Zulu: Racist Blackface or Mardi Gras Tradition?

Another Mardi Gras has begun, and it’s not unlike one Malcolm Suber witnessed for the first time 40 years ago, when he had recently moved to the city of jazz. He stood waiting in similar crowds, feeling a similar energy: He had never before seen a Zulu Parade, which, according to locals, is a must for anyone who comes down to experience Mardi Gras. And as the Zulu Tramps, a subset of the club that leads the parade and is responsible for injecting life into the sleepy yet anxious crowds, come into view, Suber was perplexed: “I was really shocked when I saw Zulu because I had heard so much about Zulu. Then, grass skirts, nappy hair and, of course, the blackface. I said, ‘What is this supposed to represent?’” Suber, who is a co-founder of the activist coalition Take ’Em Down NOLA, was repulsed by the sight of Afro wigs and black greasepaint worn by the Zulu members. “... I was shocked. And the people who I had asked about it were not: ‘That's just Zulu being Zulu.’ … But being Zulu, in this case, means that you are mocking black people, and you are continuing a white supremacist campaign to denigrate black people.” But Zulu, an organization that many call the "heart of New Orleans," say they've been wrongfully taken out of context in an era where political correctness leads to swift judgment.