So, the reason why certain Morris Dancers black-up is because they are (surprise, surprise) dedicated followers of fashion. I'm disappointed, especially when the opening posts of this thread lead with things like:

Surely they should have been given the time to explain the tradition.

And:

Ignorent [sic] people immediately assume the wrong thing and do not take the time to look into the tradition.

This is what I was wanting to see explained here, just what The Tradition is, if, indeed, it really is something other than racial mockery. Could it be that a mere fashion dating back to the 1960s and otherwise seemingly void of all symbolic meaning is somehow The Tradition as eluded to above? In which case it would seem there is no reason whatsoever for blacking-up, other than to fly in the face of a decency one would have assumed is the duty of every thinking person on planet earth. In which case, shame on the lot of you.