The Zulu Krewe are among the most prominent Mardi Gras clubs, celebrating the culture of the South African Zulu people. Originally, the group was designated as a social-aid cause for African American support in New Orleans, when that was a small contingent of the population. A King Like Me explores one of the club’s most revered roles: A Zulu King is named for each year’s Mardi Gras performance, and it’s a high honor.
A King Like Me finds the fun and eccentric corners of the culture, but it has more on its mind. Inside the celebrations, there’s a long history of blackface, disconnected from the other American history of Minstrel performances. For the Zulu Krewe, blackface was simply another kind of mask, but this brings contention into the celebration.
It’s contentious because, of course, there is still an American context for how we view blackface. It requires a reeducation to enjoy it as a second mask, functionally a prop, in a performance, when our wider cultural history is so deeply troubled by a history of blackface. Importantly, it provokes conversations about cultural identity and who gets to partake in it.
This has been the line the Zulu Krewe have straddled since the early-1900s, formed against the interests of the KKK, weathering the storm of The Birth of a Nation (1915), the club now celebrates over a hundred years of reinvesting in the community.
There are also the modern hurdles: Hurricane Katrina was devastating and COVID-19 magnified the inequities in the health care system for black people.
The job of the Zulu Krewe is to breathe hope back into people. New Orleans has such a rich and unique Black cultural expression and A King Like Me is an extension of a very specific worldview that like many things in New Orleans, seems to be informed by all outside spaces, but only exists right here, in this space.
Matthew O. Henderson’s documentary is good. We benefit largely from the rich tapestry of New Orleans music and soulful celebration of diversity, that are baked into the ethnographic study. This is also a record of resilience: no racism, storm, or pandemic, can abate the power of collective consciousness and the need to create community. The film is uplifting and informative, offering a culture-affirming perspective without being especially revelatory.