Big Chief "Tootie" Montana, R.I.P.

Jesus, Mary and Joseph! Big Chief "Tootie" Montana, of the Yellow Pocahontas died at the podium of a New Orleans City Council hearing last night. The hearing was about police brutality at this year's St. Joseph's Night celebration, an annual Mardi Gras Indian celebration. It's a terribly sad passing and the whole thing reads like a myth. It's really an amazing story.

Montana, 82, was at the podium, surrounded by more than a dozen other chiefs when he fell silent, then slumped to the floor. As murmurs and prayers began rising from through the standing-room-only crowd, a police captain and bystander worked furiously to revive Montana. He died a short time later at Charity Hospital.

After minutes passed without an ambulance, the crowd quickly sensed the urgency of the situation. But instead of grief or panic, the chiefs and spy boys and flag boys and queens of the assembled tribes launched into a somber rendition of "Indian Red," a slow spiritual song that is a staple at Mardi Gras Indian funerals.

As an ambulance carried Montana away, Thomas offered an impromptu prayer.

"Everybody needs to pray for the chief," Thomas said, his voice trembling. "If we're never together on anything, let us be together in praying for Tootie and his family. . . . Maybe this is the moment that can bring New Orleans together like never before."

Moments after Montana was rushed to Charity, family members, Indians, City Council members and activists gathered on the emergency room entrance ramp. When Montana's death was announced, some people wailed, some wept silently and some began chanting in the peculiar and mystical dialect of the Indians.

Thomas, who had called for the public hearing, began sobbing. "Oh my God, this is my fault," he cried. He was quickly consoled by several members of the Indian community.

It's unbelievable. I'm just so shocked and blown away by this story.

Comments

[Jaime]

crazy!

[chomps]

BIG CHIEF

[Ann Garrison]

Do you know how the Mardi Gras Indians fared during the hurricane and flood?

What kept them together till then, as Mardi Gras indians, besides the masking art?

Did they live in the same neighborhood and associate or share other traditions, outside the Mardi Gras krewe? Were they related. as family? What commonality led the various Mardi Gras Indians to embrace this tradition?

Have they taken a stance in the politics of post-hurricane New Orleans? I'm particularly interested because I'm on my way to volunteer in the clean-up with the Common Ground Relief Collective in the Algiers District. (You can find them online.)

It's hard to imagiine aesthetic perfection exceeding that of Tootie Montana's life story.

I particularly like Tootie in pink, a color that many men will not wear, just because of its association with the feminine. He certainly was "the prettiest."

The Mardi Gras Indians seem like some of the best support one could find for the argument for "the right to return" now being made. I'm not sure, but I believe this phrase may have entered common parlance with reference to the Palestinians, as in Resolution 194, Article 11.

Since he was a peacemaker, and because of the alliteration, I couldn't help considering any similarities between the lives of Tootie Montana and Stanley Tookie Williams, another native of New Orleans and a peacemaker. I didn't come to any significant conclusions; the comparison simply struck me.

Thanks for this beautiful site about Tootie Montana's beautiful life.

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