The line we tread between reasonable senitivity and censorship is a fine one. Like many other Kentuckians, (both the ones that wandered and the ones that stayed put) I would not miss the Kentucky Derby the first Saturday in May. Before the big race, everyone at Churchill Downs rises to sing "My Old Kentucky Home", and wherever I am I sing right along. At a party several years ago, I heartily belted forth "...in summer the Darkies are gay!" My wife had to nudge me to the realization that we had several black friends in attendance, one of whom showed shocked surprise at my obvious racism. I was doing no more than singing the song the way Steph wrote it, and the way I learned to sing it in elementary school. I never even thought about that lyric. I have sung "the young folks are gay" ever since, and I believe the song has not suffered from that change. On the other hand, when I read about "Huckleberry Finn" being dropped from reading programs I become extremely irate.I would also never stand for editing of the book that reflects our "more enlightened time." If there is a character that Twain calls Nigger Jim, then one should understand that it makes sense in both a historical and thematic context for him to be named that.He is , aside from Huck, the only ethical character in the novel. His actions transcend both his name and his cicumstance, and I believe that is the way Clemens meant it.

Apart from the artist's intent,perhaps the primary difference in these two examples is in the relative nature of the two experiences :a novel is a private and personal experience subject to individual response, while a popular song is a shared experience where singers and listeners participate together...LEJ