There have been many blackface controversies in Colorado over the years, and many have the common theme of tone-deafness. In 2011, for instance, the University of Colorado Boulder had to grapple with the tradition of Black Outs, during which fans at football games dressed in that particular school color — which became a problem when some of the most enthusiastic Caucasian boosters daubed that hue on their face, too.
Cut to 2012, when an uproar followed Colorado Springs second-grader Sean King's decision to dress up as Martin Luther King for a school project, complete with darkened skin color. The younger King intended the costume to be a tribute, but plenty of people didn't take it that way.