Last month, the board voted to remove the book "Vamos a Cuba" ("A Visit to Cuba") from its elemen... Free speech advocates fear
Last month, the board voted to remove the book "Vamos a Cuba" ("A Visit to Cuba") from its elementary schools after a parent complained its depiction of life in the communist nation was misleading and offensive. The board then expanded the order to all 24 books in the series on children living around the globe.
The Miami-Dade Student Government Association and the American Civil Liberties Union sued in federal court to block the removal, arguing the board's decision violated students' constitutional right to free press. District Judge Alan S. Gold was set to hear arguments in the case Friday.
The effort to remove books gained momentum this week when another parent formally complained about another title, "Cuban Kids," which depicts children singing in honor of Argentine-born revolutionary Che Guevara. A school is reviewing that complaint.
"This isn't the only book or the first book that has inaccuracies or omissions, but we don't remove books in this country based on content, or just because someone doesn't agree with them," said Ron Bilbao, 18, who recently graduated from South Miami Senior High and served as the head of the student association. "Why don't we fill our libraries with more books, not take away books?"
Bilbao said he worried the board's decision could lead to claims from parents of black, Haitian and Jewish students to remove books they found offensive.
"Vamos a Cuba," by Alta Schreier, targets students ages 4 to 8 and contains images of smiling children wearing uniforms of Cuba's communist youth group and celebrating the country's 1959 revolution. It also shows people driving cars from about the same era.
Los Angeles and New York City school districts carry the book. The Miami-Dade board overrode two review committees and Superintendent Rudy Crew recommendations' to keep the books.
The parent who originally brought the complaint, Juan Amador Rodriguez, 36, said he was thrown in jail in Cuba after he first tried to leave the country and was imprisoned for three years when he tried to leave a second time. He now lives in South Florida, where Fidel Castro and his government are the target of anger from Cuban exiles.
Judith Krug, head of the American Library Association's Office for Intellectual Freedom, said such overtly political complaints against books are rare. These days, the books most frequently requested for removal tend to deal with sexuality, profanity, gay issues and witchcraft.
The 10 most challenged books in 2005 included: "Forever" by Judy Blume; "The Catcher in the Rye" by J.D. Salinger and the Captain Underpants series by Dav Pilkey. J.K. Rowling, Poet Laureate Maya Angelou and Mark Twain have also made the list in recent years.
But Simon said the battle over whether to keep the books on the shelves is part of a larger fight over free access to materials in schools and freedom of speech. He noted that the ACLU defended the rights of Amador and others who protested the participation of Cuban musicians in the 2001 Grammy Awards.
"Sadly, the battle to rid Cuba of its dictatorship and bring some semblance of democracy to the country has too frequently become a war on the First Amendment in Miami-Dade," he said.
Amador isn't opposed to having "Vamos a Cuba" in public libraries where parents can accompany their young children, but he doesn't want it in his 10-year-old daughter's school.
Among the most vocal supporters of the ban is Frank Bolanos, a school board member who is seeking the Republican nomination for a state Senate seat. Bolanos said he is willing to take the case to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Other leaders in Miami's Cuban community hesitated to get involved, but in recent weeks some have reluctantly taken a stand. Alfredo Mesa, executive director of the Cuban American National Foundation, said book banning is wrong.
"This is a difficult issue. But at the end of the day, this is America," he said. "We respect freedom of speech and everyone's right to exercise it freely. This is what we want for Cuba in the future."
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