CREOLE CULTURAL NEWS FLASH: RE-WRITING HISTORY OR REVEALING FORGOTTEN OR SUPPRESSED TRUTHS? THAT WAS THE QUESTION.... by John laFleur II (Quote me!) After having experienced an exhilarating week of sharing our cultural history and mission with the public over the radio, television and internet social media, it was a bit anti-climactic but, not unexpected to return to my keyboard and monitor to find what initially, appeared to be a friendly invitation to participate in a FB forum to expound upon my views which some (of course!), had misunderstood because of having their historical reference points limited to Lafayettes racialized stereotypes of our ONE historic, but diverse CREOLE & Metis culture. Unaware that the new Cajun label which Lafayettes Cajunist junta (not the Cajun or dear Acadian people!), sought to force upon the many Acadian creoles (who flatly rejected this label from the start), after legislation sponsored by Gov. Edwards and Senator Dudley Hadacol LeBlanc created Acadiana out of the blue in 1971. Some angrily and frantically claimed that I was re-writing history by claiming that the Cajuns had adopted the Creole-metis culture-Louisianas earliest multi-racial people-while disregarding the group cohesion of the Acadians -which, according to this individual, constituted all the proof (he) needed to presume a remarkable cultural survival (a la Dudley LeBlancs Acadian Miracle no doubt!), of the Acadians! And, ergo, they would not have abandoned their food culture for Louisianas Creole culture and cuisine! Yet, and still this young omniscient spokesperson of La Table... who prided himself in his logic, could not provide any answer to the issue of why the Acadians so early on adopted the entire garde manger of Louisianas Creole cuisine as shown existed from Andre Penicauts (18th century), documentation of viande boucanee, to Dr. Gwen Halls mention of the African women cooking gumbo in New Orleans in 1763, and including Louis Nardinis documentation of Indian kombo-litchi, (gumbo file) as early as 1000 A.D. I also indicated C.C. Robins mention of the Acadians cooking gumbo soon after their arrival (1786), in Louisiana as early as 1803, without mentioning Lefcadio Hearns La Cuisine Creole of 1885 which documents as Creole everything called Cajun food since Prudhommes huge presence in 1972. I also mentioned Marcelle Bienvenu and Dr. Carl Braseauxs co-authored Stir The Pot: A History of Cajun Cooking where in these Cajun food scholars essentially acknowledge that a). Acadian cooking was nothing like Louisianas Cajun cuisine; and b). the authors largely acknowledge that the Acadians and their children assimilated their Louisiana food ways largely from the Indians, Africans and yes, they include the Creoles, although, it seems a bit begrudgingly. Some among this group who were so determined to show me up were admittedly confused, and did not even know what Creole represented in Louisiana-apart from the long-time racial perceptions and stereotypes offered by ill-informed whites and blacks, but frequently framed along racial lines by the Lafayette media and CODOFILs presentation of our shared culture as black or white -Cajun or Creole. Some childishly thought that I was blaming the Cajuns for all the confusion and trouble-in spite of the fact that I indicated that I myself am of partial Acadian descent and have never blamed the Acadians for the political ruse of Dudley Hadacol LeBlanc, Edwin Edwards and their complicit political cronies of that time. I have simply stated that what is called Cajun (food) is the old historic country creole cooking of pre-American, pre-19th century FRENCH chefs relabeled Cajun officially in 1972, by Paul Prudhomme-himself of Opelousas Creole French origins! In spite of the documentary evidence provided illustrating for example, that gumbo was present in Louisiana as early as 1000 A.D. among the Choctaw Amerindians and was being cooked by African women in the French Quarter of New Orleans in 1763. I also illustrated that once the Acadians arrived their culture as seen in their historic Acadian foods of fricot, soupe a la toussaint, and poutines rapees were very evidently, and early on left in the bayou of painful memories and traded for gumbo and everything else relabeled Cajun after Paul Prudhomme officially stamped our old country Creole food traditions as that (Cajun) with his larger than life appearance in 1972. An emotionally charged female who found fault with my vocabulary, wailed that I was wrongly trying to turn Cajuns into Creoles and that was all the reason she needed to never support our festival! Obviously, such adolescent reactions from these young (and some not so young), Cajunists reflect both a sense of offended pride and a defensiveness which had one of them claiming that I was angry because the Creoles didnt get the spotlight, or something to that effect. Needless to say, these scholars do not realize that the real issue is one of historic and dishonest suppression of a multi-ethnic and pre-Acadian cultural history of not only Louisiana the States history, but also that of the larger picture of the Creole French & metis civilization of the Louisiana Purchase territory, of which our little boot was a mere foot of what was in fact, the natural and national culture of la Nouvelle France. This culture was carried into the territory of Orleans after 1763, where so many of these Creole & metis peoples sought asylum after Britain gained control of these previous French Mississippi Valley settlement areas. Other genuine thinkers offered what appeared to be fair concerns regarding the potential significance of Acadian cultural influence because of what does appear to be a large number (3000 maximum estimate offered by some authorities) even if they were largely isolated in the Acadian coastal areas, and not in what is now the upper northwestern triangle of Avoyelles, Evangeline, St. Landry & Point Coupee Parishes where Alabama and Illinois Creole & metis families were settled under the Spanish at the time of, and before the arrival of the Acadians. Such views are typical of adolescent perceptions of what are much bigger issues and concerns from a older man, who along with being a Louisiana Creole-metis, is also a descendant of one of the oldest and first Acadian families to arrive in Spanish Louisiana. With the exception of one very well-mannered and genuine student of our cultural issues, these members of the Table Francaise-Online were offensive, defensive, insulting and evasive of the issues they pretended to be concerned about. I chose to no longer waste my time among such sophisticates. Interestingly, Dr. David Cheramie and other Lafayette scholars are active member participants but, none of whom were apparently present or chose not to respond to the acrimony of these loyal, if sadly naive zealots of a mythical Acadian-based culture-certified as Cajun. The polite young man responded to express his disappointment of their conduct and attitudes toward me, while thanking me for excellent input. Given the hostile and yes, offensively ignorant behavior of these would-be debaters, I chose to no longer waste my time, allowing them to continue to kick and scream and slash themselves some more! I am a descendant of Francois Pitre. His family embraced their/our unique Louisianas creole cultural identity. And, for those who with a beer in hand, at the computer presume that Cadjin and Creole were not held sensitively by 18th, 19th and early to late 20th century Louisiana, all I can say is that you must never have studied archival records, muster rolls of the Galvez expeditions, nor courthouse records wherein the Spanish and French are careful to distinguish people-culturally, by these taxonomies. It is a well-known fact that both Creoles and Acadians mutually considered creole to be a socially significant term, not withstanding its non-racially limited borders as seen in courthouse records where it is used generically to represent anyone of any ethnicity as native-born as opposed to a foreign-born individual. The racializing of Creole ironically, starts with Charles Gayarre et al. after he feared the Anglo-Americans might lump all Creoles in a category of black or mulatto. And, the term was equally, but ignorantly racialized by free people of color after the Civil War in American Louisiana where race becomes a serious and frightening issue, unlike anything known in Colonial Louisiana (Louisiana Purchase territory reaching all the way back to Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, & Great Lakes regions or Creole & metis regions. See Dr. Carl Ekbergs work on colonial Missouri and Illinois and their ties to Lower Louisiana and the territory of Orleans. See also Dr. Germain Bienvenus wonderful essay on the pre-Acadian world and culture of la louisiane, or la Nouvelle France, included in Dr. John Lowes Louisiana Culture From The Colonial Era and also Dr. Shannon Lee Dawdys Building the Devils Empire: French Colonial Louisiana for verification of this TRUE LOUISIANA HISTORY!). When I attempted to present and explain my views, I was so quickly met with insults and invective, and distortion of my intentions that I knew that neither the juvenile leader of the Table Francaise Online-whose concerns appeared more ego-centered than scholastic in nature-nor the angry female who had not even read through my rather lengthy post, in a serious attempt to honestly understand my statements and enjoy an amicable dialogue. I was immediately reminded of the late Dr. Joseph A. Tregles own dumbfounded observation that students of Acadian history... (from University of Lafayette) seem to be unaware that there were Creoles living in Acadiana long before the Acadians ever arrived into the area! See Joseph Tregles Louisiana In the Age of Jackson: A Clash of Cultures-Index: On That Word Creole. Tregle notes that the children Acadians did indeed consider themselves Creole and that Creoles accepted them as such. See also Dr. Corinne Sauciers book, Avoyelles Parish, Louisiana on the same issue of cadjin being an unwelcome term of denigration, which creoles used to joke on each other while embracing the children of Acadians born and cultured in Louisiana, as Creoles also. But, a good example of sensibilities on this issue is found with the parents of Louisiana-born artist, George Rodrigue of Blue Dog art fame. I read an article on the internet which spoke of how undone George Rodrigue was that his two Acadian French descendant parents refused to accept the new Cajun label provided by the Lafayette activists of the post-1968 CODOFIL era cultural relabeling of our language, people and culture into the two boxes of Creole =only black, and Cajun =only white French speaking folks. His parents were both white and Acadian French people who unflinchingly claimed Louisiana Creole cultural identity! George reasoned and pleaded with them to no avail. But, they too, evidently, explained to George that cadjin no matter how its spelled, was not a nice word that French people wanted to embrace as a cultural identity! Carl Brasseaux tells us that it was equal to white trash and was forced upon all Louisiana French speakers, Creole and Acadian by 19th century American writers who apparently despised our people and culture, religion and interracialism. At no time have I ever intended to create animosity between the historic francophone/creolophone peoples of whom I am a proud descendant. In emphasizing the deceit and duplicity of the sly perpetrators-cajun and creole-I have also decried (as does Brasseaux) the deceitful white Creoles who claim to be Acadian descendants and usurped the Cajun label for economic gains. And,yet none of them are claiming that I hate on them. Its also true that prior to 1968, the ONLY French culture spoken of and claimed by French people -black, white and read, was and remains Creole. Some of actual Acadian ancestry also reject the use of Cajun bc of its political history as well as bc of their own cognitive appreciation of their own historic Louisiana Creole acculturation. Dr. David Cheramie of Lafayettes historic Vermilionville might easily have stepped in to pull back the dogs in this unnecessary attack, since he publicly wrote essentially the same things I teach in last Augusts Acadiana Profile magazine and which article again appeared more in Evangeline Parishs Bonnes Nouvelles magazine of culture and the areas local history. Far from re-writing history, I am proud to once again reveal forgotten and in some cases, suppressed historical facts and truths which reveal why all Louisiana creoles-including the Acadian creoles (or Cajuns if you, prefer), should be indignant at the mockery of education, learning and Louisianas very old multi-ethnic Creole & metis culture and people among whom, and from whom our Acadian families developed a new identity, no longer Acadian; even as the Creoles are no longer truly French or Spanish or African anymore than we are culturally fully American. Today, Cajun no longer even represents the Acadians of Louisianas history. Its now loosely applied to any and all who relate to the culture -for commercial advantages, obviously. In Louisiana, and in Frances modern departements Creole was always used legally as a generic for native-born and is still a most valid, and all-embracing term with a long validated history and applied indiscriminately, to all born and acculturated in Creole French Louisiana. I see no reason to discard this all-inclusive and historically universal term which unites us to the rest of the French Creole world. To suggest replacing it in favor of a contrived ethnic term representative of one francophone group-who assimilated this culture as their own-is not only presumptuous, but antagonistic to all of history in its commercially-oriented myopia. In the words of our Cher-ami, all of us are in some sense, Creole today; even those who think they are Cajun regardless of whether or not this pleases the egos of those who would re-write Louisianas long multi-ethnic history. And, now you all know what I believe and teach: the culture of Louisiana is Creole and not Acadian-based. (4 photos)
Posted on: Tue, 15 Jul 2014 02:24:50 +0000
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