‘Who’s going to protect me?’ girl given Mardi Gras ‘slave’ doll asks. Coast offers support.
Nicole Fairconeture wanted an apology for her 12-year-old daughter, who was traumatized when a white man handed her, a black child, a black doll with an apron on her waist and a string of beads cinched around her neck.
The worst part, the girl said, was when the man called her back as she was walking off and told her, “That’s you.”
The man handed Mariah Dedeaux the doll Feb. 16 at the Nereids parade. Her mother, who described the doll as looking like “a slave,” went to police the next morning.
The Bay St. Louis Police Department issued a news release earlier this week on Facebook, saying investigators had found “no intent of hatred,” and no violation of state or city law. The department did turn over the information it gathered to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
“At the end of the day, I think about humanity,” Fairconeture told the Sun Herald during an interview after the decision. “I know they (the FBI) have bigger fish to fry. They should have done something right here. I think it should have been resolved at the city level.”
First encounter with overt racism
Fairconeture does not believe the man needs to serve time in jail, but said he could benefit from a racial awareness class or performing community service.
She has tried to teach her children they should always do the right thing because they will be held accountable for their actions. Now, Mariah sees that no one has been held accountable for what happened to her, Fairconeture said.
Mariah has been picked on at school and even called “a snitch” because her mother reported the incident to police. The child’s middle school is working with students to stop the bullying, Fairconeture said.
But Mariah is still scared. She stands near the house instead of at the end of the driveway to wait for the school bus because she is afraid the man will come after her.
She has been studying black history in school and watched the award-winning movie “Harriet,” about former slave and abolitionist Harriet Tubman, several times. She has seen images of lynchings while searching Google for school work, her mother said.
The doll frightened Mariah.
Fairconeture, a licensed practical nurse who grew up in Waveland, said she has never encountered overt racism. Mariah’s father, landscaper Derrick Dedeaux of Pass Christian, said the same.
Their daughter’s encounter was a first for Mariah, too.
Community embraces Mariah
Mariah has been bullied before. She was sad because other children picked on her about her natural hairstyle. She had come to terms with those taunts and was more “carefree” in recent days, her mother said.
Now, Mariah is not sleeping well. “She’s wondering, ‘Who’s going to protect me?’ ” her mother said.
But her parents believe good is coming of the incident. Her mother hopes it will promote racial awareness and understanding.
Mariah is certainly more aware. She worries about all the other children who might be harassed and don’t have the parental support she does. She also has a stepfather, Albert Fairconeture, into whose arms she fell weeping as soon as she returned home from the Mardi Gras parade.
Mariah is shy and quiet. But she is writing down her thoughts. One day, her parents say, she hopes to turn them into a book.
Dedeaux said Mariah told him, “I want everyone in the world to know what I’m going through and what I am going to overcome, especially other kids — of all races.”
The good people of the community have stepped in to help. It started right after other parade-goers, black and white, realized what had been handed to Mariah from the float. “Stop the parade. Get that float off the route,” they called.
Since then, Mariah has been given beautiful dolls, including a Rosa Parks doll a local artist gifted her.
She rode as a queen in the Krewe of Real People Next Generation parade on Fat Tuesday in Bay St. Louis and was also invited along by the Bay Ratz band to ride in another parade.
‘It’s a shame that racism still exists’
Fairconeture wishes Mississippi would consider a bill like the one being proposed in Louisiana after a child in Louisiana caught a throw of a black man with a crudely shaped face holding a watermelon. The bill would make tossing such Mardi Gras throws a hate crime, according to KLFY.com news in Louisiana, a CBS affiliate.
“It’s a shame that racism still exists,” Fairconeture said. “Not only children but adults, if you feel like something’s not right, say something.”
Fairconeture wrote an email to the Sun Herald, trying to collect her thoughts before she sat down for a face-to-face interview. At the end of the email, she said:
“There have been sleepless nights, wet pillows, and words of encouragement from those who love me, but as a mother my heart and my load is heavy,”
“I am still working and serving my community, as I always have, but who is this man? Is he looking me in the face? Is he even apologetic? Is he remorseful?”
