If you read the newspapers every day, you might just become convinced, as I am, that the majority of our society has gone mad and lost its mind.

How could you reasonably come to any other conclusion when you consider the actions taken last week by school officials in the Westchester town of Peekskill?

School administrators there sent a recorded phone message to hundreds of parents whose children attend the Peekskill High School and Middle School. They said they wanted to apologize and publicly distance themselves from a poem that a 7-year-old home schooled student recited at the two schools during Black History Month.

The poem, called “White Nationalism Put U in Bondage,” was written by Autum Ashante. It compared Christopher Columbus and Charles Darwin to “pirates” and “vampires” who brutalized African Americans and attempted to strip them of their culture and heritage.

In case you missed it, little Autum is only 7. Clearly, Autum is not your typical child. She is something of a child prodigy, having worked professionally as an actress for several years. She even has her own Web site.

Regardless of her rising celebrity status, Autum is at an age when most youngsters are unable to string words together to form a poem, let alone have developed the courage to recite it before hundreds of critical older students.

That didn’t stop Peekskill school officials from pointing their finger at the young girl and offering a harsh critique of her decision to engage in an act of free speech. Apparently, her poem was not appropriate because she had the temerity to suggest that Columbus and Darwin were both racists.

I’ve been scratching my head here trying to figure out what the 7-year-old said that was so radically inappropriate or historically untrue. To me, she was just using her creative energies to explain the gross mistreatment of African Americans throughout history. And she recited the poem only after she was invited to do so by a Peekskill teacher.

This week, the Reverend Al Sharpton and other civil rights leaders from Westchester are criticizing the Peekskill City School District for their response. They are absolutely right to do so.

If the Peekskill City School District has gotten into the business of issuing apologies, they ought to start by giving Autum Ashante one. Their decision to publicly embarrass her by condemning her poem is heartless – an act that most education theorists and school psychologists across the country would strongly warn against.

“There was an entire overreaction,” said Rev. Sharpton, who featured Autum on his nationally syndicated radio show yesterday and promised a thorough investigation.

“The proper thing to do would have been to call the schools together and have an analytical discussion, not apologize as if she did something wrong.”

Rev. Sharpton said the school district’s decision sent a message to the youngster that her decision to write the poem was wrong.

The Peekskill case is the latest in a disturbing trend of incidents across the nation in which students have been chastised and sometimes suspended for exercising free speech. The overreaction can only be called the stifling of dissent run amok and the results will be far more alarming than most of us think. In cities across America, dozens of students are disciplined each year for their critiques of everything ranging from the war in Iraq to President Bush’s leadership style.

At LeMoyne College in Syracuse, a graduate student was even suspended for writing a paper in which he defended the use of corporal punishments in schools. Thankfully, a New York appeals court disagreed with the college’s decision and publicly ridiculed its decision.

Autum said that her poem was not meant to incite controversy, but was written to inspire African-American youngsters to be proud of their heritage. She also said that she wanted to encourage others to reject violence and agitate for peace. That makes sense to me. Shouldn’t we be celebrating the fact that this young girl has developed a passion for writing and public speaking at a time when the overall reading and writing scores of black youth are so low?

But to school officials bent on doing business as usual, none of that apparently mattered. They were so caught up in making sure that Columbus and Darwin’s pristine historical image didn’t get blemished that they missed the opportunity to engage in an act of common sense. Peekskill’s superintendent of schools, Judith A. Johnson, who is black, ought to know better.

She needs to personally right this egregious wrong and congratulate, not condemn little Autum Ashante.