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David Belfield, the King of Zulu in 1994 — a New Orleans lawyer whose house was destroyed and who now lives in Lawrenceville — said he will file suit today in Orleans Parish Civil District Court opposing his club's decision to hold its parade in February. Zulu is one of many New Orleans social clubs, known as krewes, that sponsor most of the festivities during Mardi Gras.

ALEX BRANDON/Associated Press (enlarge photo) Last February, Isaac Spencer Wheeler, that year's King of Zulu, received finishing touches from Vincent Stripling before the Zulu Social Aid and Pleasure Club's annual parade in New Orleans, a Mardi Gras tradition since 1909.

"I have never missed a Mardi Gras in my life," Belfield said. "My 81-year-old mother is a seamstress who still makes costumes for one of the traditional krewes. I love Mardi Gras."

But he called it "shameful" for his hometown to throw a huge party for all the world to see when so many of its neighborhoods lie in ruin and so many of its now far-flung residents cannot return home.

Of Zulu's 500 members, Belfield said, more than half are now living in Texas, Mississippi or Georgia. Only 187 attended a recent meeting to vote on whether to take part in the 2006 Mardi Gras, he said.

Belfield has written to New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin expressing his dismay at the city's decision to go ahead with Mardi Gras. On Saturday, Belfield attended a Zulu board meeting in New Orleans to register his displeasure with the group he has belonged to for 28 years.

Zulu President Charles Hamilton did not respond to repeated telephone messages seeking comment. But he has acknowledged the difficulty of holding a celebration when so many Zulu members and their community were hit so hard by Katrina.

"There are elements of our organization who say they don't want to do anything, that we should be focusing on other things," Hamilton was recently quoted as telling USA Today. "But I feel that Carnival is one of the good economic benefits to our city. It's not just about fun — it's tradition, something that makes our city what it is. If we lose Mardi Gras, we pretty much have given up."

The Zulu Social Aid and Pleasure Club has been an important part of Mardi Gras for nearly a century. Its coconut "throws" are among the souvenirs most eagerly sought by parade watchers. Jazz legend Louis Armstrong was King of Zulu in 1949, and its members have long included the social and business elite of New Orleans' black community.

Formed during racial segregation, Zulu also stresses that it is "the everyman club."

"The membership is composed of men from all walks of life — from laborers, city mayor, city councilmen, and state legislators, to United States congressman, educators, and men of other professions," the krewe's Web site says. "What makes Zulu different from other Mardi Gras organizations is that we were always involved in the community year-round," Belfield said in an interview.

With much of that community now destroyed, he said, "I'm totally disappointed" that the group chose to parade.