pick a bale of cotton

As we traveled to Arkansas, north through Louisiana on US Highway 65, we drove past many cotton fields. Believe it or not, when I saw these stacks of cotton bales, covered with tarps, the first thing that came to my mind was the old American Folk song, "Pick a Bale of Cotton". Now, less than two weeks later, this "cotton" song has made the news when a middle school chorus in Michigan was planning to use it in the fall concert and a parent complained. This song "glorified" slavery according to the parent. What next? Will the songs that came out of the slave era that just "remind" us that slavery existed also be banned from public schools? I think this is carrying political correctness too far! I can think of many songs that could be banned just because the song might offend one person, if that criteria is used.Stephen Foster is recognized as the first "American" songwriter, and yet many of his songs could offend someone. Songs that remind us of our history are not "bad" just because one person is offended. We should not change the teaching of history to pretend that slavery did not exist, and we should be able to sing the songs that were written during this time.



I have never seen so many bales of cotton in the field like this. The cotton is either on its way to the cotton gin, or waiting to be transported to a port. This brought back many memories of the textile industry in the Carolinas. I worked at one those "cotton" mills during three college summer breaks in the mid-1970's. The majority of the Franklins in South Carolina worked in one of those mills until they closed down. I still find it fascinating how that cotton grown in fields can be turned into cloth. Today the cotton grown in the Lousiana fields waits to be transported by barges down to the port(whenever the port re-opens from the hurricane damage.) From there it will be put on a "slow boat to China," since most of our textile industry has shifted to Asia. Also, it makes me wonder if someday there will be "no" manufacturing jobs in America!