Fla. school board wants Cuba book banned

Fla. school board wants Cuba book banned

news.yahoo.com

MIAMI - A children's book about life in Cuba has parents and school board members demanding its removal from district libraries even though it only features wholesome topics.

To many in this heavily Cuban-American community, "Vamos a Cuba" ("A Visit to Cuba") is extremely offensive because it lacks any criticism of the country's dictator Fidel Castro or his communist government.

(visit the link for the full news article)

Absolutely ridiculous! Folks, this is when extreme patriotism goes too far. We have to ban books now, because they don't fit with our type of government, or because they glorify other cultures?

For a country that preaches "freedom" we have yet to show it in recent times.

news.yahoo.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

A discussion of Cuba without a discussion of Castro and his policies and their impact on the Cuban people just is not complete or scholarly at all. Most likely it's just pro-communist propaganda.

Of course I haven't read it myself, but I bet if I did, I'd come to the same conclusion.

Then I suppose any books about American life should include criticism of Bush and his policies, as well as the illegal wiretapping. After all, if it didn't, it would just be propoganda, right?

[edit on 6-6-2007 by DJMessiah]

Originally posted by djohnsto77
A discussion of Cuba without a discussion of Castro and his policies and their impact on the Cuban people just is not complete or scholarly at all. Most likely it's just pro-communist propaganda.

Of course I haven't read it myself, but I bet if I did, I'd come to the same conclusion.

It's not a discussion about Cuba, it's a children's book about the culture of Cuba,
like what they eat, what they celebrate, there customs and such as well as how people were.


Going by there logic, any book about American culture should also contain all the people we've
slaughtered in the name of the country, and I don't mean in modern wars, as well as the
brutality of slavery and how close minded and bigoted most Americans were,
as well as a list of the current problems with the country as well as criticism of GWBush.

It's a children's book, it's not meant to be political, since kids don't care about such
things at that age.

Bush has been the duly elected president of the United States under our Constitution for what, like 6 1/2 years or so?

Castro has been the absolute ruler of Cuba for like 38 years or something?

Yeah, those are comparable!

Originally posted by iori_komei
It's a children's book, it's not meant to be political, since kids don't care about such
things at that age.

Ok, that may be true. But what gives a Federal judge the right to mandate that a school board to continue to offer that particular book? That seems totally out of the realm of the powers granted to the Federal courts by the Constitution and Congress.

[edit on 6/6/2007 by djohnsto77]

Originally posted by djohnsto77
Bush has been the duly elected president of the United States under our Constitution for what, like 6 1/2 years or so?

So because he hasn't been president for 30+ years, he shouldn't be written into any books that shows American life? Erase him from history books and any references to him, because he is insignificant due to his term in comparison to Fidel's?

Of course he'll eventually be included in history books, but the impact of his presidency won't be able to be truly realized in at least a few decades from now, long after his presidency has ended.

Originally posted by djohnsto77
A discussion of Cuba without a discussion of Castro and his policies and their impact on the Cuban people just is not complete or scholarly at all. Most likely it's just pro-communist propaganda.

It's a book for kids aged 4 - 8. It's not going to have anything politically related in it. It's mostly colourful photos with small amount of text consisting of simple statements. Talking about basic subjects like there food, clothings, homes, there arts and celebrations etc.

Of course I haven't read it myself, but I bet if I did, I'd come to the same conclusion.

Yes, clearly you haven't read it, or even bothered to spend 5 seconds looking it up before passing a baseless and ignorant judgment about it.

www.amazon.com...

Update...

The book has now been banned, after an appeals court denied an appeal to ACLU.

"This is not content that is neutral and apolitical," School Board attorney Richard Ovelmen told the three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. "It is academically incompetent."

Source: chicagotribune.com

This is very sad. If it starts with this book, I wonder which one will be next. Politics should never be pushed onto children or a child's education. I can't see how this isn't unconstitutional.

Sure it should be banned. If you cannot tell kids the truth, then by all means shut up and stop passing off wholesome books filled with lies.

Obviously, the writer is a Fidelista sympathiser and should stick to a new version of Jack & Jill.

Honestly, Its like writing a book about great times when Hitler was taking over north Europe.

Traitor.

Banned? GOOD.

[edit on 8-6-2007 by dgtempe]

By all means, ban anything that doesn't set well with the anti-Castro crowd. We must ban books that fail to preach the true and political statements of our leaders.

"George and Jeb,
went up the hill,
singing 'Onward Christian Soldiers'.
George raised his crown,
and said with a frown,
Let all the freedoms molder".

Catchy, isn't it?

[edit on 8-6-2007 by NGC2736]

Originally posted by dgtempe
Honestly, Its like writing a book about great times when Hitler was taking over north Europe.

Do you really find it appropriate for a children's book to include discussions about politics? Should every US book published (or movie depicting these time periods, for that matter) during the 1800s-1950s depict Africans and African Americans as slaves, tortured humans treated less than animals, and a large oppressed group?

I understand you're from Cuba, but what would justify children seeing the the hardships of living there, when reading a book that is supposed to spur their imaginations and make them happy?

[edit on 8-6-2007 by DJMessiah]