Great informative article Sharonda. Thank you.
The biggest problem I have with Zulu blackface (period, much less in mixed company), as a New Orleanian, is the murky standard it sets for racialized discourse/exchange in an already grossly racist and inequitable city. In the past few years of heightened racial sensitivity, that’s shown itself in the form of many white run parades throwing Confederate dubloons as well as minstrel caricature dubloons. When black folks complain about it, white folks point to the Zulu floats, which are comprised of 20% white folks btw, and say, “what’s the problem?”