The Zulu Parade performs on the streets of New Orleans on Mardi Gras Day, February 13, 2018. (Photo: Emily Kask/AFP/Getty Images)
While government officials from various ranks in parts of the nation are getting blasted for past associations with the wearing of blackface, the practice will continue for at least one New Orleans group without apology. Channel 4 reports leaders of the Krewe of Zulu say members of the Mardi Gras organization, no matter their color, will continue to don blackface makeup when they parade, a practice that's been going on for more than a century.
A Zulu historian tells the station it's a tradition linked to when founding members were laborers and couldn't afford to buy masks. Others with the group insist the wearing of blackface by members is not done in a spirit of hate.
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