[Marxism] Board votes to remove Cuba book from Miami-Dade schools

["Walter Lippmann" <walterlx@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

(Thanks to the work of the Miami-Dud School Board, the Cuban Five
have more proof that they cannot get a fair trial in Miami. Just
imagine the action taken by the school board there, so fearful of
their grade-school kids seeing children in Cuba who actually smile
and actually eat food, contrary to all reports given in Miami by
rightist parents to their children. Consider this amazing sentence
and always remember this book has a total of THIRTY-TWO PAGES:

("Board member Robert Ingram said he only supported the ban out
of fear for his family's safety and to invite a lawsuit by the
American Civil Liberties Union.")
=================================================================

Published Wednesday, June 14, 2006

Board votes to remove Cuba book from Miami-Dade schools
The Associated Press MIAMI

http://www.theledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060614/APN/606140980

A children's book about traveling to Cuba, and similar books from the
same series about other countries, must be removed from all
Miami-Dade County school libraries, school officials ruled Wednesday.

In a 6-3 vote, board members decided the book "Vamos a Cuba," or
"A Visit to Cuba," was inappropriate for young readers because of
inaccuracies and omissions.

"A book that misleads, confounds or confuses has no part in the
education of our students, most especially elementary students, who
are most impressionable and vulnerable," said board member Perla
Tabares Hantman, who supported the ban.

The school district owns 49 copies of the book in Spanish and
English. The father of a Marjory Stoneman Douglas Elementary School
student complained in April about the book's depiction of life under
communist rule.

Appeals to a previous school board ruling keeping the book in the
school's library were amended to ban the book in all 33 schools in
the district. Superintendent Rudy Crew had suggested parental consent
be required for borrowing the book, or that a sticker on the cover
advise parents of the book's weaknesses.

"We are rejecting the professional recommendation of our staff based
on political imperatives that have been pressed upon members of this
board," said board member Evelyn Greer, who opposed the ban.

Board member Robert Ingram said he only supported the ban out of fear
for his family's safety and to invite a lawsuit by the American Civil
Liberties Union.

"There's a passion of hate," Ingram said. "I can't vote my conscience
without feeling threatened - that should never happen in this
community any more."

The ACLU of Florida was preparing a legal challenge to the ban,
executive director Howard Simon said in a statement.

"Today's precedent - if allowed to stand - opens the door to yank
virtually any book off the shelf of a school library at the whim of a
single parent and a school board judgment that there is some
inaccuracy or omission in a book," Simon said. "The fight for freedom
in Cuba cannot be waged as a war on the First Amendment in Miami."

The board only considered the book about Cuba, but Wednesday's ruling
also covers books about travel to Vietnam, Greece and China, among
other countries. Critics said the series does not offer enough
details about the countries it includes.

"Basically it paints life in those 24 countries with the same brush,
with the same words," said board member Agustin Barrera, who voted
for the ban.


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