen as distinct from the Mexican community’s El Viacrucis del Inmigrante, which, despite being located in the financial district of Manhattan, was not aimed at easily informing and welcoming bystanders. What makes the Muslim World Day Parade unique, however, is that Muslims weave their religious beliefs and practices into the parade, temporarily creating a “Muslim space on a New York City venue” (164). The way that the Muslim community does this is by transforming the intersection of Lexington Avenue and Thirty-Third Street into a space of prayer for the hundreds of participants of the parade. This corresponds to the goal of the parade, which is for the Muslim community to assert itself as a religious group, instead of the “South Asian” label it is typically confined to.
The Muslim World Day Parade takes on the more typical aspects of a parade after this moment of prayer with bands playing during the procession. The parade also very strategically and specifically incorporates signs into the procession, something that Slyomovics states is a distinctive characteristic of the parade. These signs are a crucial feature of the parade, meant to help onlookers gain further understanding into the parade and the Islamic religion. While reading this, I was reminded of the Mexican community’s Viacrucis, which we learned was not aimed at making it easy for a bystander to comprehend what was going on in the Viacrucis.
While reading this article, I was also reminded of all the anti-Muslim sentiment that has risen and spread within the past few years. This is due to the events of September 11, and Slyomovics also touches upon previous tensions in her article. Given the fact that recently, we have had a priest call for a day to burn the Koran, and a politician hold essentially anti-Muslim hearings, I think that the Muslim World Day Parade is only going to become more and more crucial to educating the New York onlookers about the Muslim religion.
