Moz - it is a fact that blackface makeup has a racist history: I'm not saying it doesn't have any other historical associations, but we know it has a racist history.

It's also a fact that it now has racist connotations - again, it may have others, but we know that the racist connotations exist.

I'm challenging you (and others) to say what its non-racist history is and what its non-racist connotations are. I'm not hearing much, apart from "we like doing it this way, and we've been doing it this way ever since we started doing it this way".

What's the problem with using a different colour?