A Little Uptight

Last night I was lazy and I took the kiddies to Wendy's for dinner because we were running errands and I wanted them to be happy while they waited in the car for me to run into various places.  Whenever Dustin gets a drink he always wants "Black Sprite" meaning rootbeer.  I always think it is hilarious that he calls rootbeer "Black Sprite" and I always giggle to myself when I hand it to him.  Last night, however, having Dustin call his rootbeer "Black Sprite" triggered a memory that has always stuck with me.  I think it is because I was shocked that someone could be that uptight, or maybe it was because I am busy getting everyone ready to go on vacation and I am exhausted.  Whatever the case, here is the story. . . . what do you think?
When Abby was 4 years old I had put her into a FANTASTIC preschool.  I had spent hours researching which preschool to register her in and I woke up bright and early on registration day to go and register her in the amazing school.  I LOVED this preschool.  I loved that they had 3 different rooms that they cycled the kids though and taught them different things in those rooms.  I loved that they had 2 way mirrors so that I could stand outside of the classroom and watch how she was doing.  I loved her teachers and how they interacted with Abby.
One day, I was a few minutes late picking Abby up from preschool.  When I went inside, the director of the school, the principal and the teacher were all waiting with her.  I thought that they were all just waiting to go home and had decided to keep Abby company while she waited for me.  As I walked into the room, they all stood up and introduced themselves.  I greeted them happily and gave Abby a hug while apologizing for being late.  They said it wasn't a problem, but that was not why they were there.  They then proceeded to tell me that there was a little girl who had recently started going to the preschool and she was black.  They then told me that Abby had been playing with a toy and the girl had taken it from her.  This had upset Abby and so she went and told the teacher that the "Black" girl had taken her toy.
THIS IS WHAT HAD CAUSED ALL OF THEM TO GREET ME THAT DAY!!!
The principal made it very clear that they would not tolerate ANY racism in the classroom and that Abby's behaviour was unacceptable.  I was shocked!!!  These ladies were lecturing me about the fact that Abby had called this little girl "black".  They started lecturing me on racial tolerance and teaching it to my kids.  After about 5 minutes I started to get bored of being lectured because I didn't think that Abby had done anything wrong.  So, I told them what I thought.  I told them that I realized that there is going to be diversity in a classroom.  I told them that while it may not be right to label people based on the color of their skin, sometimes when you are 4 and you can't remember a person's name because you have seen them only once before and you are asked to try and name that person, maybe you try to describe them instead.  I would think that the first thing that would pop into a 4 year old's (or 40 year old's) head to describe this one little girl who was the only one who was black would be to mention the color of her skin so that the teacher wouldn't be confused as to who it was that Abby was talking about.  I also mentioned to the teachers that Abby did not actually call the girl "black" to her face and so the necessary apology that they wanted to enforce on Abby would not be acceptable.  I also asked the ladies if there had ever been any other problems with Abby, at all.  They told me "no".  I then told them that this was not going to be something that I would be discussing with Abby because I didn't feel as though she had done something wrong.  I then took Abby by the hand and took her home.
I know that I can be obnoxious and I am REALLY stubborn when it comes to defending my kids.  However, I am curious to know what you guys think?  What would you have done?  Do you think that the teachers were right?  Let me know!