re: The Lost Origins of Symbols and Icons

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Well shite, I must be one of the people you were referring to that wear it and have no idea what it means.
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Just look up Code Noir.

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Well, I must be missing something because I did not see The fleur-de-lis associated with Code Noir (which is an legal edict on laws governing slavery).

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To regulate relations between slaves and colonists, the Louisiana Code noir, or slave code, based largely on that compiled in 1685 for the French Caribbean colonies, was introduced in 1724. Its 55 articles regulated the status of slaves and free blacks, as well as relations between masters and slaves. Contrary to the edict of 1685, it prohibited, for example, marriage and sexual relations between persons of European and African ancestry, and detailed corporal punishments for cases of theft or escape. Although there were few mixed marriages in Louisiana, concubinage between whites and blacks developed, giving rise to a small population of mulâtres--persons of mixed European and African parentage.

As in the Caribbean, however, the Code noir was frequently subverted and contravened. With the passive complicity of local authorities and royal courts, planters put the code into effect only when it was convenient for them. They were obligated to instruct their slaves in the Catholic faith, to furnish them with food and clothing, and to allow them Sundays and holidays off. Planters were forbidden from mistreating their slaves. Certain planters, however, without interference by judicial authorities, did not hesitate to display extreme harshness toward their slaves. Nonetheless, some planters granted their slaves relative liberty of action. In these cases, slaves were frequently allowed to raise chickens or pigs, to cultivate small individual plots of land, and even occasionally to possess firearms.

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