[Kizzy]

Originally Posted by jet

As someone in the article says, if those people were petitioning against racism in schools it would be more helpful than picking on a long standing tradition that isn't meant to be in any way offensive. It's a question of picking your battles.
As the Zulu said:
“So far, based on the information I have, I haven’t [seen] anything racist. I was flattered to see there were people trying to look like me as opposed to saying it is wrong to look like me.”

What an enlightened and sensible man. I sometimes cringe at the way black people are patronised - sometimes I think they must say to themselves
"they think that they are superior to me, that I'm not normal like them, so they have tip toe around me and watch they don't say or do anything to offend my tender sensibilities". I'm maybe not putting that very well, and maybe that is just me, but maybe you can get an inkling of what I'm getting at?

Thanda Gumede, the troupe’s leader, delivered an ultimatum: drop the black face or we won’t come. After delicate negotiations the bonfire society agreed and said it would also remove skulls, nose rings and dead monkeys from its costumes that Gumede, from Durban but living in Leeds, said were a “gross misrepresentation and unacceptable stereotype of Zulu and black people at large”
When his troupe, Zulu Tradition, was first booked Gumede had only seen one image of the bonfire society costumes and did not consider it offensive, but after further research he changed his mind.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...-annual-parade