Lots of Hispanics named Rita. I even know a Russian lady from Moscow with that name :-).
Just to make Sheila Jackson Lee feel better I googled black women named Rita and came up with Rita Dove, an African American poet.
One important Lee issue settled.
Must...try...not...to...rant...
Ms. Lee really needs to zip it regarding the equity of hurricane names.
There's a black lady in my community named Katrina, for example.
Even though my daughter's classroom is full of kids with unpronounceable multi-consonant and apostrophe-laden names that defy every conceivable rule of English grammar (just like this run-on-sentence, LOL) and read like the cast members of "Star Trek: The Next Generation" it still isn't fair to invoke that old SNL "Queen Shaniqua" stereotype.
Though, come to think of it, the hurricane naming committee could readily obtain more than a few "Q", "X" and "Z" suggestions from our local birth registrar...