Judge Orders Miami School Libraries To Keep Cuba Book on Shelves
By Aída Bardales -- Críticas, 7/15/2006
On June 27th, U.S. District Judge Alan Gold ordered the Miami-Dade County school district to keep a series of banned children’s books until a preliminary hearing on July 21st. The school board banned Vamos a Cuba (A Visit to Cuba)—a book containing images of smiling children in Cuba—after a parent complained that the book portrayed an idealistic picture of Cuba. The ban also called for the removal of the other 24 books in the series. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a lawsuit against the school board late last month. “The ACLU understands that this book may be found offensive by some members of our community, but the answer to offensive speech and books—according to U.S. law—has been and should continue to be to add more books and more information with additional viewpoints, not enforcing censorship,” said ACLU spokesperson Brandon Hensler, according to the Associated Press. The district owns 49 copies of Cuba in Spanish and English; copies of the collection remain in school libraries.
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