Texas Lawmaker Uses Ethnic Slur To Describe Child Victims Of Hurricane Katrina

[one_voice]

A leader of the Texas House of Representatives referred to children who moved to Texas after Hurricane Katrina using a term viewed by many as a deeply offensive ethic slur. In an exchange first publicized by Progress Texas, Rep. Dennis Bonnen (R) referred to the children as “coonass” at a hearing on the fiscal impact of migrants crossing the border into Texas.

During a discussion on what resources would be needed in schools to accommodate migrant children, Bonnen, Speaker Pro Tempore of the House, recalled Texas’ experience educating children who moved from Louisiana. “I want to be clear,” he said. “A Katrina child is far different. We can make jokes and pick on Louisiana and it’s fun and all that, but it’s a hell of a lot different bringing a kid over from Louisiana than a child who’s just made a treacherous journey from South America. … We had to have a teacher who could do coonass and English, but here we have to do Spanish and English, maybe, and there’s a higher marker.”

The term “coonass” refers to people of Cajun descent. It is considered an offensive slur by many Cajuns, and Dictionary.com describes it as a “vulgar slang term” that is “used with disparaging intent and is perceived as insulting.” The Louisiana Legislature formally condemned the use of the word in 1981. In 2007, University of Alabama football head coach Nick Saban used the word while telling an anecdote, and prompted national news coverage that led to a public apology.

Bonnen’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Ed Espinoza, executive director of Progress Texas, pointed to Bonnen’s casual use of the term as the latest indication that Republican attempts at minority outreach and inclusiveness are sabotaged by the party’s own members.

http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2014/07/30/3466030/texas-lawmaker-uses-ethnic-slur-to-describe-kids-who-moved-to-texas-after-hurricane-katrina/

YAY...more post-racial 'Murica, cuz you know we have a black president..there's no more racism.

These people make me sick....

[stevenleser]

1. Another Macaca moment for the GOP. nt

[elehhhhna]

2. I'm a trans[planted texan and have heard many MANY louisianians refer to themselves as

coonasses. All white. I submit that it's a Louisiana term, not a racial term. Furthermore, f it referred to black people the whites wouldn't call themselves that word. Just saying.

[nolabear]

5. I think it evolved. Originally cajun and then assumed by non-cajuns.

I've heard people call themselves that too, like some folks call themselves "eats", as in "Where y'at?" (you're in NO aren't you? none of this is lost on you I'm sure).

But I know a couple fine fellas he'd better not say that anywhere NEAR around.

[cloudbase]

6. Nothing racist or hateful about it.

I knew a priest whose family was from Louisiana and he referred to himself as "the coonass priest."

[Aerows]

10. There was tremendous oppression of the people in Southwest Louisiana

If he wishes to call himself that, he can. You don't get the right to run around calling a Cajun a coonass.

[Aerows]

7. Coonass is indeed a slur

If a Cajun calls themself a "coonass" that's their business, but outsiders calling a Cajun a coonass is going to cause trouble. Do you think you can haul off and call me a dyke, even if I call myself one when you aren't a lesbian?

I think not.

[Igel]

8. The article says it refers to people of Cajun descent.

African-American and Arcadian are rather different groups.

(And I've known a few people who've used the term. One was Louisianan who wanted to distance herself from Cajuns, while another used it simply to describe herself. Another used it, proud of being a coonass ... i.e. Cajun.

The wiki article seems to cover it. If you're high class you think of it as an insult; if you're not high class, then it's okay. Thing is, both sides will assume that theirs is the One True Connotation for the word and forget that others may not march in lockstep to their personal opinions.

But you'd have to read past the first 4 letters to realize it's not speaking about African-Americans.

[UTUSN]

3. Where else - (besides the House of Representatives) n/t

[a kennedy]

4. This needs to be posted far and wide.......

D*mn....

[Aerows]

9. Let me explain why this is a slur

in the late 40's and 50's, there was a concerted attempt to wipe out all of Cajun culture in Southwest Louisiana. I have many friends from that area, and I lived in Lafayette for a time (Many many years later). Children were punished for speaking French at school, my friends from Breaux Bridge and St. Martinville tell me, their parents were the ones that suffered it. I have one friend whose grandmother attempts to help preserve the stories by reading them in French, but the French language was definitely curtailed and nearly destroyed.

If you aren't Cajun, you don't have the right to call anyone a coonass. Period. It's not a compliment coming out of someone of non-Cajun descents mouth.

[one_voice]

12. I had no idea there was there were so many...

thoughts on this word. I google'd and read the urban dictionary version--and it doesn't seem very nice.

I thought 'coonass' was a compound word--I know 'coon' is a racial slur. My dad is from Alabama and he said if someone called him that he'd consider it a racial slur.

At any rate it doesn't seem like a nice thing to call anyone.


edited to add: guess I should mention my dad is black hence the racial slur

[Aerows]

13. Ignorance

a lot of people don't know the attempts at cultural obliteration that French speaking Cajuns endured.

[tammywammy]

15. My grandfather told me the students would get beaten if heard speaking French.

Coonass is a slur coming from non-Cajuns. There was no celebration of being Cajun when my mom was growing up. It wasn't until, what 20 years ago, that Cajun culture started rising in pop culture, food, etc.

[Aerows]

16. Exactly

It is definitely a pejorative coming from a non-Cajun. My friends told me the same thing of their grandparents and parents.

[madville]

11. My ex-roommate from Louisiana

Used to use that term all the time describing a family member or friends, like "he's a real coonass", meaning they were Cajuns.

He used it so casually and like a term of endearment I never really thought anything about it until now. Probably like some other ethnic terms, it's ok to use it if you are a member of that group yourself but takes on a different meaning when used by an outsider, that's understandable.

[Aerows]

14. The near obliteration of Cajun culture

and the fact that calling someone a "coonass" was a slur used by non-French speakers in the area in an attempt to change their culture makes it a slur.

Stroll into Breaux Bridge, Carencro, or St. Martinville and try to chum it up with someone by calling them a coonass if you aren't Cajun. I hope you leave with all of your body parts intact.

[madville]

17. No need to hope for violence or dismemberment, that's the exact point I was making

My ex-roommate could do that, an outsider couldn't/shouldn't.

Not being from or having ever lived in the region myself and just hearing the way he used it when we lived together in Florida, I never paid it much attention or had a second thought about it until seeing this article because he wasn't using it in a malicious or degrading way.

[Aerows]

18. I didn't mean it that way

I meant it to make a point. No, I certainly don't hope anyone is a victim of violence or anything like that. I also don't think people should run around using the slur without being informed of what it means and the history of it.