DON'T CALL ME A COONA**

That reprehensible word is often used to refer to Acadians or Cajuns from Louisiana, and carries the same obscene, offensive connotation as the N word.

I am shocked when people use that term. I always explain the definition and etymology of the word and watch them dither with embarrassment and offer profound apologies.

The etymology of the word CAJUN derives from the French CONASSE, meaning a stupid person,  a prostitute without medical papers, a woman’s sexual organ, essentially a dirty whore. Linguist Barry Ancelet suggests that this term derived from Cajuns’ occasional habit of eating raccoons, or the notion that Cajuns were lower on the social scale than coons, a derogatory term for blacks.

Cajuns who joined the military during World War II became victims of ethnic discrimination because of their ancestry.  These Louisiana boys, raised in French speaking Cajun environments, had difficulty blending in and speaking Anglo-Saxon English. They were called FRENCHIE or FROG as well, terms denoting ignorance. The irony is that the linguistic abilities of Cajun GIs helped them to become translators, secret agents, Rangers, pilots and heroes.

Robert LeBlanc of Abbeville worked with the French Resistance deep in Nazi territory. Sam Broussard of New Iberia served as an intelligence officer who sat in D-Day planning sessions with Eisenhower. Walter Moulis of St. Martinville was a reconnaissance platoon leader and a battle patrol commander.

Wiltz Segura of New Iberia piloted a P-40 fighter in China with the Flying Tigers. Jeff DeBlanc of St. Martinville flew F4U Corsairs in the Pacific and received a congressional medal of honor for his heroism. Their Cajun names were anglicized into horrific pronunciations. As my name Barras, pronounced BAH-RAH, is often pronounced Bear-a**. Not funny.

To the dismay of Louisianians, some Cajuns used the term coonass as a badge of working class ethnic pride. Ronald Reagan suggested his own appointment as an honorary Cajun coonass.

Calvin Roach, a WWII veteran and mechanical engineer born in Mire, LA, attended a business meeting concerning the suspected theft of company property by employees. During the meeting, two superiors, transplants to LA, blamed the thefts on crooked coonasses .

Shocked and angry that everyone in the meeting knew of his ethnicity, Roach reprimanded his employer, and later engaged in a lawsuit called Roach vs. Dresser, which declared that Cajuns were a federally recognized ethnic group and declared coonass an offensive term.

 In 1981, State Senators Alan Bates, Armand Brinkhaus, and Ned Randolph, introduced a resolution that explicitly condemned coonass as offensive, vulgar, and obscene. Business and media sources were discouraged from using that term in their operations.

The word ACADIAN was regarded by genteel elites as the only proper name for the ethnic group. The term CAJUN became the term of choice, despite its connotation of a lower class person.

Vietnamese, Jews, people of Polish descent, Chinese, Russians, Italians are exposed to ethnic slurs, prejudiced remarks, and offensive slang as well.  The world is getting smaller. We should embrace our differences, be tolerant of others’ ethnicities, and commit ourselves to recognize the diversity of our world. 


Adapted from THE CAJUNS:AMERICANIZATION OF A PEOPLE