KKK opening doors to Blacks, Gays, Jews and Hispinics

[AniThyng]

In some situations they could probably be conflated. A minority ethnic group in America or some other country taking pride in their collective history (and partially in reaction to the larger culture) isn't that far off from taking pride in one's country, since groups like black Americans or Hawai'ians can generally point to some sort of similar experiences because of that. Same way that a transgender blogger I follow mentions that she takes pride in some of the ways transgender people were at the forefront of the beginning of the modern gay right's movement in America and such.

Compare that to a Cajun like me taking pride in the achievements of German culture because of our common membership in the glorious white race. Sounds kinda dumb, doesn’t it?

Is it really any more dumb then an overseas Chinese taking pride in the achievements of the PRC* because of our common membership in the Han** race?

*Or the weight of "4000 years" of chinese history, for that matter.

**I'm not very sure now if "white" is to be taken as equivalent to "(east) asian" or to "anglo-saxon"?

[Ralin]

Is it really any more dumb then an overseas Chinese taking pride in the achievements of the PRC* because of our common membership in the Han** race?

Not really. Which is why as someone who has actually lived and worked in China I usually mock them for that when it comes up.

*Or the weight of "4000 years" of chinese history, for that matter.

It’s stupid when actual mainland Chinese say that shit. Also isn’t it usually supposed to be five thousand years of continuous history that is beyond the ability of westerners to understand?

**I'm not very sure now if "white" is to be taken as equivalent to "(east) asian" or to "anglo-saxon"?

The former is probably analogous if not equivalent. Don’t know enough about the latter to say.

I actually heard mainland Chinese views on race and immigration described as “White People 2.0.” It’s not a bad comparison.

[mr friendly guy]

Is it really any more dumb then an overseas Chinese taking pride in the achievements of the PRC* because of our common membership in the Han** race?

Its pretty dumb. It only "makes sense" (and I am using that term loosely) to racists. For example in Australia we see these stupid comments like "You <insert group here> didn't do jack for our country, it was the white people." Nevermind that the White person making that statement didn't do anything themselves for the country. However (and this is whats insidious about this) is that people from other ethnic groups might turn this around and then take pride in achievements from other people of their group. With your example of overseas Chinese taking pride in the PRCs achievement, especially if overseas Chinese have been subjected to discrimination in their countries.

A more blatant example would be Chinese taking pride in high IQ tests and hoping it rubs off on them because they are of the same ethnic group. Nevermind these people who argue this have an understanding of biology less than high school science level and are as dumb as a sack of bricks.

[Raw Shark]

Did you hook up with her?

Sadly, no, but more because I was a fat, awkward kid than because of the racial divide or lack of trying.

I am thinking you should have taken her offer to make out in front of your father.

Haha, no, I really should not have; the old man had about 4" and 50# of muscle on me back then.

[PKRudeBoy]

Compare that to a Cajun like me taking pride in the achievements of German culture because of our common membership in the glorious white race. Sounds kinda dumb, doesn’t it?

Well yeah, it would be. Which is why you should be taking pride in the best food on the planet and most debauched public festival in the country.

[Ralin]

I don't know the history well enough to know off the top of my head, but I wouldn't be surprised if Cajuns weren't considered white at one point. Same as the Irish or Italians.

[Raw Shark]

I don't know the history well enough to know off the top of my head, but I wouldn't be surprised if Cajuns weren't considered white at one point. Same as the Irish or Italians.

"Cajun" is a mush-mouthed corruption of the term "Acadian," because they were refugees from Acadia (ie: eastern / island Canada) after the French and Indian War who fled to the nearest place that was controlled by France at the time. French-Americans have been here for so long, they've probably encountered less prejudice than the Irish or Italians in living memory.

[loomer]

That'd be true if cajuns weren't considered subhuman scum up until relatively recently, RS. They were lumped in with blacks, indians and the like for a good while. When it become more about colour than standing (Louisiana was always a touch odd in that respect before the Civil War, thanks to its quite sizeable and respectable free black population) they got a small boost up in status.

[Raw Shark]

That'd be true if cajuns weren't considered subhuman scum up until relatively recently, RS. They were lumped in with blacks, indians and the like for a good while. When it become more about colour than standing (Louisiana was always a touch odd in that respect before the Civil War, thanks to its quite sizeable and respectable free black population) they got a small boost up in status.

This is an area in which I have to admit a very narrow area of knowledge: my own family, who have a last name similar to mine but ending in x and live in Louisiana in some frequent cases, and present as more-or-less totally normal white trash, but whom I have never actually seen in their natural habitat and have never talked to about this. How recently did they stop getting lumped in with, "blacks, indians, and the like?"

[loomer]

Depends on the exact region of Louisiana, but it was a continuing issue into at least the 1940s across large areas of the state. In the early half of the 20th century there were determined attempts to stamp out Cajun French as a language, and people have reported serious discrimination up though to the 1980s, and probably since.

[Covenant]

Depends on the exact region of Louisiana, but it was a continuing issue into at least the 1940s across large areas of the state. In the early half of the 20th century there were determined attempts to stamp out Cajun French as a language, and people have reported serious discrimination up though to the 1980s, and probably since.

Random side question: which population had it worse in this regard, the cajuns or the creoles? Like you say, Louisiana has a really odd mix going on and I suddenly was curious as to which melting pot got the shorter end of the stick.

[loomer]

That's a tricky one, and one I'm less informed about (I only know about the Cajun stuff because a friend of mine is one and likes to talk about his heritage, and it got me looking.) From what I've read, white creoles either experienced similar issues to Cajuns or were just fine (which really depends on the exact time and place and their family ties - a whole lot of Creole folk were originally part of the landed gentry of the region, with old money and old ties carrying on after), but black or mixed Creoles were pretty much thrown under the bus. So your average white Creole probably had a somewhat better time than your average Cajun, but your average black Creole got royally shafted on account of being black AND being targeted by people who might actually be his kin in an attempt to improve their own social standing. The same attempt was made to eradicate Creole French, but not with quite as much ferocity as it wasn't, AFAIK, specifically targeted. Further complicating is that there are strong regional differences in socio-economic status for different Creole populations.

Honestly, Louisiana's ethnic identities are really complex and I won't pretend to understand them in any more depth than that. I could have a look on JSTOR though.