Mamou Acadian Press, Thursday, March 3, 1983:
“…some genealogists of sorts are going around the parish of Evangeline and telling our already – mixed up kids that they are the proud sons and daughters of Acadia and rightfully Acadians. It made my Creole French blood boil…” (Reed)
This quote from Revon Reed comes to mind again with certain things happening in and around Evangeline Parish. You'll have to visit a library or something to read his entire column. But the gist of it that Reed explains his acceptance of the word Cajun, even though he was well aware of the French, not Acadian, heritage of Evangeline Parish. He was all too familiar with the Creole word being used for the parish. But things were happening fast during those times and a lot of people joined forces. Cajun, to me, was a political word being used to unify everyone in the area. But it bothered Reed too, that Cajun was supposed to mean Acadian also, which wouldn't fit in our area. A lot is being written now and talked about. John LaFleur, Gene Buller and several others are actively doing something about all that tracas. I like it a lot. I remember Dad sitting alone and griping about all the Cajun this and Cajun that being thrown around. Cajun had become "cool" and people labeled damn near everything Cajun or Kajun. Reed, basically says at the end of his column that Creole could have well been used, but Cajun was chosen instead. And he was OK with that because anything was better than Coonass.