That's carrying "politically correct" to an asinine extreme.

Some hypersensitive types can get downright ridiculous about matters such as so-called "political correctness," very often displaying their own ignorance when they do so—such as objecting to a word In another language.

I recall some years ago, I learned the song "Black Girl" from a Leadbelly record. It dealt with the fate of a woman whose husband had been killed in a railroad accident, and contained the verse

Black girl, black girl, don't lie to me,
Tell me where did you sleep last night?
In the pines, in the pines, where the sun never shines,
And I shivered the whole night through.

A number of times I was taken to task—by hypercorrect white people for singing what they deemed "a racist song." Mainly because it identified the young woman's race.

Later, I tried the song on two women I knew. One a folk singer herself, and another, a telephone operator I worked with when I once worked for Ma Bell. Both of these young women were black.

Both of them thought it was a good song and very poignant, and were not offended in the least. They both said, "Go ahead and sing it. If anyone takes offense, it's their problem!"

I did. For a while. But there are so many PC police out there that I just got tired of arguing about it and didn't sing it anymore.

A few people, both locally and on recordings, used the expedient of changing it to "Little girl, little girl. . . ." Which, as far as I am concern, was downright wimpy!

Petrona Smith, especially considering her own race and background, should sue the school district's officials until they go hide in a closet with shame. And could this charge possibly have come from a digruntled student who wasn't doing so well in class and wanted to get back at her?

Don Firth