Posted on 04/12/2002 7:14:43 AM PDT by Tumbleweed_Connection
Cajuns have long learned to cope with being stereotyped as backward swamp dwellers, but phrases coined by national news media this week got their, as the caricature would have it, Tabasco-laden blood boiling. The words "Cajun Taliban" and "Ragin' Cajun" were used by ABC Radio and Time magazine in reference to Yasser Esam Hamdi, the second alleged U.S.-born Taliban. Hamdi was born in Baton Rouge to Saudi Arabian parents.
"This guy is not a Cajun simply by virtue of being born in Louisiana," said Shane Bernard, a historian and archivist for the McIlhenny Company, which makes Tabasco sauce.
"Cajuns are a federally recognized ethnic group. The federal courts have declared us an ethnic group. The U.S. Census Bureau counts us as an ethnic group," Bernard said.
The phrases also irked Barry Ancelet, an expert on Cajun culture and head of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette's modern languages department.
"It offends my sensibilities as a human being because it represents a remarkably uninformed, ignorant journalist," he said. "What people outside the state don't know about us could fill a book."
Peter Salinger, ABC Radio's director of news coverage, said ABC dropped the use of the term after a compliant. "We got a call from one of our affiliates in Louisiana and they made some very valid points and we immediately stopped using it," he said.
As for "Ragin' Cajun," the university holds a trademark on the name, and university spokeswoman Julie Simon-Dronet said Thursday that the school had contacted Time and requested it no longer use it.
A spokeswoman for Time said she would have to research the issue before commenting.
Some would say that the derogatory use of "cajun" and/or "cowboy" (God bless cajun cowboys!) those derogatory uses are God's way of saying living in big cities is no good and rots all that is good.
I am biased. My idea of a big town is more than one neon bulb.
Ironically, they are proud to be called 'coon-ass'.
Perhaps next time journalists will research the issue before writing.
And as long as I'm dreaming I'd like a pony.
The guy from Minnesota began by saying: "I told my wife in no uncertain terms that from now on she would have to do all of the cooking. Well, the first day after I told her, I saw nothing. The second day I saw nothing. But on the third day when I came home from work, the table was set, and a wonderful dinner was prepared with wine and even dessert."
Then the man from Florida spoke up: "I sat my wife down and told her, that from now on she would have to do all of the grocery shopping, and all of the house cleaning. The first day I saw nothing. The second day I saw nothing. But on the third day when I came home, the whole house was spotless, and ! in the pantry the shelves were filled with groceries."
The fellow from Louisana was married to an enlightened woman who had grown up in Texas. He sat up straight on the bar stool, pushed out his chest and said: "I gave my wife a stern look and told her, that from now on she would have to do the cooking, shopping and housecleaning. Well, the first day I saw nothing. The second day I still saw nothing. But by the third day, I could see a little bit out of my left eye!"
Moral of story: "DON'T MESS WITH CAJUN WOMEN!"
Sounds like a great name for a neo-punk-rock-zydeco band.
That would be Cajun-American I'll have you know. ;^)
And yes I am a registered coon-ass.
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