No one could have been more relieved than I was to see George W. Bush make nice with French President Jacques Chirac. The olive branch he extended during last week’s G-8 summit in Evian, France–though frail–appears to have improved relations. Hopefully it’ll make it easier to have a French last name and to respect my home state again.

When freedom became the name of battered toast and fried pieces of potato, I expected Louisiana to be above the anti-French movement. After all, French culture is more prevalent here than in just about any other state. This has been the case ever since 1682, when Frenchman Rene’-Robert Cavalier arrived in the Mississippi River valley and declared it the territory of France (naming it “Louisiane” in honor of Louis XIV). Louisiana was sold to the Americans in 1803, but the French influence on its way of life has persisted. In fact, in my hometown of New Orleans, the city’s Francophile ways have become the cornerstone of its most important industry, tourism: Every year, revelers from around the world are drawn to the city by its distinct blend of French culture served up with American attitude.

But when French President Chirac openly opposed the U.S.-led effort to invade Iraq last spring, all things French suddenly became suspect. Bottles of French wine bled into sewers; French flags burned. The backlash reached its peak in mid-March, when Republican lawmakers in the U.S. House of Representatives decided to stage their own culinary coup–purging the menus in their cafeterias of French-named foods and putting “freedom fries” and “freedom toast” in their place.

Given its close ties to France, I was optimistic that the same thing would not happen in Louisiana. A state that packaged and sold its French influence like its seafood would be more mindful of stirring the waters of French denunciation, I thought.

I was wrong. Rather than trying to soothe the tensions brewing on both sides of the Atlantic, Louisianans quickly went on the attack–against France. Politicians condemned the French in ringing tones, even as they continued to market their Mardi Gras events and old-fashioned French ways to tourists. The lowest blow came when Republican state representative A.G. Crowe drafted a resolution to strip Chirac of his invitation to attend the state’s bicentennial celebration of the Louisiana Purchase, which will be held in New Orleans this December (Bush and King Juan Carlos of Spain were also invited). “Through his unwillingness to support the United States and President Bush at this crucial time, Mr. Chirac has appeared to be ungrateful for the tremendous help and genuine friendship that the United States has given to France for many years, including during both World War I and World War II,” Crowe’s resolution read.

Even Louisiana’s governor, Mike Foster, came out in support of the resolution. The Republican repeatedly savaged France in public statements throughout the spring. “People are really fed up with France,” he said last March on his radio show. “We have good relationships with the French people. They must have slipped up and elected somebody who doesn’t like us.”

Slipped up? Chirac’s approval ratings in France exceeded 90 percent at the end of March, when the French leader was sharply criticizing the United States for invading Iraq. Does that mean the French do not like us? If that is true, then we Americans have a much bigger problem on our hands: Other countries that did not support the war must not like us, either.

Now I have my own opinions about the war, but I see no reason to single out France for condemnation. It is one of many countries that opposed the Iraq invasion. And regardless of whether I agree with the French government, I respect the right of others to make up their own minds. Isn’t such freedom of opinion at the heart of our First Amendment?

What our state’s politicians never realized as they were railing against France was that Louisianans were the ones who were going to suffer most from any transatlantic boycott. Louisianan culture is French culture. Should we stop speaking French on the bayou? Stop offering cafe’ au lait and beignets? Burn down New Orleans’ French Quarter–or just rename it the Freedom Quarter? Better yet, cancel Mardi Gras–that’ll really show France!

In a state struggling with high poverty rates and a stagnant economy, perhaps it would have made sense to stay in good standing with a country that employs 10,000 Louisianans and every year sends tens of thousands of tourists to our state–a country that before the war had been showing interest in investing in New Orleans. But some Louisianan politicians were too patriotic to carefully craft their sound bites on France.

Maybe now, though, things will get better. Maybe this recent meeting between Bush and Chirac will bring Louisiana’s politicians to their senses, so that they can concentrate on promoting our state’s economic development rather than crippling our international relationships. And now that some of the wartime emotions have subsided, maybe we Louisianans can start treating other people’s opinions with a little more understanding and respect.

After all, don’t people–even French people–have the freedom to think what they want? Or is freedom reserved for fried potatoes?”

Judith Malveaux