Cross Bay Boulevard is the site of an annual Labor Day parade in the neighborhood of Broad Channel. A 1998 float titled "Black to the Future: 2098", featuring a group of men dressed in blackface, ate fried chicken and watermelon and re-enacted the dragging killing of James Byrd, Jr. that had occurred just months before in Texas. Many of the 3,000 mostly-white residents of the area that had lined the street were said to have howled in approval of the float. Then-Mayor Rudy Giuliani oversaw the suspension of New York City police officers and firefighters who had participated in the float. The three suspended officers were reinstated in 2003 on First Amendment grounds.

In my opinion this wasn't just one of the most disgusting displays of blatant racism and idiocy, but also the greatest source of embarrasment to the entire Irish/Italian community. How nostalgic.