The past few days taught me how little people know about Louisiana Acadien (Cajun)/Créole culture. Louisiana is a world of it’s own with a rich culture and history incomparable to the rest of the United States.

Créole is a French term meaning
cré - “created”
ole - “here”

Créole is a “new world” CULTURE, not a race—the term itself indicating population of the colony before the Louisiana Purchase. Specifically, people of European, Caribbean, African, Native American decent, or some combination of them.

The term “Cajun” is an English corruption of the French “Acadien”. Original Acadiennes spoke no English, but as newer generations assimilated and began speaking broken English, the term “Cajun” evolved. (see video for pronunciations)

The binary concept of race is an English, colonizer construct created to radicalize and divide the working class, essentially creating a caste system. The beginning of systemic racism (as we know it) in America.

Créole does not exclusively mean “Black”, and Cajun does not exclusively mean white. There are white, Black, Native, Métis, Mestizo, Latino, and Hispanic identified Acadien/Cajun AND Créole people throughout the region.

Creole is not a racial label. Our unique accents/dialect are not exclusive to the Black population. In fact, we are often told we sound inarticulate and uneducated—asserting this pattern of speech is exclusive to Black communities is racist.

However, there *IS* a dialect specific to Black communities called AAVE, or African American Vernacular English, though it is an entirely different dialect from Cajun/Creole.

You can read more about AAVE here: https://twitter.com/will_thad/status/1348107792083771394