Circus, vaudeville and minstrelsy were not commercially viable for 100+ years without Afro-American/Caribbean patronage. Carnival was never a safe space, still ain't. Some folks go for that, others don't.

The product itself has no intrinsic quality or value. These attributes are perceived one producer & consumer at a time down through the generations.

If one sings shanties to go shopping; play dress up and talk like a pirate for a day, history has nothing to do with it and race is reduced to one (1) of a long list of taboos. Amplified, plastic fiddles are perfectly okay.

If, oth, one studies, recreates & reenacts shanties with the specific intent of period accurate authenticity, one is ethically bound to period accurate moralities… plural. Leave the mobile phone ashore.