Within Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Shropshire, Morris Dancing is a widely known and much-respected tradition. I myself grew up watching Morris Dancers at many local events, especially at Christmas. 

However, with the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement, we can no longer permit the use of casual blackface in Morris Dancing. Although many sides, including the Ledbury-based Silurian Morris, claim that this is tradition and should not be tampered with, the reality is that the modern-day implications of Blackface are much more sinister and negatively impacts the lives of black people in our society.

The tradition of blackface Morris Dancing is mostly from the Border Morris tradition, within the counties of Herefordshire, Shropshire and Worcestershire. The original meaning for blackface in the dancing is unknown, but there have been speculations as to the cause.

One is the use of blackface to obscure identities. I refute this as an acceptable claim to use it in present-day Britain. There are other ways to follow this tradition that doesn't involve racially-charged black face paint, such as masks or other colours of face paint. The English Folk Dance and Song Society say that they "want[s] to engage all people in the folk arts, regardless of sex, age, race and religion, so we do not support actions that can alienate sectors of the community", which is an excellent sentiment that should and can be copied by Herefordshire Morris Dancers. Blackface is not necessary to the tradition.

Another defence is that abolishing tradition will lead to the demise and watering-down of Morris Dancing as an art and dance form. Again, I refute this. Refusing to allow acts that perform in blackface does not diminish the importance of the dancing to Herefordshire as an area, and will, as the EFDSS suggests, open up the dance to a wider range of people.

The most important case for disallowing blackface in Herefordshire's Morris Dancers, however, is its racial implications. Even if the original motivations of blackface in Morris Dancing was not initially racial, the modern-day implications of blackface are incredibly racist and discriminatory. This is not accusing the Morris Dancing sides of racism, simply acknowledging the racial implications of blackface that have caused much controversy on the online world in recent years.

So I call upon Herefordshire County Council and the Silurian Morris Dancers (as the most widely-known Morris Dancers within Herefordshire) to ban the use of blackface. This has already been done at Shrewsbury Folk Festival, who now no longer book Morris Dancing sides that use blackface (since 2017). I agree with Freedom, Respect Equality Shropshire's stance on blackface, and support Shrewsbury Folk Festival's choice fully.

Blackface is no longer acceptable in modern society, it should be actively banned from Morris Dancing as part of the Black Lives Matter movement, no matter its background and traditions. Traditions are irrelevant when said traditions are actively seen as discrimination in 2020.

https://www.freshshropshire.org.uk/faq-blackface-morris-performances/

https://www.efdss.org/about-us/what-we-do/news/4938-blacking-up-the-debate-continues

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/aug/12/origin-morris-dancing-blacking-up-irrelevant