ACLU defends communist propaganda for children
April 6th, CubaCentral...
A children's book about traveling to Cuba has been pulled from a Miami-Dade County school library's shelf for review after a parent complained about the book's depiction of life under a communist government, officials said Wednesday....
Juan Amador wrote Tuesday in his complaint about the book, "As a former political prisoner in Cuba, I find the material to be untruthful. It is a Cuba that does not exist," according to a report aired on WTVJ in Miami....
But [Joseph Garcia, a spokesman for the school district] said Wednesday the book was still available at Marjory Stoneman Douglas Elementary School in Miami, though not on a library shelf. The school has scheduled a meeting April 19 to review the book.
The book has not been removed from any of the approximately 30 other school libraries where it is available in either English or Spanish, Garcia said.
June 16th, American Library Association...
The Miami–Dade County school board voted 6–3 June 14 to remove Alta Schreier’s Vamos a Cuba (A Visit to Cuba) from its libraries in response to a parent’s complaint that it portrays a deceptively idealistic view of life in Cuba.
After Juan Amador, a former political prisoner under Castro’s government, requested that the title be removed from his daughter’s school, two committees–one at the school level and one at the district level–recommended retaining it, a decision affirmed by Superintendent Rudy Crew. However, the board’s ruling calls for all 49 copies of the book to be removed from the 33 libraries that own it, the Associated Press reported June 14. The other 23 books in the series, which teaches about travel and culture in Costa Rica, Germany, Canada, and other countries, will also be banned, even though no one had formally objected to them.
All six Cuban members of the board voted to ban the book, while the three non-Hispanics voted to retain it. “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 Perla Tabares Hantman, a board member who supported the book’s removal.
June 21st, WKMG, Central Florida...
The American Civil Liberties Union on Wednesday asked a federal judge to stop the Miami-Dade County school district from removing a series of children's books from its libraries, including one on Cuba, arguing the removal violates students' rights to free press....
The suit alleged the books were removed without due process, violating students' Fourteenth Amendment rights. It cited staff recommendations to retain the books.
"The Miami-Dade School Board's decision to defy U.S. law prohibiting censorship and ignore the recommendation of their own Superintendent and two committees is a slap in the face to our tradition of free speech and the School Board's own standards of due process," said JoNel Newman, an attorney working with the ACLU.
Isn't this the same ACLU that sues schools in order to remove any mention of Intelligence Design, even a hint that anyone is praying. Isn't this the same ACLU that works hard to remove the Bible, the Ten Commandments and pretty much any positive mention of Christianity from government schools?
Anyone surprised?
I didn't think so.
Coverage: DANEgerous, Stop the ACLU, A Lady's Ruminations, pretend pundit, Gribbit's Word, Conservative Thinking
Posted by Danny Carlton at June 22, 2006 5:48 AM