their activih- was the result of forcesrnpresent before the Civil War andrnthe socioeconomic and politicalrnchanges wrought h)- the war [widespreadrnstarvation I.rnAs the 1859-60 vigilante campaignsrnof terror and violencernagainst free people of color in St.rnLandrv’ Parish and in the Attakapasrnregion indicated, the ‘igilante-anhvigilanternstrngglc had evolved (b’rnthe early postbelkim period) from arncrusade for law and order into arnclass strngglc with strong racialrnovertones.rnBrasseanx concludes thatrnMrican-Amcricans heavilv influencedrnthe dexdopment of Cajunrnmusic, folklore, cuisine, folk medicinernand folk religion. In the postbellumrnperiod, however, theserncross-cultural contributions werernovershadowed bv tlic political ramificationsrnof emancipation for thernformer servile population.rnIn other words, race relations got worse,rnnot better, following universal emancipation.rnBut St. Martinvillc, with its eastesystemrnbuffer of Creole blacks, s Gatheredrnthose difficidt years better than oflierrnareas of the South, according to the museum.rnProblems continue along racial linesrnin St. Martinville today. The members ofrnthe cih council that approved the museinn,rndescendants of Cajuns and Frenchrnaristocrats and slaves, have not stood forrnelection for 12 vears. The federal governmentrnhas denied voting rights to thernLIBERAL ARTSrnHOW DO YOU SOLVErnA PROBLEM LIKErnTHE ISRAELIS?rn”The [sraeli Vice-Mini,ster of InternalrnSecurih, Gedcon Ezra, proposes the liquidationrnof close relatives of Palestinianrnsuicide bombers in order to dissuadernthem from committing attacks.rn'”A would-be suicide bomber shouldrnknow that bis closest relatixes could payrnfor liis crimes, and could e”en be liquidated,’rndeclared the deput of the Likudrnpart)’ on public tele”ision.”rn— from a report on Radio T’rnPortugal (Au a lid 20, 2001)rnpoprdation of a litde more than 7,000 —rnabout 66 percent of them black —becausernof a redistrichng order. If die currentrnplan is approved, the election ma”rnfinall) be held next spring.rnThe disparities in the constanflx’ evolvingrncollechve consciousness concerningrnslavery and its aftermath are onl tlierngrormdwork for the real message of thernmusemii. It is a herald of hope, a cr- forrncohesicness. At the ven end of the tour,rnvisitors are told of the cooperation betweenrnthe races that allowed flic culturernof the baou coimtrv to flourish. 1 hernblack experience is parhcularlv linked tornthat of the Cajun commiuiits’.rn”We’re not sa’ing drat it jthe Cajrmrnupheaal and resettlement] was the samernas slaven,” Fontenette sas. “We’re justrnsaying that we were both peoples whornwere taken from their homes b forcernand have lived together all these centuries.”rnAfter the exprdsions from Canada,rnmau’ of riie Acadian exiles were forcedrninto indentured seritude in the Britishrncolonies of the Atlanhc seaboard and onrnHispaniola. A common practice was fliernforced removal of children from Frenchspeakingrnfamilies and flicir replacementrnas servants in English-speaking households.rnEen todav, manv Cajuns feel disenfranchisedrnfrom the American dream,rnhaving had flicir culture and language attackedrnas im-American and, until thernmid-20dr centurw disparaged as “primitive”rnand “immoral” in the media. Thisrnnegative self-concept, some historiansrnand sociops’chologists suggest bofli unitedrnand separated Cajuns and baoucountr}’rnblacks.rnHoused in the same building as thern-frican-American exhibit is the Muscrrmrnof flie Acadian Memorial. (I’he memorialrnitselfis next door.) The last stop on therntour is an introduchon to flie Cajiui experience.rnA boardwalk along BaournTeche joins flic two bruldings.rnThe Tcchc, like all baous, flows slow-rn1- with the tides. It remains much thernsame as it was when Cajmis and slavesrnwere transported on its soft midulationsrnto the fertile land that still noiuishesrnblack as well as white. Occasionallv,rnfrom the boardw alk, the snout of an alligatorrncan be seen surfacing in flie cofteccoloredrnwater.rnChris Segiira, a pumalM, novelist, andrnshort-stor)’ writer, writes from his hometownrnof Abbeville, Louisiana.rnLetter From Palermornhv Andrei NavrozovrnTo Get Something Donern”Before I have my coffee, I want a glass ofrnlemon jidce,” I sav to flic barman. He isrnout of lemons, which apparenth’ canrnhappen even in SiciK. “Oranges?” Outrnof oranges, but I suppose this, too, canrnhappen. “Wdiat can I get flien?” He offersrnme a lemon granita, made withrncrushed ice and sugar, out of his freezer.rn”Too sweet?” He swears it isn’t, settingrnbefore me a small champagne glass fliatrnexudes the freshest and most definitivernflavor of locallv grown lemons I lia’c eerrnexperienced, ^’et the fact remains fliatrnthe concocfion in cpieshon is meant to berna kind of dessert. It is much too sweet tornput in our moufli first thing in the morning.rnBut, killingh sweet though it is, fliisrnone is nndcniabh’ flic best of flie genre,rntwo Alichelin stars and worth a specialrndetour. So what is flicre to say, in the circumstances?rnAn’wav, I cat the w hole lotrnin an hxpnotic silence, whereupon, mistakingrnniv qualified admiration for uneonditioualrnsurrender, flic righteous barmanrnbegins die morning lesson: “I don’trnmake it too sweet. Other people make itrntoo sweet, when flicy shoifldn’t. I nexerrndo, because I’ni carefrd. You liae to berncarefid with granita. Neer too sweet.rnYou want to know something? It’s all arnmatter of how much sugar ou put in. Ifrnvon put in too much, it becomes toornsweet. But if ou don’t put in enough, itrnnia’ be too sour.’ Hnnibh’, I ask for a bigrnglass of water.rnWhat I sometimes miss, living here, isrnAristotelian logic. In the Anglo-Americanrns’stem of crdtural values, at leastrnsome small portion of die stuff seems tornfilter through, down to the commonestrnman, along such admittedly inefficientrncapillaries as high-school education andrnwhite-collar emplovment, with flic resultrnthat, when ou ask a Manchester bankerrnfor a debt-consolidation loan and hisrnbank doesn’t gie them, he won’t offerrnyou chocolate kisses, or a gaih’ decoratedrnwastepaper ba,sket, instead of flic nioiiewrnNor, still more obiou,sl, w ill a Philadelphiarnbaker, sold out of the bread rolls ournwanted, pl- you with perfecfly ripe figsrn38/CHRONICLESrnrnrn