{"id":34041,"date":"2026-07-07T14:31:42","date_gmt":"2026-07-07T18:31:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/design-providers.com\/rise\/americas-250th-fun-for-some-haitian-new-yorkers-a-fail-for-others\/"},"modified":"2026-07-07T14:31:42","modified_gmt":"2026-07-07T18:31:42","slug":"americas-250th-fun-for-some-haitian-new-yorkers-a-fail-for-others","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/design-providers.com\/rise\/americas-250th-fun-for-some-haitian-new-yorkers-a-fail-for-others\/","title":{"rendered":"America\u2019s 250th fun for some Haitian New Yorkers, a fail for others\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\n<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"article-summary-title\">Overview:<\/h2>\n<p>Many Haitian New Yorkers marked America\u2019s 250th with both celebration and concern.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">NEW YORK \u2014 All along New York City\u2019s harbors, bays and piers last weekend, throngs of residents and visitors floated around to watch the day\u2019s celebrations, including a parade of ships, aerial flyovers and the 50th Macy\u2019s 4th of July fireworks.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But for a lot of people, the day unfolded with more intimate gatherings in backyards, living rooms and neighborhood parks where family and friends came together to enjoy each other\u2019s company.<\/p>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_swiper-wrapper swiper-wrapper\">\n<li class=\"wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_slide swiper-slide\">A family watches the fireworks beneath the FDR Drive on Saturday, July 4, 2026. Photo by Allison Hunter for The Haitian Times.<\/li>\n<li class=\"wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_slide swiper-slide\">A father holds his child aloft as fireworks begin, beneath the FDR Drive in Lower Manhattan on Saturday, July 4, 2026. Photo by Allison Hunter for The Haitian Times.<\/li>\n<li class=\"wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_slide swiper-slide\">A young boy watches from a man\u2019s shoulders as tall ships pass the Shore Road Promenade in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, on Saturday, July 4, 2026. Photo by Allison Hunter for The Haitian Times.<\/li>\n<li class=\"wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_slide swiper-slide\">Military jets trail red and white smoke over the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge as a tall ship enters the Narrows on Saturday, July 4, 2026. Photo by Allison Hunter for The Haitian Times.<\/li>\n<li class=\"wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_slide swiper-slide\">A family takes snapshots beneath the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge during the tall ships parade in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn on Saturday July 4, 2026. Photo by Allison Hunter for The Haitian Times.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_button-prev swiper-button-prev swiper-button-white\" role=\"button\"\/><a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_button-next swiper-button-next swiper-button-white\" role=\"button\"\/><a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"Pause Slideshow\" class=\"wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_button-pause\" role=\"button\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For Daphney Stephens, who co-owns and runs <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/cafe_lakay\/\">Cafe Lakay<\/a>, a coffee shop in East Flatbush, the festivities were a great opportunity to get out of her element. She closed her store an hour early on Saturday afternoon and headed to the annual party thrown by her business partner and his wife in their New Jersey home. Stephens said she saw beautiful fireworks from the whole neighborhood.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI was able to enjoy the fireworks without having to be in the huge crowd, so that the intimacy was amazing,\u201d Stephen said. \u201cI loved it. It was a great experience.\u201d<\/p>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_swiper-wrapper swiper-wrapper\">\n<li class=\"wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_slide swiper-slide\">Daphney Stephens inside Cafe Lakay in East Flatbush, which she co-owns and runs. On Saturday, she closed a little early to join friends in New Jersey for a 4th celebration filled with fireworks over the neighborhood.\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_slide swiper-slide\"><\/li>\n<li class=\"wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_slide swiper-slide\">Daphney Stephens inside Cafe Lakay in East Flatbush, which she co-owns and runs. On Saturday, she closed a little early to join friends in New Jersey for a 4th celebration filled with fireworks over the neighborhood.\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_button-next swiper-button-next swiper-button-white\" role=\"button\"\/><a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"Pause Slideshow\" class=\"wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_button-pause\" role=\"button\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For others though, enthusiasm for the 250th was dampened by the recent debates around country\u2019s\u00a0 the foundational principles, some of them affecting immigrants. Many Haitians especially felt the weight of the <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/haitiantimes.com\/2026\/07\/02\/supreme-court-tps-ruling-little-haiti-brooklyn-haitians\/\">Supreme Court ruling last month that clears the way for the Trump administration to end Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haiti.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Porez Luxama, head of <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.lohnyc.org\/\">Life of Hope<\/a>, a Haitian community center in Brooklyn, spent the day fielding phone calls from people who had immigration questions.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWhat\u2019s the point of having a party,\u201d Luxama said, \u201cwhen you feel like there\u2019s a death, or there are people in your family you know are not happy?\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Still, throngs of people made it to the 250th celebration displays, from all over the city from all over the world. A Jamaican woman watching the fireworks from Lower Manhattan said she\u2019s a \u201cCaribbean sister\u201d to the Haitian community, and offered a message of hope.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cDon\u2019t give up. Look towards the light,\u201d she said. \u201cMaybe this is just a passing cloud and something bright will come out of it, something wonderful. I don\u2019t know what it is, but we have to keep reaching for that light and the stars.\u201d<\/p>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_swiper-wrapper swiper-wrapper\">\n<li class=\"wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_slide swiper-slide\">Noella Gueye, a DJ, photographer and videographer visiting from Nice, France, records the fireworks from beneath the FDR Drive in Lower Manhattan on Saturday, July 4, 2026. Photo by Allison Hunter for The Haitian Times.<\/li>\n<li class=\"wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_slide swiper-slide\">A specatator visiting from South Africa, who asked not to be named, poses for a portrait along the East River waterfront before the fireworks on Saturday July 4, 2026. Photo by Allison Hunter for The Haitian Times.<\/li>\n<li class=\"wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_slide swiper-slide\">Fireworks burst over the East River during the 50th Macy\u2019s 4th of July show on Saturday, July 4, 2026. Off-duty FDNY members and their families watched from a section of the waterfront esplanade beneath the FDR Drive reserved for them. Photo by Allison Hunter for The Haitian Times.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_button-prev swiper-button-prev swiper-button-white\" role=\"button\"\/><a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_button-next swiper-button-next swiper-button-white\" role=\"button\"\/><a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"Pause Slideshow\" class=\"wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_button-pause\" role=\"button\"\/><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t<span id=\"wordads-inline-marker\" style=\"display: none;\"\/><\/p>\n<p><h3 class=\"jp-relatedposts-headline\"><em>Related<\/em><\/h3>\n<\/p>\n<p>\t<script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Overview: Many Haitian New Yorkers marked America\u2019s 250th with both celebration and concern. NEW YORK \u2014 All along New York City\u2019s harbors, bays and piers last weekend, throngs of residents and visitors floated around to watch the day\u2019s celebrations, including a parade of ships, aerial flyovers and the 50th Macy\u2019s 4th of July fireworks. But [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":34042,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/haitiantimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/29_260704FIRE_01_291-scaled.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[11991],"tags":[14741,4318,5013,5293,35,12011,24084],"class_list":["post-34041","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-haiti-news","tag-250th","tag-americas","tag-fail","tag-fun","tag-haitian","tag-latest-news","tag-yorkers"],"rttpg_featured_image_url":{"full":["https:\/\/haitiantimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/29_260704FIRE_01_291-scaled.jpg",0,0,false],"landscape":["https:\/\/haitiantimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/29_260704FIRE_01_291-scaled.jpg",0,0,false],"portraits":["https:\/\/haitiantimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/29_260704FIRE_01_291-scaled.jpg",0,0,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/haitiantimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/29_260704FIRE_01_291-scaled.jpg",150,150,false],"medium":["https:\/\/haitiantimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/29_260704FIRE_01_291-scaled.jpg",300,300,false],"large":["https:\/\/haitiantimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/29_260704FIRE_01_291-scaled.jpg",1024,1024,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/haitiantimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/29_260704FIRE_01_291-scaled.jpg",1536,1536,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/haitiantimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/29_260704FIRE_01_291-scaled.jpg",2048,2048,false],"post-thumbnail":["https:\/\/haitiantimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/29_260704FIRE_01_291-scaled.jpg",370,265,false],"kava-thumb-s":["https:\/\/haitiantimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/29_260704FIRE_01_291-scaled.jpg",150,85,false],"kava-thumb-s-2":["https:\/\/haitiantimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/29_260704FIRE_01_291-scaled.jpg",230,230,false],"kava-thumb-m":["https:\/\/haitiantimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/29_260704FIRE_01_291-scaled.jpg",400,400,false],"kava-thumb-m-vertical":["https:\/\/haitiantimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/29_260704FIRE_01_291-scaled.jpg",370,500,false],"kava-thumb-m-2":["https:\/\/haitiantimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/29_260704FIRE_01_291-scaled.jpg",570,450,false],"kava-thumb-l":["https:\/\/haitiantimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/29_260704FIRE_01_291-scaled.jpg",1170,650,false],"kava-thumb-xl":["https:\/\/haitiantimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/29_260704FIRE_01_291-scaled.jpg",1920,1080,false],"kava-thumb-masonry":["https:\/\/haitiantimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/29_260704FIRE_01_291-scaled.jpg",600,999,false],"kava-thumb-justify":["https:\/\/haitiantimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/29_260704FIRE_01_291-scaled.jpg",640,640,false],"kava-thumb-justify-2":["https:\/\/haitiantimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/29_260704FIRE_01_291-scaled.jpg",1280,640,false]},"rttpg_author":{"display_name":"#RiseCelestialStudios","author_link":"https:\/\/design-providers.com\/rise\/author\/ralph-c\/"},"rttpg_comment":0,"rttpg_category":"<a href=\"https:\/\/design-providers.com\/rise\/category\/haiti-news\/\" rel=\"category tag\">Haiti News<\/a>","rttpg_excerpt":"Overview: Many Haitian New Yorkers marked America\u2019s 250th with both celebration and concern. NEW YORK \u2014 All along New York City\u2019s harbors, bays and piers last weekend, throngs of residents and visitors floated around to watch the day\u2019s celebrations, including a parade of ships, aerial flyovers and the 50th Macy\u2019s 4th of July fireworks. But&hellip;","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/design-providers.com\/rise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34041","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/design-providers.com\/rise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/design-providers.com\/rise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/design-providers.com\/rise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/design-providers.com\/rise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34041"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/design-providers.com\/rise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34041\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34043,"href":"https:\/\/design-providers.com\/rise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34041\/revisions\/34043"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/design-providers.com\/rise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34042"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/design-providers.com\/rise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34041"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/design-providers.com\/rise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34041"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/design-providers.com\/rise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34041"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}