Vamos a Cuba book Controversy

Update 7/11: In brief, attempted "book bannings'" identical to the one in Miami-Dade, have occurred at a rate of over one a day for the last two and half decades, from sea to shining sea. In most of these incidents the ACLU and the mainstream media have been conspicuously mum. An interesting argument for all those defending the ACLU stance.

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There is some news regarding the recent ACLU suit regarding the banned book Vamos a Cuba in Miami-Dade county public schools.

A federal judge has decided that the book will remain in schools for now.

Cuban American Pundits, who calls the ban censhorship, published the contents of the book back in April.

My opinion regarding this stands. I don't think this is censorship; people can still go to a store and read it, they can still own it in their homes, no one will be prosecuted for willlingly giving this to their children. However, the school system should not sponsor a pack of lies. What lies? Below my light rebuttal to the content of the book:

Page 26: Celebrations Picture of several black women and children in carnaval attire. Cuba's biggest celebration is called Carnival. It is held on July 26. People dance and sing at this festival. Since when did la toma de moncada become el carnaval?

Page 23: Older boy at chalkboard doing math equations. In school, children learn math, reading, and history. All schoolchildren do some kind of work during their school day. Some children work in gardens. Older children may work in factories. Gardens? we are calling labor camps gardens? History? The history according to Fidel which is very different from true world history.

Page 18: Transportation Picture of antique American car. There are not many cars in Cuba. In the cities, some people drive old cars from the United States. Most Cubans travel by bus. Because they have no way to acquire a truck or a car - no money. They travel by bus because they have to, not because they want to.

Page 12: Food Picture of a metal tray with food in the various compartments. Rice, banana, yucca. White rice is the most common food in Cuba. Sometimes it is mixed with black beans. Chicken with rice is popular, too. Excuse me? What the heck? People eat white rice because it's most accesible, and can get nothing else. This makes it sound like all that cubans eat is plain white rice, and they like it too.

Page 11: Picture of several bohios. Most homes in the country are simple. Some are made of wood from palm trees.The have roofs of palm leaves or grasses. Again because of lack of resources. They are not simple, they are poor. There is a difference.

Page 5: Picture of a small plaza in Cuba taken from a balcony (probably Old Havana) Below are some tables set up with handicrafts. Several people are walking with bicycles. People in Cuba eat, work and go to school like you do. Life in Cuba is also unique. No they don't. Although they do have it right when they say life in Cuba is unique.

Tags: Cuba, Fidel Castro, Vamos a Cuba, Censorship