Especially when it is organized, ideological censorship of the nature engaged in by folks aligned with this Miami mother.

A Miami-Dade parents group has identified a third book that they say paints a false picture of life in Cuba. But this time, they're taking matters into their own hands.

Fed up with the long, bureaucratic process surrounding the removal of two other controversial books about Cuba from school libraries last year, parent Dalila Rodriguez simply checked out the book Discovering Cultures, Cuba from the library at her son's school earlier this month. She said she does not plan to return it.

''If you take it out and don't return it, no kid can read it,'' Rodriguez, who is a member of the Concerned Cuban Parents Committee, said Wednesday. ``It's not censoring; it's protecting our children from lies.''

Rodriguez discovered the book on Feb. 9 when she was browsing for books for her son in the library at Norma Butler Bossard Elementary, 15950 SW 144th St.
''I first read it and started seeing it had some educational facts, but it's still erroneous,'' she said.

The Cuban-born Rodriguez said she was offended by passages in the book that romanticize life on the island, such as the statement that many Cubans immigrated to Florida when Fidel Castro took power in 1959.

''We're not immigrants; we're exiles,'' Rodriguez said. ``We were persecuted, incarcerated and killed.''

Rodriguez also checked out the children's travel book Vamos a Cuba, which the Concerned Cuban Parents Committee led the charge to ban last year, saying the book paints a rosy and inaccurate picture of life under Castro. Both books were due back Feb. 16, records show. Neither has been returned.
''We're going to take the books and lock them in a box,'' she said.

There is a very simple remedy for this, given her admission that she has no intent to return the books. Arrest her for theft of public property, jail her accordingly, and as part of her sentence require that she replace the missing books with new copies.

And I say this as an individual who probably agrees with Mrs. Rodriguez on her criticism of the books in question. However, the answer is not censorship (whether official or vigilante), it is making more accurate and more complete information available to make it clear what the truth is.

Posted by: Greg at 12:44 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 396 words, total size 2 kb.