Saints fans weigh in on the fleur de lis’ association with slavery
7th January 2019 · 0 Comments
With the city’s Tricentennial Celebration coming to an end and the New Orleans Saints in the midst of a Super Bowl run, some Saints fans are reflecting on the flour de lis symbol’s association with slavery.
The fleur de lis has a complicated history in Louisiana that dates back several centuries and received new attention in the wake of Hurricane Katrina and again in 2015 amid heated debate about the removal of Confederate-era monuments from public spaces in New Orleans.
The fleur de lis is a French symbol used by royal families dating back to the 13th century, and emblazoned on the New Orleans Saints helmet and on the 50-yard line of the Mercedes-Benz Superdome.
“As an African I find it painful, and I think people whose ancestors were enslaved here may feel it even harder than I do as an African,” slavery historian Dr. Ibrahima Seck told WWL News in 2015.
He connected the usage of the fleur de lis, to “code noir,” or black code, which was adopted in Louisiana in 1724, and used to govern the state’s slave population.
Seck said a slave caught running away, “would be taken before a court and the sentence would be being branded on one shoulder and with the fleur de lis, and then they would crop their ears.”
Seck wasn’t alone. Tulane history professor Terence Fitzmorris said, “It was a brutal way of scarring someone and also identifying someone as a particular troublemaker.”
The symbol is also used currently in the coat of arms for the King of Spain.
Fitzmorris, though, didn’t go as far as to say it should be removed: “The fleur de lis was the symbol of a monarchy. The United States of America was a slave-holding republic, not just the south. Where do you stop? Do you get rid of all symbols?”
WWL News reported that the symbol is emblazoned throughout the city of New Orleans, and is the official symbol of Louisiana after Governor Bobby Jindal signed a law in 2008. Due to this fact, Seck also said he believes it shouldn’t be taken down as it is now embraced as a symbol of unity.
The Tricentennial Celebration didn’t focus on the fleur de lis’ darker history or delve too deeply ion the city’s slavery history.
The Celebration didn’t talk about the fact that enslaved Africans built the French Quarter as a French settlement and rebuilt it twice after it burned to the ground. Three hundred years later, the French Quarter is still not viewed by many Blacks as a welcoming place for people of African descent.
Nor did the Tricentennial Celebration talk a great deal about the creation of a 32-part race-classification system that used words like “mulatto,” “quadroon,” “octoroon” and “griffe” to describe the amount of African blood that flowed through a person’s veins.
Also downplayed was the harshness of plantation life in the River Parishes just west of New Orleans, which was then known as the German Coast.
The oppressive heat, back-breaking work and disease-carrying mosquitoes led to the early deaths of many enslaved Africans and ultimately to the 1811 slave revolt, the largest slave uprising in U.S. history.
After the revolt, the slaves were hunted and killed like animals. Those who were captured alive were jailed at the Cabildo in the French Quarter where they awaited trial. After they were convicted, they were executed, dismembered and their heads were placed on pikes throughout what is now Jackson Square and along the Mississippi River.
“The fleur de lis is definitely a slap in the face to our ancestors,” Joseph Biko told The Louisiana Weekly. “But to keep it all in perspective, the fact that very little has changed in New Orleans side the 1811 slave revolt is an even bigger slap.
“We’re still being oppressed, marginalized and exploited by the powers that be,” Biko added. “We’re still being paid slave wages and are subjected to unconstitutional policing, mass incarceration, economic injustice and educational apartheid.”
Larry Walker, 62, said he knows the history of the fleur de lis but uses Saints games as an opportunity to bond with his two sons, grandson and dad on the weekend.
“We use that time to come together as a family and enjoy good food, good company and camaraderie,” he told The Louisiana Weekly. “It’s a chance for us to recharge our batteries so we can work to make things better in New Orleans the rest of the week.”
Monique Allen said the while she has a problem with the fleur de lis, she is equally unhappy about that way the franchise treats some of its Black players.
“I don’t like the way they let Marques Colston, Pierre Thomas, Sam Mills and other players go without much fanfare,” she told The Louisiana Weekly. “I also don’t like the way they refused to re-sign Kenny Vaccarro because he spoke out against police brutality and racial injustice on social media or the way local sportswriters and white fans act like a Black quarterback succeeding Drew Brees would be their worst nightmare.”
“After learning about that symbol, I don’t watch the Saints as much as I used to,” Cheryl Woods told The Louisiana Weekly. “I’m glad the Saints are wining and am happy for the players but I don’t buy Saints merchandise anymore or anything with a fleur de lis on it.”
Additional reporting by The Louisiana Weekly Editor Edmund W. Lewis.
This article originally published in the January 7, 2019 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.
