[cool, light jazz tune playing]
Downloaded from YTS.MX
Official YIFY movies site: YTS.MX
- [jazzy music fades] - [streetcar rattling on tracks]
- [birds singing] - [bell tolling in distance]
[insects chirring]
[paint spraying]
[trumpet playing in distance]
- [overlapping conversations] - [brass instruments warming up]
[excited chatter and laughter]
[brass band playing energetic tune]
[man] The name of this organization is
the Zulu Social Aid & Pleasure Club, Incorporated.
The dues cost too much, in my opinion, but...
- [man 2] You gotta pay to play. - [man 3] Oh Lord!
[man] Man, look... We are the dues-paying members.
But go outside them gates, man. Zulu is owned by everybody.
Everybody here feels a part of us.
But ain't no question about what the soul of Mardi Gras is.
Ain't no question about the crowds that are out there to see us.
There wouldn't be no Mardi Gras without Zulu.
[man 4] I'm throwing things from the back of the float.
Beads and everything.
I miss my own children by a second.
The float passed 'em up because I couldn't see.
It's like looking at shag carpet.
"You looked right at me. You looked right..."
- Man, it's a sea of faces. - That's what everybody say. I looked!
- "You looked right at me!" - [man 5] How much you had to drink?
- [man 4] Huh? - How much you had to drink?
[man 3] Hey! Hold on.
I know my own children! I don't care how much I had to drink.
But let's get it clear. There is no drinkin' on the float.
First of all, there is no drinkin' on the float.
It's just so many people, you can't see, I think.
- [man 5] Right. - [group laughs]
- That's my story, and I'm stickin' to it. - [man 4] Wait, no.
[group laughs]
A three-year-old goes his whole life seeing Zulu.
Zulu King from 30 years from now,
he's on a parade route somewhere saying, "I wanna be that guy on the float."
And that's the magic of this whole thing.
The energy that Zulu brings cannot be matched.
When Zulu come through, it's a spiritual experience.
That's the only way you can put it.
[raucous brassy fanfare playing]
[cheering and whooping]
[excited shouting]
[festive marching band tune fades]
[motor starts]
♪ Every year at Carnival time ♪
♪ We make a new suit ♪
♪ Ah ♪
♪ Red, yellow, green, purple, or blue ♪
♪ We make a new suit ♪
[motor turns off]
[seabirds calling]
How many people you got comin' from out of town?
I got about... eight or nine comin' from California.
And about six comin' from, uh, Texas.
Ah, this'll be my last fishin' trip until Mardi Gras season is over.
Shit, I got to get ready for the ball. Got to get the coconuts ready.
Got to... [groans] ...a lot of sh... a lot of stuff to do, man.
Got a lot of stuff to do.
Come on, suckas.
Get some nice, juicy shrimp.
I'm... I'm way different than a person that grew up in DC or LA
or anywhere else in the United States, y'know?
We're the most Afro-Caribbean place in the United States.
We cook different. We eat different. We talk different.
I don't walk around, "How's it going, guy?"
I never had the desire to speak the Queen's English.
I wanted to speak like a New Orleanian.
And that's something I never wanted to change.
- [man] Ooh, yeah. - [both laugh]
[speaking indistinctly]
[Terrence] At least we can say we caught a fish.
I joined Zulu because I wanted my children
to understand how special their culture is.
Ever since Katrina,
I think Zulu has, uh... become
the foremost, uh, leading krewe in the city.
'Cause we were one of the first to say we want to come back post-Katrina.
And I think that set the tone for the city.
And we held that rightful place ever since.
["Hey Pocky A-way" by The Meters playing]
[whistle blowing]
Zulu coconuts! Get your coconuts over here!
Mardi Gras wouldn't be Mardi Gras without a coconut.
♪ Feel-good music ♪
♪ I've been told... ♪
[woman] Carnival was a magical time for a child growin' up in New Orleans.
You know, Zulu was the parade you were lookin' forward to,
you know, on, um, Carnival mornin'.
[man 1] There was always this mythical thing.
Uh, we knew they existed, that they had this all-Black krewe
and they gave coconuts.
And we imagined that if we got to see them,
that they would see us and throw us all their shit, right?
[crowd cheering]
♪ Hey, pocky a-way... ♪
[man 2] It is as synonymous with New Orleans
as is gumbo, the streetcar, and the French Quarter.
I mean, Zulu is New Orleans.
So, I don't remember when I was much younger,
but I do remember bein' out there, shaving them coconuts.
♪ Hey, hey, hey, hey ♪
♪ Hey, pocky a-way... ♪
It was all of our family and friends, everybody outside, barbecuing.
Early in the mornin'.
I didn't know why we were barbecuin' at 5:00 and 6:00 in the mornin'.
But we were waitin' on Zulu to come, which would never come on time.
Which would be late.
[crowd chanting]
[man] ♪ Yeah, early in the mornin' 'Bout a quarter to three... ♪
And then when Zulu began to pass, I remember runnin' down to Orleans Avenue.
[crowd chanting]
[man] ♪ A fine place with fine wine... ♪
[man 1] We have a hot, funky, rip-roarin' good time.
But we also work hard and do a lot.
And I think that helps to solidify the love that this community has.
We give away hundreds of bikes every Christmas.
Uh, uh... thousands of dollars' worth of, uh...
- [man 2] Food. - Of food and scholarships.
It's our city, man. And what better thing to do
with your funds or your time than to give back to the people
who stand out there on Mardi Gras mornin' to see us go down the street?
What I experience when I come here is being able to be my authentic self
and that be okay.
I don't have to code switch.
You can come here and talk to an elected official that's on high,
or talk to a person that is a public service worker
that keeps our streets clean.
But we're all equal here.
And I think there's power in erasing socioeconomic status and title
and comin' together as Black men.
[man 3] Zulu was originally a second line organization.
'Kay? You know, the first line is the family and et cetera.
What these guys got together, the social... we socialized.
Aid is when a family couldn't pay for a person to be buried,
like benevolent.
So this is what we did.
So we help each other, in the community, supporting.
You couldn't pay your bills you ain't had something to eat,
you couldn't bury your friend, all these brothers was considered
as a social aid and pleasure club.
[band playing solemn funeral march]
[woman] Social aid and pleasure clubs were groups that provided insurance
because the white folks wouldn't bury us.
And so this was how, um, we buried one another.
[brass band playing solemn, rhythmic tune]
[man 4] Our mission was to take care of one another,
take care of the sick, take care of the... our bereaved family at the time of death.
So when a member passes away,
we give them a proper burial, proper closure,
and we call that a jazz funeral.
[drumline playing]
[Rodney Jr.] And then second linin',
dancin', celebratin' that brother to the cemetery
and layin' 'em to rest.
[band playing high-energy jazz music]
[Terrence] Every member looks forward to the jazz funeral when they pass.
And... and I think that's funny.
You know you're gonna be taken care of when you close your eyes.
[boisterous jazz music playing]
Over time, the act of the second line
has been separated from the act of the funeral
and to become its own thing and just, you know,
a way of callin' up the joy whenever you want to,
you know, even if there's not a particular life that you are honoring.
You're honoring all of life.
[lively jazz music continues]
This is a culture that dates all the way back, as we know, to slavery.
- [interviewer] Yeah. - Congo Square.
Sundays was our day off, so we'd get in our best rags,
our best clothing, and we'd come out and we'd, what?
We celebrate what we do. This is us.
[playing along with drumline]
[up-tempo music fades out]
[Terrence] Growin' up in Louisiana, you're constantly reminded of the past.
That's a plantation.
I... I am a sixth-generation New Orleanian.
I can trace my...
my mother's family lineage back to slavery.
At one point in my life, I looked at being the descendant of a slave
as something negative,
whereas today I'm proud to say that I'm a descendant.
That... that's one of the main reasons I joined Zulu, to experience the culture,
learn about the culture, and... and embrace it.
- Wait, how to start it? - [man] Up. Look to your left.
- Yeah, right here. - Go up to your left.
- Right here. All right. - Yeah. Uh-huh.
[projector whirring]
- [Charles] That's Christmas. - [Terrence] Yeah, that's Christmas.
[Charles] So...
That's Ms. Evelyn, Riley's wife.
Vernon, Ms. Joyce.
- Joyce, Vernon's wife? - [both] Uh-huh.
[Charles] Yeah, that was Terrence. Right there.
- Mm. - I... I was preschool right then.
So I'm four years old.
And although that party was goin' on,
me and all my cousins and friends was in another room.
[Barbara] Right.
- We weren't allowed to mingle with adults. - To socialize. That's right.
And if adults was having a conversation, children wasn't allowed to be in the room.
What I liked about back then,
everybody was dressed to the nine, their shoes was shined.
But that's the beauty of growing up in New Orleans, man.
We always celebrating. We enjoy life.
And back then, Black people were catchin' hell.
But yet, they found a way to enjoy themselves.
- ["Ooh Poo Pah Doo" playing] - ♪ Ooh, yeah! ♪
♪ Ooh, yeah! ♪
♪ I wanna tell you 'bout ooh poo pah doo ♪
♪ Baby, call me the most ♪
♪ Ooh poo pah doo ♪
♪ Baby, call me the most ♪
♪ And I won't stop tryin' ♪
♪ Till I create disturbance in your mind ♪
♪ Oh, ooh poo pah doo ♪
♪ Baby, call me the most ♪
♪ Ah, yeah, right now! ♪
- [Terrence] I think that's nursery school. - [Barbara] Yeah.
[Terrence] They used to have a pageant. You'd get to be the King of Zulu.
You know, when I grew up,
it was Disney characters that had kings and princesses.
And Zulu, to me, allowed a Black man an opportunity to be a king.
'Bout 19... I think that's probably, like, 1968 when we first moved in this house.
[Charles] Well, then the neighborhood was... predominantly white when we moved in.
[Terrence] Yeah.
And we was the second Black family to move into this neighborhood.
And... that's how they got to go to that particular school
because it was a neighborhood school.
Their principal wanted to tell me they could not attend that school.
And I told her, "I tell you what, if they won't attend,
you won't be a principal either."
And I stayed there.
I said, "And you're gonna register them, and I'm not leavin'."
[projector switch clicks]
And she said, "My daddy is a judge."
I said, "Mine is a longshoreman. And I'll be right here."
And I said, "Let me tell you something. I know you."
I said, "Your husband is the part owner of the grocery store,
right in front of the place where I grew up."
I said, "And I know he was a racist just like you."
I said, "And I'm not gonna allow you to do that to my child
because if I allow you to do it to mine, that will hurt the other ones."
[gentle music playing]
I said, "My mama was born in 1920."
"And I was born in 1941."
"Her father wanted better for her."
"And I sure in hell want better for my children."
And that's how my kids got in that school.
[reflective music playing]
[Barbara] The first time I went to Zulu, at that time,
they was only allowed to be at the foot of the Canal Street ferry.
And when I saw the Zulu,
with all of that black stuff over their face, I cried.
I couldn't believe it.
- That's what she brought me to see. - [interviewer] So why'd you cry?
'Cause I thought I was gonna see something pretty, and it was ugly.
To me, all that black stuff on their face.
It had...
The nose was black, the white stuff on either side of their eye.
- [interviewer] What did it remind you of? - Huh?
- [interviewer] What did it remind you of? - How they imitated Black people.
Back in the 1900s, the rules are you have to mask.
That's what you have to do.
Every organization wears a mask during Mardi Gras.
But back in those days, African-American men
could not legally wear a mask.
So that's where we came up with the blackface,
the white eye, and the white mouth.
Some say that is a mockery, but that is not what we're out here to do.
We're here to... to represent our organization and mask.
Who was that lady I saw you with this afternoon?
[laughs, in exaggerated accent] That was no lady. That's my wife!
[audience laughs]
[man] Before we could even get out to represent ourselves,
the white supremacist ruling class were already doing it for us
and misrepresenting us through blackface,
through their own warped imaginations of who we were.
Ostensibly, you could say that Zulu were either satirizing
the white supremacist capitalist state that made them have to wear blackface,
or the flip side of it, that maybe they were reaching and called themselves...
you know, tryin' to connect with their African roots and culture.
It just speaks really deeply to the tragedy of how
Black folks have tried to navigate
white supremacist oppression here in the US.
We have a Zulu King, Ma!
That was a Zulu King you hit on the head that time.
[man] The Zulu Social Aid & Pleasure Club was formed in 1909.
It had to be some challenging times
um, for those men to form an organization
to do, um, what was largely disallowed,
and that was Black folk parading through the streets of the City of New Orleans.
[tense music playing]
Zulu was born at a most perilous moment in time.
[man] 1915 is considered the year of the Confederate redemption.
Birth of a Nation was released.
It was the beginning of the resurgence of the Klan.
Race riots in a half a dozen cities, especially in New Orleans,
began to slam the integrated racial order that was...
delicate and full of tension.
Before Zulu, Carnival parades in New Orleans
were by and for white people.
[Mozart's "Piano Concerto No. 21" playing]
[crowd cheering]
[elegant concerto continues]
[Jacques] The white krewes were basically fake aristocracy.
They created these phony kings and queens and all of this to validate themselves
in response to the Confederacy's loss in the Civil War.
They had to restore some sense of superiority.
The parades and the balls all reflected that.
Blacks did participate in the white Mardi Gras parades,
but as flambeau carriers,
to carry a ten-gallon can of kerosene with a flame on top, on a stick,
as attendants to the horses and mules,
and, of course, to clean up after the white folks had a good time.
[brass band playing marching tune]
[band music fades]
Everything that whitey did, and he wouldn't let us do it,
we found a way to do it our own way.
They were parading.
And they didn't have no place,
during those times, for the Afro-Americans.
They formed their own parade.
Hail King Zulu!
[brass band playing rhythmic march]
We feel great to have this opportunity.
To the great City of New Orleans,
and so proud to see the congregation out and present today,
and so proud to have this representation.
Hail to the King of the Zulus of 1929,
Sir Wurry Watson!
[crowd cheers]
[man] Zulu was more than just a social aid and pleasure club.
Zulu was an historical statement
to mock racism
during one of the world's largest,
most historic cultural celebrations, Mardi Gras,
and to tell the oppressor that...
"Still I ride."
[excited chatter]
- [man 1] Okay, what's up? How you doin'? - [man 2] Come on, bro.
Y'all save that for the...
[indistinct chatter]
You got a little tension on. You got a little tension on.
I was raised a Zulu. My father was a Zulu.
My father was a Zulu when I was in high school,
and I graduated from high school in 1965, and he was a Zulu before that.
And it's always a pleasure for me to be amongst... Black men of the city.
At one time, we didn't have this organization like this.
We used to go on the backstreets. Now we're on the main street.
Now we are in the main.
[man 3] Don't let me score that 150 points.
[excited chatter]
Don't let me score this 150 points. Y'all gotta close the club down, for sure.
Well, during Katrina, my home was totally destroyed, okay?
Had six feet of water... in the neighborhood.
The club here was totally underwater.
We had, uh, people working on the club, and we had a barbecue pit outside.
The only light on Broad Street was the Zulu Club.
And the first Mardi Gras parade... will live forever in my mind.
- Mine too, yeah. - That was... that was the Zulu's finest.
- That was memorable. - [Oliver] It was a parade.
'Cause I remember, they didn't want us to have it.
I think it was an argument, huh, Jerome? About us paradin'.
- About us parading. - About us paradin'.
And then they were mad we went through with it,
and it was... I'm glad we did it.
- It was outstanding. - I hope we never do that again.
- It was nice. Yeah. - Breathtaking.
It was really, really breathtaking.
[somber piano music playing]
[man] Well, nobody be going in there for a minute.
It's pretty bad.
I purchased my home in New Orleans East, and, um,
as a result of the storm, I lost it.
About 80%, 90% of the city was underwater.
The majority of our members are... uh, was in Orleans Parish
and was affected by it, so we all went our separate ways.
There was a call sent out to all the officers and members
to come back to the city for an emergency meeting.
And I was in that meeting, man, over in West Baton Rouge,
uh, when there was a battle within Zulu
about whether we were gonna have a carnival or not,
about whether Zulu would march or not, and what it would mean.
There were questions then about whether New Orleans would be New Orleans.
And the men and the brothers in Zulu said,
"We got to make a statement, uh, not just about Katrina."
"We gotta make a statement to the world."
Just thinking about some of the members who had perished during that
will kind of make you misty-eyed thinking about it right now.
- [man 1] This is for us. - [man 2] For us. For New Orleans, baby.
This is a part of the healing from Katrina,
and we are going to have a fabulous, fabulous ride today.
- It's how we do. - This is what we do.
Many people believe now, and historians are writing that,
that decision probably saved the face of the City of New Orleans
and the State of Louisiana as we know it.
From the time we started on Jackson Avenue,
I never sat down.
I stood.
And... and when you turn that corner on Claiborne and Jackson,
man, and that crowd hollerin', "King Zulu, King Zulu,"
it just takes you away.
Then finally, it's my turn to speak, and I just,
I looked over the crowd, and I just said, um,
"Everyone in New Orleans should come down here
and just enjoy Mardi Gras Day,
nothin' better than being in and seeing the Zulu parade."
Um, and the crowd just went, "Oh!"
You know, and... [laughs]
So the mayor says, "That's my kind of king." [laughs]
This is what this is about, right here.
Talkin' about the Zulu ring, and talkin' about the Zulu King.
[laughs]
- One ring, one ring. - One ring, one ring.
That's the Super Bowl ring, all right?
- [laughing] - [man 1] He got one.
- I got one. - [man 2] Mm.
Got a couple of guys in the past here, they got that.
But see that old Cowboys-Steelers shit? That's some bullshit.
That's the ring that matters.
Barack Obama could be the president, but he can't be King Zulu.
There's only one a year.
- [interviewer] He is an honorary member? - One a year.
He's an honorary member, but he can't be king.
We do a fair election, and, uh, you know, we accept the results.
You have to be able to
campaign, make friends,
buy chicken, buy whiskey.
And it's make-believe, but it... you have to pay for that make-believe.
It is make-believe, but in a lot of ways it ain't.
Because the King of Zulu is something that people really revere
throughout this community.
[announcer] It is now official.
He's been crowned by our reigning king, Brother George V. Rainey.
Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you King Zulu 2020,
Brother Brian M. Sims.
[Brian] When you step out as king, you wanna make sure you're gonna be able
to represent yourself, as well as this organization.
Not only to the community of New Orleans but to the world,
because you're being seen by the world.
[excited chatter]
[man 1] This not your first time riding, right?
- Yes. - [man 1] Oh, it is?
- Mm-hmm. - [man 2] You're a virgin.
- Yeah. - [man 1] Aw, shit.
[velvety blues song playing]
Check this out.
- Whose house? - [group] Tramps' house!
- [men] Tramps! - Ta-da!
- See, my wife made my costume. - [interviewer] All right.
Damn! Ooh!
Ooh!
Back in the day, they used to make 'em from palm trees.
They were handmade.
Good old bush wig.
[laughs]
- [man 3] There you go. - [chuckles]
We ready to rumble.
[drumline playing rousing cadence]
[blowing whistle]
Happy Mardi Gras!
[siren wails]
[crowd cheers]
Aw, yeah, baby! Zulu!
[man 1] Happy Mardi Gras!
- [man 2] King Zulu! - [woman] Zulu, Brian Sims!
- [man 3] Hail Zulu. - [man 4] Hail Zulu!
[announcer] Thank you to the Zulu organization
for all that you do year-round for our city and our community.
Hail Zulu!
[crowd cheers]
Happy Mardi Gras. Thank you all so much for coming.
Thank you all.
Happy Mardi Gras.
[sirens wailing in distance]
[woman] March 9th was our first COVID-19 case
in the State of Louisiana.
Two weeks prior to that was Mardi Gras.
[reporter 1] Across Louisiana, the numbers are simply staggering.
[reporter 2] ...zone that is New Orleans,
the city with the highest death rate in the country.
[reporter 3] ...epicenters of the global pandemic.
[reporter 4] Almost four times that of New York.
[Bel Edwards] Slightly more than 70% of all of our deaths
are among African Americans.
So, obviously, this is a big disparity,
and we're gonna try to figure out what we can do about that
as quickly as possible.
We started seeing more and more people, African-American men,
predominantly, coming into the hospital,
getting dropped off, two weeks later, dying.
And a lot of 'em were Zulu members.
The Friday before Mardi Gras is, um, one of the largest balls,
24,000 people strong.
Everyone comes from all over the world to see the King of Zulu.
[Takeisha] Zulu Club is the center of our Mardi Gras parties.
And that's where everybody hung out.
Everybody went to the Zulu ball.
[man] Individuals that I knew,
partied with, went to school with, went to church with.
I went from none to three within a couple of hours.
That is frickin' surreal. It's like, "What the hell?"
And then after that, it just... it kept goin'.
[Terrence] There's an old adage,
"You never miss something until it's gone."
I truly miss, uh, hangin' out here.
See that black flag up there?
Whenever the black flag is flying over the club,
that means a member has passed away.
[horn beeps]
[Terrence] What's happening, man?
What's up?
[man] I heard we lost 15 brothers to COVID.
[Terrence] I thought it was 11. I didn't know we got to 15.
- I stopped countin'. - If I'm not mistaken, it's 15.
[Terrence] It hurts.
I've never been around this much death before in my life.
[Terrence] Yeah.
[somber music playing]
[Terrence] This my first time coming in here
since probably the week after the ball.
It's... it's kind of... heartbreaking 'cause it's always so full of life.
The last time the club was closed this long was Katrina,
and I never thought it'd happen again.
[Rodney Jr.] As of now, we don't have an idea when it's going to reopen.
[Terrence] That's the Wall of Kings.
[Rodney Jr.] You the highlight of Mardi Gras, that Mardi Gras celebrity.
[Terrence] Larry Hammond was a big, big personality.
He was the king during Katrina.
It hit me like a bag of rocks.
Really, I didn't believe it
because he was an older guy, but he was in pretty good shape.
You know, I... I didn't think it would take him out.
So, you know, it was shocking to me, to be honest.
Good morning. My name is Larry Hammond.
Larry A. Hammond, to be exact.
[crowd cheering]
I've been a Zulu King, honorary member,
then life member, and then you sit on the porch.
[laughing]
He was a hell of a guy.
I cried for two hours.
- ["Nobody but You" by Shirley Caesar] - ♪ Nobody but you, Lord ♪
♪ Nobody but you ♪
- ♪ Nobody but you ♪ - [horns honking]
♪ Lord, yeah ♪
[Terrence] You know, it's kind of disheartening.
We can't really reach out to the family that way we want to.
As a benevolent society, we ensure the proper burial.
It's really depressing that we just can't do
what the organization was originally set up for.
[Michael] Preexisting conditions are not just medical ones.
You know? They're socioeconomic.
You don't have access to good health care, to the things you need.
When a pandemic hits, it's gonna hit you a lot quicker and harder.
[sirens wail]
[Takeisha] In New Orleans, depending on where you live, work, and play,
you can die at the age of 55 or 80.
It's utterly unacceptable.
And it has everything to do with
the way we devalue the people who live in the communities
that actually make New Orleans what it is.
[Terrence] I... I live in a place called Destrehan, Louisiana,
which is approximately 22 miles from downtown New Orleans.
Two miles from my house, I have three major chemical plants.
Before I purchased my house, I knew that, and I decided to live in this area
because of the great school system.
Because of the chemical plants,
we were able to get a lot of taxes for the school.
People were able to get, uh, great-paying jobs.
You know, it's a sacrifice we're all making.
Nobody wants to get cancer, but
everybody's gonna die from something, right?
So, it's just a conscious decision I made
that, to me, it was worth... uh, living in Destrehan
because it created the lifestyle that I always envisioned for myself,
minus the chemical plants.
[gentle music playing]
This corner is, uh, very special to me
because my father grew up less than a block from here.
This entire street, uh, was a Black business district of New Orleans.
Just on this corner, there was a restaurant here,
a finance company here,
uh, an auto repair shop here.
And, um, it stretched from here,
in this direction, 20 blocks, all the way to Canal Street.
[bluesy song playing]
♪ Here come Moses ♪
♪ Knockin' on my door ♪
♪ Says it's time to go ♪
♪ Can't stay no more... ♪
[Asali] In 1966,
when the interstate was announced to come through New Orleans,
it was supposed to go along the river.
Um, and the French Quarter residents, um,
who were, you know, politically well-connected and wealthy...
Um, you know, "Not in my backyard."
So, "not in their backyard" meant through our commercial thoroughfare.
That was a very busy street
because people from St. Bernard Parish had to travel that route
to get... get into New Orleans.
But by... when the high-rise came, a lot of business were... was lost.
[Asali] Through eminent domain,
the federal government, state, and city collaborated
to destroy 326 Black-owned businesses on Claiborne Avenue.
Three-hundred and twenty-six Black-owned businesses, right?
So that is a huge transfer of wealth.
No stroke of genius, no magic will suddenly produce roads
commensurate with cars.
♪ Four hundred years in the desert ♪
♪ Still, I roam ♪
♪ Someday, people, I'll build my own ♪
♪ Best get movin', time's gettin' on ♪
♪ Mm-hmm... ♪
[Jacques] First, it bisected the neighborhood.
then it decreased the value of their homes.
They were robbed of the equity in their homes.
This neighborhood was expendable... because it was a Black neighborhood.
[Asali] There's 13 Black neighborhoods
directly impacted by the building of the interstate.
In those communities, the median income is $18,500. Today.
44% of folks don't have access to vehicles.
Less than 10% of students live within a mile of their school,
within a mile of a library.
Levels of incarceration, non-education attainment,
and all of those things equate
to a 25-year difference in life expectancy.
Just by virtue of me deciding to raise my five children
in the neighborhood where they could be by their grandmother and cousins,
I'm giving them less of chances in life and I am cutting their life short.
If I want them to live long, I gotta move.
That ain't fair.
[Jacques] Zulu's route on Mardi Gras Day
always included Claiborne Avenue, always included Orleans Avenue.
And to this day, Zulu is the only parading organization
that parades on Claiborne Avenue,
Orleans Avenue, or really anywhere on the downtown side of Canal Street.
[Oliver] Zulu's connection to the soul of our community was so powerful
that what happened there under the bridge is still part of that tradition.
So I think it was even the club's way of saying,
"Hey, look, nothing's gonna change us from our spiritual route."
[excited chatter]
[man] Check. One, two.
[drummer] Here we go! One more time!
[band playing upbeat tune]
♪ Look, uh, 400 years Blood, sweat, and tears ♪
♪ 2020, I see the same thing here ♪
♪ How it is every day, waking up Realizing it's a blessing ♪
♪ But I realize that we all still Stuck under this oppression ♪
♪ You gotta know it You know that it's true ♪
♪ They sayin' Black Lives Matter But shit don't matter to you ♪
♪ You got to feel it when I'm bringing it Trust my spirit ♪
♪ I hope this is for answers And I hope that you can hear it ♪
♪ Uh! ♪
[playing jazzy solo]
♪ These ain't words, man ♪
♪ Call it commandments ♪
♪ Bring out the freaking guys You know it is due ♪
♪ I'm Black and proud I hope You feelin' the same way too, get up ♪
[bluesy flute solo continues]
[song ends]
[ominous music playing]
[reporter 1] The City of New Orleans says no to any parades in 2021.
[reporter 2] The news about canceling 2021Carnival parades
spread like wildfire Tuesday.
[reporter 3] ...was posted on the city's website, saying, quote,
"Parades of any kind will not be permitted this year."
[keypad beeping]
[Elroy] COVID-19 really took a toll on this organization
beyond what's printed and known about in the media.
And so while I regret not being able to ride in Mardi Gras 2021,
there was so much uncertainty, that numbers were still high,
the death rate across the country was high.
And there was no indication that we were coming out of it anytime soon.
- [Jay] One more time. - [man] Let me know when you're ready.
All right, on three. One, two, three.
My name is Jay H. Banks, and I am the councilman of District B,
here in the City of New Orleans.
The fact that you cannot be here
truly disappoints us, but I am looking forward to the day
when you all can come and physically be in New Orleans.
New Orleans has more to offer than any other city on the planet,
and I will strongly encourage you to come
as soon as you can and enjoy all that we have.
- [man] Perfect, best one yet. - All right, that's right.
- [man] Good job, boss. - 30 seconds?
- [man] That is about 40 seconds. - No, that's fine. That's even more better.
This is just Zulu stuff on this wall.
That one is an election day right after I won.
It was just a totally phenomenal day.
To be a part of this New Orleans history,
uh, your... your life changes.
You go from being, um...
just a person to somebody that's gonna be in a history book forever.
That's Louis Armstrong.
And the second one, black-and-white one,
is Bo Berry, and then that's Charlie Hamilton.
That's the three kings that I think influence me the most.
["West End Blues" by Louis Armstrong playing]
[Jay] Louis Armstrong... on the cover of Time magazine.
Man, look, that took us from here all the way up there.
[soulful blues-influenced jazz continues]
[Armstrong] This is the thrill of my life.
I've always wanted to be the King of the Zulu.
I've been a member all my life.
[interviewer] I noticed you said in your interview with Time
that you had one great ambition in life,
and that was to be King of Zulu, and after that, you could die.
[Armstrong] Yes, well, I don't want the Lord to take me literally, but it is...
[laughter]
Armstrong grew up during the era that Zulu was born.
So the idea of a... Black parade with floats,
uh, costumes, and throws and such
was something new.
A Black man couldn't be mayor, governor, sheriff,
or even dogcatcher, but he could be King of Zulu.
The photographs of Armstrong appearing in blackface
did not serve his reputation well outside of New Orleans.
And, um, I think some of the struggles he faced
in the late '50s and early '60s
could be tied to that.
[DJ] Good morning, everybody.
This your P-Town Prince, your 17th Ward Troubadour.
Uptown Renaissance man.
Comin' at you live and direct from the WBOK Studios in chilly Gentilly.
And you know what? I got a hot one for you today.
Today's topic...
Is it time for Zulu to take off the blackface?
I think I rode in a Zulu parade at least four times, and enjoyed every single ride.
And there was one ride in particular.
It was like one of the... one of the funnest days of my life.
I enjoyed every second of it.
When it was over, if they say,
"Hey, how many people down to do this one more time right now?"
I would have been like, "Let's go. I'm with it."
The next day, I come to this very coffee shop.
I'm tired and hungover.
I get a cup of coffee, and I get my paper,
and I'm sittin' down, and I look at the front page of the paper,
and... and I see a guy from Zulu on the front page,
and the first thing I say is,
"Now, that guy look like he's havin' a good time." [laughs]
And then I realize that was me on the front page of the paper,
in blackface!
["What Did I Do to Be So Black and Blue" by Jack Teagarden playing]
[Chuck] Somehow in my own head,
I was willing to live with the cognitive dissonance,
and... and to sorta say, "Look, because I know these guys,
I know that it isn't what you believe."
[expressive jazz continues]
[Chuck] Like Louis Armstrong,
I think he kind of suffered from the exact same thing.
He was givin' a nod to his homies, to the... to the people he came up with
'cause he loved those people.
But now when he end up in blackface,
in... in Time and Life magazine, and you got people all over the country
who's seeing this picture, and they can't put it in any context.
The only thing they know is what they know about minstrels
and all the other bad shit that comes along with it.
You know, they... it forced them to see Louis Armstrong in a different way,
and I think, um, Billie Holiday was quoted as saying
that Louis Armstrong was a Tom to his heart.
♪ My only sin ♪
♪ Is in my skin ♪
♪ What did I do ♪
♪ To be so black and blue? ♪
[brassy jazz tune ends]
You know, I've always been against blackface,
but think about what it means to Zulu.
[calming music playing]
Before they became Zulu, um, the name of the organization was the Tramps.
And they went to see a play about Shaka Zulu at the Pythian Theater.
[piano music playing]
[Jacques] The title of the skit was
There Never Was and Never Will be a King Like Me.
Think about that.
There Never Was and Never Will be a King Like Me.
♪ So in lonely Africa ♪
♪ Among the jungle and the vines ♪
♪ There lived a Zulu maid, so fine... ♪
[Asali] They were so impressed that they decided to change their name
from the Tramps to the Zulus.
And from that day forward, took on the iconography
of the warriors, of the shields, and the spears, and all of those things,
and also of the blackface.
- ♪ Zulu ♪ - [recording fades]
Hi, everybody. Welcome to Vagabond.
I'm Bill Burrud.
Now, this mask is symbolic of one of the really great events
in our country every year, Mardi Gras time.
[marching band music playing]
[Jay] I'm pretty sure that, in the conception of this organization,
if we were allowed to wear masks, like the white folks were,
we probably would have had on masks.
But since we weren't allowed to do that, we wore what we were allowed to.
And now... you've changed the game.
Well, I'mma wear what I've been wearing 'cause that's what I had to wear.
But for those that want to have a problem with it,
I encourage you to have your problem. It is America.
[Michael] So where the conversation at? When you gonna talk to your people?
Let them know, like... you got to make that next step?
- You know what I'm saying? - [Terrence] I get mixed emotions.
The blackface is part of a festive event.
It's nothing but a mask to me.
[Michael] This is not stuff that come from Africa.
It come from white people's version or vision of what Africa is.
[Terrence] Now, to me, that blackface is throwin' it back at 'em
like the N-word.
"I could use it, but you can't use it."
And it's our way of saying we took something negative
and made it a positive to us.
[Michale] To y'all.
- [Terrence] To us. - To y'all.
- [Terrence] And that's what matters. - That's not all that matters.
You still got millions of Black people in this country
that are affected by what y'all project.
Whether y'all interpret it one way, most people gonna interpret it as
this is a symbol of oppression for Black folks.
[Terrence] But on Mardi Gras Day, it's make-believe land.
[Michael] Why do I need to mask when my brown skin is beautiful enough?
- We don't need help being Black. - [Terrence] Absolutely not.
[Michael] We don't need help shining this melanin.
- [Terrence] Absolutely not. - Why not be naturally beautifully Black?
[tense music playing]
[Michael] During Mardi Gras, blackface was a popular fad.
It's all about trying to become something you're not for a few days.
And so, a lot of white people'd dress up and be the Black people
they couldn't be the rest of the year.
They could oppress, beat, and exploit however they wanted all through the year.
But for Mardi Gras, why not act like you are them?
I live in a city where we have been besieged by symbols of white supremacy.
We say, "Well, okay. There's some movement in the country."
- [woman] Take 'em down! - Take 'em down!
- [woman] Take 'em down! - [crowd] Take 'em down!
[man] Removal of these statues sends a clear message,
an unequivocal message to the people of New Orleans,
and to the people of our nation that New Orleans celebrates our diversity.
[Michael] We can't have our cake and eat it too.
We can't be willing to say,
"Ah, all of these things right here are symbols of white supremacy."
"But I tell you what, um, we're gonna take these down."
"But, you know, we kinda like these over here."
"So, why don't y'all just leave those alone?"
[tense, rhythmic music playing]
[Elroy] If you cannot fully embrace
the makeup requirement,
don't let your position be
that the organization is not upholding the community.
Because so much of what we do throughout the year,
not that one single day, counters that.
I enjoy looking at the transition
from 1909, 1920s, 1950s.
And I like the aspect that we all look the same.
And I honestly believe that's what it should look like.
[intense music fades]
[Terrence] I never even thought about blackface.
I never looked at it that I'm putting on this stuff to go out and coon,
and act like Clarence Thomas or Candace Owens
or Larry Elder or one of them.
I just thought it was a part of a costume.
We do have to be mindful of what that represents
to the outside world and the community looking at it.
I think the symbolism of it
represents so much hatred, bigotry, racism.
So people are offended by that.
So I think at some point, I don't know if it's now,
but in the near future, we're gonna have to really look at this
and reexamine how we move forward with it
'cause the argument and the issues are not gonna stop.
[man 1] Right.
[man 2] I gave an interview, and this same question came up
about the blackface and the minstrel situation
and how we went to the play and all of that.
And at the time, I felt that it was an honor
to put that black stuff on my face,
to honor the minstrels and the people that died
and... and the guys that had talent.
Some of the greatest musicians in the world could not perform
unless they put that on their face.
And I still feel that way.
We, as Black people, we have the right to define ourselves.
I know who I am.
I know what I represent.
Now, will I put on that black makeup and walk down the street?
- No. - [Terrence] Absolutely not.
But in 1909,
that's a tradition they started, and I respect it.
[Rodney Jr.] I agree with you, Terrence. I'm a traditionalist.
I believe in Zulu tradition. I will stand firm on this.
And it will never be changed as my membership exists.
- We always gonna wear black makeup. - [man 3] Yeah.
I... I think all our shared goal is to keep this thing rolling
for future generations.
Man, I think this is the most wonderful thing
for a Black man in America to join an organization
and he can become king!
[man 4] Mm-hmm.
That's awesome when you think about that.
You can become king, all right?
I... I have to always go back to Harry Pitman.
Harry Pitman, by trade, was a mechanic.
But he became a chairman of the committee. He started carrying a briefcase.
[laughing]
But when he opened up the briefcase, it had nothing in it.
You know what I mean?
But it made him feel important, man.
That's what this organization does
for a Black man in America who may be beat down on their job
because of racism,
but they can come to the Zulu Club and feel like a man.
Without Zulu and Mardi Gras, Black people would be a guest.
They wouldn't be able to take part.
I think our legacy is a shared one.
I think it's... it's a shared dream of our ancestors.
We've accomplished and made everything our ancestors hoped it could be.
They couldn't be part of Mardi Gras. They were trying to get in Mardi Gras.
Now we became the biggest part of the Mardi Gras.
[Terrence] Absolutely.
[pensive music playing]
- [music fades] - [ship horn blasts]
[trumpet playing in distance]
[indistinct, excited chatter]
[sultry jazz playing]
- [exciting jazz song ends] - [patrons cheer]
[man] Happy Thursday!
What felt most normal to me is seeing all the old-timers.
Yeah, they sitting in the same seats. They wearing the same clothes.
[group laughs]
So, yeah, it gave me a sense of normalcy. Honestly, I... I think I needed this.
- It's just good being together. - But, man...
And a year ago, this shit was dead.
- Literally. - [man 1] Dead.
- Ghost town. - [Chuck] I ain't gonna lie.
I would have bet my motherfuckin' house and every fucking thing I own.
No way in the world, bro,
I would have thought that we would still be barely getting out of this shit
in May of fucking 2021.
I never would've thought that shit in a million fuckin' years.
It ain't what you get, it's what you ask for.
I'm retired at 50.
Man, what you talking about?
If you don't mind me asking, Playboy, what you do for a living, man?
[man 2] I'm retired.
- What you do? - I'm a Marine.
- [Chuck] I was in the Marine Corps too. - And 30 years in the plant.
I'm debt-free. I own my shit. I don't work for nobody.
[man 1] What's some of the things you did to become debt-free?
- Sat down and said, "I'm done." - [man 1 chuckles]
You gotta make a decision, from drugs to debt.
You gotta quit. You gotta say, "I'm done."
You know what I'm saying? I'm 35% Scandinavian.
So how I deal with that? I can't call white or Black.
[Terrence] Well, I could call it for you.
If you don't know what you are, I could call it for you.
When they pull your Black ass over, they gonna beat your Black ass.
- I'mma tell you what I am. I'm debt-free. - Yeah, that's cool.
- But I can tell you what you are. - All my kids went to college.
All my kids are college graduates! I'm a United States Marine!
I ain't talking about-- You said you're Scandinavian or Black.
- I can tell you what you are. - [man 2] I'mma tell you what I am.
- Let the cop pull you over. - No, I'm both sides.
Matter of fact, they don't pull me over. You know why?
'Cause I carry myself right. I don't need to get pulled over.
My truck don't smell like weed. You ain't gotta pull me over.
When they see me, they say, "How you doing, mister?"
Period.
You gotta respect that. I heard that. You gotta respect that because...
- No, no, no. - [man 1] I understand both sides.
But I'm gonna show you a point of sadness.
He had to make the point he was Scandinavian. Why?
He said he 35% fucking Scandinavian.
The point I'm trying to make, he don't want to be associated with this.
- [Brian] What I'm trying to-- - To me, that's a travesty.
But the point I'm trying to say,
it don't make a difference what the fuck he say he is.
- Or think he is. - That's what I tried to tell him.
Because the only thing I see, if you look like me,
if you look like you, if you look like him,
and him a little bit, motherfucker...
He might pass. He might pass.
When it's time for him to go to the bank and get a loan to do some shit,
he gotta pay the fucking Black tax. Period.
That's one thing I love about New Or-- Never met a Black person in New Orleans.
"I'm part Indian. I'm part this. I'm part that."
I'm just good old-fashioned African-American.
- Ah, nothin'... nothin' much to see here. - [group laughs]
I thank God my ancestors endured what they endured
to allow me to do what I'm doin' today.
I ride on my ancestors' shoulders.
And I'm proud. I ain't Scandinavian.
I'm proud. I'm... I'm proud that my family
got on the slave ship and made it here.
And survived the Middle Passage. And survived 400 years.
- No, I'm dealing with psychologic-- - Terrence.
The Scandi... The Scandinavian got me upset.
- [group laughs] - I ain't Scandinavian.
- You keep pointing. - Not you.
No, the point--
The point I'm trying to make, with Black people,
instead of us running away from slavery,
it's something I wear like I badge of goddamn honor.
Because think about what my people endured, and I'm going...
I want to verify something you said. I wanna...
- Terrence, I want to verify something. - I'm gonna piss. Y'all verify all that.
[Chuck] That's a good closer.
- [chatter fades] - [reflective music playing]
You know, most of my life as a Black man, I was taught to conform
and try to speak the Queen's English.
And if I did certain things, I would get the American Dream.
And I bought into that for a long time,
almost to the point where I hated myself, you know?
Livin'... Livin', being Black in America,
it's kind of hard not to see yourself in a negative way
because every time you see yourself portrayed,
it's in a negative light.
I can show you documentation.
My family been here since the 1700s.
The 1700s!
So who paid more than my family?
Who's more American than my family?
I spent my whole life
doin' things that I never was comfortable with,
trying to be loved and accepted by people who would never love me.
It's like trying to get the attention of a beautiful woman
or date a woman that's above your class.
So you put on good cologne, and you put on beautiful clothes,
and you do everything you can to try to get this beautiful woman's attention.
But no matter what I do, America will never accept me.
And that's a hard goddamn pill to swallow
when you go to school,
and you do everything that you supposed to do...
Man, I'm gettin' choked up.
...to get the American Dream,
and the motherfuckers step on you every fuckin' day of your life.
That's hard.
[voice breaking] That's a hard pill to swallow every day.
It's hard.
When you're tryin' to do everything right.
That's fuckin' hard.
That's hard.
[projector whirring]
[rhythmic, jazzy music playing]
And they kept asking us Why all our poems sounded the same
Why all our words wrapped themselves
Round race and gender
Oppression, revolution
Like there was nothing else
Say, see 25,000 sinkholes in ten years
See 27 purchased politicians Dangling from dollar-sign nooses
See the ground pummeled back Into its source, the land
A cracked jaw threatening To swallow us whole
Watch it sink like falling stock Unemployment rates in a depression
Watch sorrow fill the streets Disguised as bravado
Enraged as the sea rises like a people Tired of the weight on their backs
Their backs sprouting wings
Feathered by the water Protecting keepers of this land
The world's on fire, they say
Whispers beneath our feet say
Don't worry
The water's comin'
The people too
[crowd cheers]
[man 1] A'ight.
[jazz music fades]
[man 2] Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[excited chatter]
[Terrence] Man, today is an exciting day.
The king election mean a lot to every Zulu member,
because if you a member of Zulu, everybody wants to be the king.
Although this is make-believe,
you would be surprised of the extremes we go through
to have this election be accurate and not fixed.
Candidates and one representative!
- All right, gentlemen, good morning. - [group] Good morning.
It's a beautiful day. It's election day for our king, 2022.
We haven't had an election in two years,
so most of all, I'm glad to see you brothers are healthy and well.
We got the State of Louisiana to assist us with our election today.
If you go to a voting poll, they have the same machines.
As real as you would go and vote for the president of the United States.
[interviewer] Other krewes do it like this?
Sorry, I can't attest for other krewes, but this is the way Zulu do it.
Election is now open!
[excited chatter]
[man] Within a membership as close as this, everybody's your friend.
I mean, we're all brothers.
You know, any given day, you can vote for any one of these guys, and so,
the elections with Zulu are more complex
than a congressional race, trust me.
[laughs] It is one and the same.
Oh, if you can make it in Zulu politics, you can make it in any kind of politics.
[suspenseful music playing]
[Terrence] All the politicians are gonna come out.
Potential congressional candidates, the mayor, the governor.
They know how important this is to the city.
I think it's great that the governor would take time out of his busy schedule
to come to a character election.
It's not very often that everyday citizens get to dap him up, get to talk to him.
[Troy] It recognizes this is more than just a Black thing.
It recognizes it's more than just a New Orleans thing.
It recognizes that this is something that transcends all races,
all parties, all politics.
[man 1] Good evening, everyone.
We have the mayor of the City of New Orleans here.
I want to thank her for her extraordinary leadership
through this historic pandemic.
[crowd cheers]
And I've heard from her today that we're gonna have Mardi Gras 2022.
[crowd cheers]
And so, get ready for a great Mardi Gras season.
The Zulu Social Aid & Pleasure Club is planning, and we are ready.
[Darryl] For the moment we've all been waiting for...
King Zulu 2022,
Randolph "Rudy" Davis.
- [crowd cheering] - [triumphant music playing]
[whistle blows]
[crowd cheering] Rudy! Rudy! Rudy! Rudy! Rudy! Rudy! Rudy!
Rudy! Rudy! Rudy! Rudy!
[lively brass band music playing rendition of "I Wanna Dance with Somebody"]
[music fades out]
[whistling]
Eh, one more.
Yeah, that should be enough for starters.
- All right, thank you. - [cashier] You're welcome.
[Terrence] Today is coconut decorating day.
It's one of my favorite times of the year.
It lets me know Mardi Gras is right around the corner.
I get my family members to help me decorate 600 coconuts.
I trick 'em by inviting 'em over to boil crabs or eat crawfish,
but actually, I'm runnin' a labor camp.
It's all about the free labor, man.
[laughs]
[jazzy brass band rendition of "Iko Iko" playing]
How you feel, bro?
[Terrence] Oh, Lord!
[excited chatter]
[Terrence] This is my favorite tasty treats.
[Terrence] After y'all eat, we can get started on the coconuts,
so the labor camp is ready.
[Terrence] You know, I heard a couple of different stories of why, in 1910,
Zulu members decided to use coconuts as throws.
A lot of guys in the club at that time probably were stevedores
or longshoremen like my grandfather,
and it probably was easy to make a couple of bags or sacks
of those coconuts disappear without anybody looking.
The Zulu coconut really has become the stuff of legend.
I think the coconut is truly what makes Zulu the premier krewe of Mardi Gras.
Funny, the same people who helping me decorate these coconuts
will be the same people on the route begging for a coconut.
[crowd exclaiming]
[upbeat tune ends]
[indistinct chatter]
[Jay] We're getting ready to crown the new king.
He's about to get a king's ring,
which, once you get that, it is when you've been to the mountaintop.
It is the biggest black tie event on the planet,
and I'm very happy that it's a Black event.
You will see, again, 20,000 gowns and tuxedos of folks that look like me.
And that's a fabulous thing to see, man. It is so much fun.
[energetic music playing]
Pi-yah!
This is a culmination of a life's dream for the gentleman it's about to happen to.
I am positive he is anxious, frightened, excited
because he woke up this morning as Rudy.
Tomorrow he wakes up as King Zulu.
[energetic music dies down]
As an 11-year-old kid, 11, 12-year-old kid,
I stood on the corner of Jackson and Claiborne and, um...
But my grandfather, I told my grandfather my desire was to be King Zulu one day.
And his response was, "Son, you can be whatever you desire to be."
And for that little kid to now be 55 years old,
and his dream be manifested, it's... it's unbelievable.
[overlapping conversations fade out]
[Terrence] I only wear these shoes, like, twice a year,
and I bought 'em for one reason.
They allow you to walk on the back of the heel.
[chuckles] So after standing up for, like, eight hours at the ball,
you know, your feet kinda ache.
Every Zulu Ball is like an anniversary for me because that's, uh...
I met my wife at a Zulu Ball.
I think it was 1998.
My best friend Russell Kelly said, "Man, I got extra tickets to the ball."
I didn't have a tuxedo, so Russell got one of his older tuxedos.
The pants were about three inches short.
So I was walking around, lookin' like Steve Urkel with my socks showing.
And I saw my future wife, just laughin' and jokin' with her friends.
So the next thing I knew,
we ended up hanging out the entire night, dancin' and partying.
Uh, she claimed I had my hand under her dress
while we were dancin'.
I probably did, I was so drunk.
And the rest is history.
[epic rhythmic music playing]
The ball is the epitome of Black excellence.
Period.
And I've not been the king, man, but I know it's bigger than people think.
You represent every soul,
especially Black soul, that's ever come through this city.
- Good luck. - One, two, three.
Get in there. Let's go. Get in.
Rudy, it's time for you to be king, man.
You got it. Your time.
[regal jazz music playing]
My wife, Toni.
[speaking indistinctly]
My little pumpkin.
I can't wait till you get on the stage.
Oh, stop it, my little cupcake.
- Stop it. - Rudy! Oh...
[group laughs]
Rudy, how my king gonna get that crown on you?
If Rudy does not bow tonight...
I'm gonna have the crown in my hand, I'mma look up him, look at the ground.
I'mma look at y'all...
"You want this shit here? You want this motherfucker?"
- [man] Come and get it. - "Come get it."
[laughing]
[Mozart's "Piano Concerto No. 21" playing]
[elegant concerto continues]
[man] It is an honor to represent this city
with every dignitary who ever was and will be.
Hail King Zulu!
[crowd cheers]
[man] Hear, hear.
[excited chatter]
[smoky jazz music playing]
Hey, how you do a beard?
With a beard, what you do is, you still just... mash it into his beard.
[man] Been waiting for this for two years, man.
Get away from... uh, dealing with COVID and that kind of stuff.
Deal with it every day at... at the hospital I work at, you know.
I'm pumped up. I'm ready to put on a show.
That's why they call me...
- "Showtime." - [interviewer] Showtime.
- Showtime! - [laughs]
[expectant music playing]
[man] Father, once again, we humbly stand before you this morning to say thank you.
We want to say thank you for allowing us to assemble once again.
Father, it's been two years since we were able to come together in your name.
We know we lost a lot of brothers,
so we just want to say thank you for bringing us through COVID, Father.
We ask that you allow all these wonderful men
to bring joy and fun to the people of New Orleans.
[group] Amen.
Hey! Mardi Gras, party gras!
[excited chatter]
His Majesty, good morning.
- What's up, dawg? - [man] What's up, T?
Man, we good, man.
[Chuck] So I wrote an op-ed piece in the local newspaper,
you know, sayin' that I think it's time for Zulu to take off the blackface.
Let's start moving to the Shell station.
[Chuck] The first call I got was from my brother.
He was like, "Look, I fuckin' told you. You ain't messing up our fucking fun."
"Get the fuck outta here with your..." [laughs]
My own brother, 7:30 in the morning, I can't even have a cup of coffee
before he already callin' me, talkin' stupid shit, you know?
But, um, anyway, because of that,
um, I don't know that I'm welcome in Zulu circles right now. [laughs]
Even though I gotta say this much, a lot of them guys are my friends.
[man] That's what I'm talking 'bout! Zulu, baby!
Good morning! Good morning, people! Good morning!
[George] Blackface now. What's tomorrow?
I'm confused, myself.
And I wonder what will happen.
Don't you ever think that we don't have it on our mind.
But you figure 100 years, 110 years,
everybody's been happy, everybody's had fun.
And as far as I'm concerned,
I hope, and pray that they don't change it.
But they've got people who've been trying to do.
You open that can of worms just enough... Hope they didn't send you here for that.
- [interviewer] No. [chuckles] - [laughs]
[interviewer] No, man.
But you better handle this, man.
[group laughs]
["Colors" by Black Pumas playing]
♪ I woke up to the morning sky first ♪
♪ Baby blue, just like we rehearsed ♪
♪ When I get up off this ground I shake leaves back down ♪
♪ To the brown, brown, brown, brown ♪
♪ Till I'm clean ♪
♪ With all my favorite colors... ♪
[crowd shouting and cheering]
[Terrence] All right, old man. Hey, mama.
♪ My sisters and my brothers See 'em like no other... ♪
[Terrence] New Orleans is the only place where the senseless makes sense.
You know, nothing about my character is changed
when I put on black makeup on Mardi Gras Day.
I'm still the same person.
♪ My sisters and my brothers... ♪
[Terrence] At the end of the day, the Zulu Social Aid & Pleasure Club
is a reflection of the triumphs, the ups, the downs,
and the resilience of Black people in America.
- ♪ All my favorite colors... ♪ - Oh! [laughs]
All right. [laughs]
For my niece.
Thank you.
[Terrence] Love you. Love you.
In a hundred years from now,
with paint or without paint,
Zulu will still be the face of our people.
♪ All my favorite colors ♪
♪ Yes, ma'am ♪
♪ My sisters and my brothers ♪
♪ They see 'em like no other ♪
♪ All my favorite colors ♪
[jazzy tune fades]
["It's Good to be the King" playing]
♪ They can hoot and holler ♪
♪ I don't mind ♪
♪ They'd do you for a dollar, babe ♪
♪ Like they'd do me for a dime ♪
♪ Check one, baby, the whole night long ♪
♪ Knowin' it don't mean a thing ♪
♪ When I come up Claiborne Avenue ♪
♪ It's good to be the king ♪
♪ Yeah, I told you all before You would not believe ♪
♪ They might've set you loose They never set you free ♪
♪ If I'm still standin' When judgment come ♪
♪ I may be a monk, I won't be the one ♪
♪ But hey ♪
♪ No, no ♪
♪ Uh-uh! ♪
♪ Ha, ha! ♪
♪ If all my worries was swept away ♪
♪ Oh, I'm not so black and blue ♪
♪ You'd count the lines on my face ♪
♪ Yeah, I'd be just like you ♪
♪ I know time goes marching on ♪
♪ Takes a million things ♪
♪ Watch the shine round your eye ♪
♪ It's good to be the king, yeah ♪
♪ Yeah, I told you all before You would not believe ♪
♪ They might've set you loose They never set you free ♪
♪ If I'm still standin' When judgment come ♪
♪ I may be a monk, I won't be the one ♪
♪ Oh no ♪
♪ Hey, hey ♪
♪ Uh-uh! ♪
♪ Hey, hey ♪
♪ Uh-uh! ♪
[jazzy tune ends]
[bluesy tune playing]
♪ Here come Moses ♪
♪ Knockin' on my door ♪
♪ Says it's time to go ♪
♪ Can't stay no more ♪
♪ Well, I tell you good people ♪
♪ Better listen to me ♪
♪ You cannot satisfy a dollar ♪
♪ Best to let it be ♪
♪ Lord, I wonder, will I ever get home? ♪
♪ Four hundred years in the desert ♪
♪ Still I roam ♪
♪ Someday, people, I'll build my own ♪
♪ Best get movin', time's gettin' on ♪
[vocalizing]
[bluesy song fades]