Posted June 23, 2006.
Miami-Dade Sued for Banning <i>A Visit to Cuba</i>
Miami-Dade Sued for Banning A Visit to Cuba
On June 21, the Greater Miami Chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida filed suit against the board of the Miami-Dade County Public Schools for ordering the removal June 14 from all district media centers of the children’s picture book Vamos a Cuba and its English-language counterpart A Visit to Cuba. The action was taken despite the retention recommendations of two reconsideration committees and the district Superintendent Rudy Crew. The Miami-Dade County Student Government Association joined the suit, which was filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.
Characterizing the book’s removal as “a case of a school board gone wild,” Virginia Rosen, president of the ACLU’s Greater Miami chapter, said in the June 22 Miami Herald, “This is what happens in communist countries. This is what happens in communist Cuba.”
“No ACLU lawsuit can convert an inaccurate nonfiction book into an accurate one,” countered state Rep. David Rivera (R-Miami), who is among the community members who have advocated for the book’s removal.
The suit also seeks the return to school-library shelves of the 23 other books in the travel series, which the board banned as well, even though A Visit to Cuba was the only title that was ever challenged.
Posted June 23, 2006.