Being stupid in Miami again:
Well here's another proud moment in Miami, the Miami Herald reports that the Miami-Dade School Board says a children's book called Vamos a Cuba, along with "similar books from the same series about other countries -- must be removed from all 33 Miami-Dade school libraries that stock it," because once again the Cuban community is up-in-arms. The Board voted to not only to ban the book on Cuba but also to remove other books in the series about Vietnam, Greece, and China. Now that Greece is a real hotbed of communist acitivity!
So what's such a grave threat to the Kindergarteners of the Miami-Dade school system that these books need to be banned? The NYT reports that:
"The cover of the book shows smiling Cuban children in the uniform of the Pioneers, the Communist youth group to which every Cuban student must belong. The 32-page book describes July 26, a Cuban national holiday that celebrates a historic day in Fidel Castro's revolution, as a carnival where people dance and sing. Critics also found misleading a page reading, 'People in Cuba eat, work, and go to school like you do.'" Ai Dios Mio!
The Herald reports that the book became a "target of controversy earlier this year when the father of a Marjory Stoneman Douglas Elementary student complained about the book's sunny portrayal of life in Fidel Castro's Cuba. 'The Cuban people have been paying a dear price for 47 years for the reality to be known,' said Juan Amador, the father who filed the original appeal and a former political prisoner in Cuba. 'A 32-page book cannot silence that.'''
No, I guess it wouldn't, so why bother bringing attention to it by making such a big deal out of nothing? If Mr. Amador hadn't opened his big mouth no one would even know about this book. If it really is such a huge problem for Mr. Amador to see books and hear opinions that don't exactly conform to his own, perhaps he might want to emigrate to a country where dissenting opinions are crushed...like Cuba for instance. See here in the USA, people have fought and died to preserve our right to think and read what we want.
I sort of resent the fact that there's a group of immigrants in this country who call themselves "exiles" --- implying that they're just waiting for Casto to die so they can go back --- that take full advantage of all our economy and our public services and then turn around and try to dictate what is and isn't acceptable to them. We all have to conform to what they want or we'd better start getting someone else to start our cars for us.
A case in point is Board Member Robert Ingram, who opposed the ban, but told the Herald he voted for the ban anyway because he feared for his life. The ALA web site writes that:
"He said threats from the Cuban exile community caused him to think board members 'might find a bomb under their automobiles' if they voted to keep the book, the June 15 Miami Herald reported. 'There's a passion of hate,' said Ingram. 'I can't vote my conscience without feeling threatened-- that should never happen in this community any more." (No dount he hadn't forgotten about Emilio Milian and what happened to him.) Some might think Ingram's fears are overblown but they would be wrong.
Jim Mullin of the Miami New Times compiled some of the more heinous acts of poltical violence that have ocurred over the years in the years following the arrival of the "Exile Community" in Miami.
1968 From MacArthur Causeway, pediatrician Orlando Bosch fires bazooka at a Polish freighter. (City of Miami later declares "Orlando Bosch Day." Federal agents will jail him in 1988.)
1972 Julio Iglesias, performing at a local nightclub, says he wouldn't mind "singing in front of Cubans." Audience erupts in anger. Singer requires police escort. Most radio stations drop Iglesias from playlists. One that doesn't, Radio Alegre, receives bomb threats.
1974 Exile leader José Elias de la Torriente murdered in his Coral Gables home after failing to carry out a planned invasion of Cuba.
1974 Bomb blast guts the office of Spanish-language magazine Replica.
1974 Several small Cuban businesses, citing threats, stop selling Replica.
1974 Three bombs explode near a Spanish-language radio station.
1974 Hector Diaz Limonta and Arturo Rodriguez Vives murdered in internecine exile power struggles.
1975 Luciano Nieves murdered after advocating peaceful coexistence with Cuba.
1975 Another bomb damages Replica's office.
1976 Rolando Masferrer and Ramon Donestevez murdered in internecine exile power struggles.
1976 Car bomb blows off legs of WQBA-AM news director Emilio Milian after he publicly condemns exile violence.
1977 Juan José Peruyero murdered in internecine exile power struggles.
1979 Cuban film Memories of Underdevelopment interrupted by gunfire and physical violence instigated by two exile groups.
1979 Bomb discovered at Padron Cigars, whose owner helped negotiate release of 3600 Cuban political prisoners.
1979 Bomb explodes at Padron Cigars.
1980 Another bomb explodes at Padron Cigars.
1980 Powerful anti-personnel bomb discovered at American Airways Charter, which arranges flights to Cuba.
1981 Bomb explodes at Mexican Consulate on Brickell Avenue in protest of relations with Cuba.
1981 Replica's office again damaged by a bomb.
1982 Two outlets of Hispania Interamericana, which ships medicine to Cuba, attacked by gunfire.
1982 Bomb explodes at Venezuelan Consulate in downtown Miami in protest of relations with Cuba.
1982 Bomb discovered at Nicaraguan Consulate.
1982 Miami Mayor Maurice Ferre defends $10,000 grant to exile commando group Alpha 66 by noting that the organization "has never been accused of terrorist activities inside the United States."
1983 Another bomb discovered at Replica.
1983 Another bomb explodes at Padron Cigars.
1983 Bomb explodes at Paradise International, which arranges travel to Cuba.
1983 Bomb explodes at Little Havana office of Continental National Bank, one of whose executives, Bernardo Benes, helped negotiate release of 3600 Cuban political prisoners.
1983 Miami City Commissioner Demetrio Perez seeks to honor exile terrorist Juan Felipe de la Cruz, accidentally killed while assembling a bomb. (Perez is now a member of the Miami-Dade County Public School Board and owner of the Lincoln-Martí private school where Elian Gonzalez is enrolled.)
1983 Gunfire shatters windows of three Little Havana businesses linked to Cuba.
1986 South Florida Peace Coalition members physically attacked in downtown Miami while demonstrating against Nicaraguan contra war.
1987 Bomb explodes at Cuba Envios, which ships packages to Cuba.
1987 Bomb explodes at Almacen El Español, which ships packages to Cuba.
1987 Bomb explodes at Cubanacan, which ships packages to Cuba.
1987 Car belonging to Bay of Pigs veteran is firebombed.
1987 Bomb explodes at Machi Viajes a Cuba, which arranges travel to Cuba.
1987 Bomb explodes outside Va Cuba, which ships packages to Cuba.
1988 Bomb explodes at Miami Cuba, which ships medical supplies to Cuba.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
And that's just the stuff he could remember, there's a lot more. What's really amazing about this whole rediculous controversy is that you would think that after the Elian debacle and the resulting embarrassment to the Cuban community of South Florida they'd think twice about making fools of themselves in the eyes of the entire country all over again. And it's all over a book for 3 year-olds! In Meee'ami you're never to young to start hating the monster, I guess!
So what's such a grave threat to the Kindergarteners of the Miami-Dade school system that these books need to be banned? The NYT reports that:
"The cover of the book shows smiling Cuban children in the uniform of the Pioneers, the Communist youth group to which every Cuban student must belong. The 32-page book describes July 26, a Cuban national holiday that celebrates a historic day in Fidel Castro's revolution, as a carnival where people dance and sing. Critics also found misleading a page reading, 'People in Cuba eat, work, and go to school like you do.'" Ai Dios Mio!
The Herald reports that the book became a "target of controversy earlier this year when the father of a Marjory Stoneman Douglas Elementary student complained about the book's sunny portrayal of life in Fidel Castro's Cuba. 'The Cuban people have been paying a dear price for 47 years for the reality to be known,' said Juan Amador, the father who filed the original appeal and a former political prisoner in Cuba. 'A 32-page book cannot silence that.'''
No, I guess it wouldn't, so why bother bringing attention to it by making such a big deal out of nothing? If Mr. Amador hadn't opened his big mouth no one would even know about this book. If it really is such a huge problem for Mr. Amador to see books and hear opinions that don't exactly conform to his own, perhaps he might want to emigrate to a country where dissenting opinions are crushed...like Cuba for instance. See here in the USA, people have fought and died to preserve our right to think and read what we want.
I sort of resent the fact that there's a group of immigrants in this country who call themselves "exiles" --- implying that they're just waiting for Casto to die so they can go back --- that take full advantage of all our economy and our public services and then turn around and try to dictate what is and isn't acceptable to them. We all have to conform to what they want or we'd better start getting someone else to start our cars for us.
A case in point is Board Member Robert Ingram, who opposed the ban, but told the Herald he voted for the ban anyway because he feared for his life. The ALA web site writes that:
"He said threats from the Cuban exile community caused him to think board members 'might find a bomb under their automobiles' if they voted to keep the book, the June 15 Miami Herald reported. 'There's a passion of hate,' said Ingram. 'I can't vote my conscience without feeling threatened-- that should never happen in this community any more." (No dount he hadn't forgotten about Emilio Milian and what happened to him.) Some might think Ingram's fears are overblown but they would be wrong.
Jim Mullin of the Miami New Times compiled some of the more heinous acts of poltical violence that have ocurred over the years in the years following the arrival of the "Exile Community" in Miami.
1968 From MacArthur Causeway, pediatrician Orlando Bosch fires bazooka at a Polish freighter. (City of Miami later declares "Orlando Bosch Day." Federal agents will jail him in 1988.)
1972 Julio Iglesias, performing at a local nightclub, says he wouldn't mind "singing in front of Cubans." Audience erupts in anger. Singer requires police escort. Most radio stations drop Iglesias from playlists. One that doesn't, Radio Alegre, receives bomb threats.
1974 Exile leader José Elias de la Torriente murdered in his Coral Gables home after failing to carry out a planned invasion of Cuba.
1974 Bomb blast guts the office of Spanish-language magazine Replica.
1974 Several small Cuban businesses, citing threats, stop selling Replica.
1974 Three bombs explode near a Spanish-language radio station.
1974 Hector Diaz Limonta and Arturo Rodriguez Vives murdered in internecine exile power struggles.
1975 Luciano Nieves murdered after advocating peaceful coexistence with Cuba.
1975 Another bomb damages Replica's office.
1976 Rolando Masferrer and Ramon Donestevez murdered in internecine exile power struggles.
1976 Car bomb blows off legs of WQBA-AM news director Emilio Milian after he publicly condemns exile violence.
1977 Juan José Peruyero murdered in internecine exile power struggles.
1979 Cuban film Memories of Underdevelopment interrupted by gunfire and physical violence instigated by two exile groups.
1979 Bomb discovered at Padron Cigars, whose owner helped negotiate release of 3600 Cuban political prisoners.
1979 Bomb explodes at Padron Cigars.
1980 Another bomb explodes at Padron Cigars.
1980 Powerful anti-personnel bomb discovered at American Airways Charter, which arranges flights to Cuba.
1981 Bomb explodes at Mexican Consulate on Brickell Avenue in protest of relations with Cuba.
1981 Replica's office again damaged by a bomb.
1982 Two outlets of Hispania Interamericana, which ships medicine to Cuba, attacked by gunfire.
1982 Bomb explodes at Venezuelan Consulate in downtown Miami in protest of relations with Cuba.
1982 Bomb discovered at Nicaraguan Consulate.
1982 Miami Mayor Maurice Ferre defends $10,000 grant to exile commando group Alpha 66 by noting that the organization "has never been accused of terrorist activities inside the United States."
1983 Another bomb discovered at Replica.
1983 Another bomb explodes at Padron Cigars.
1983 Bomb explodes at Paradise International, which arranges travel to Cuba.
1983 Bomb explodes at Little Havana office of Continental National Bank, one of whose executives, Bernardo Benes, helped negotiate release of 3600 Cuban political prisoners.
1983 Miami City Commissioner Demetrio Perez seeks to honor exile terrorist Juan Felipe de la Cruz, accidentally killed while assembling a bomb. (Perez is now a member of the Miami-Dade County Public School Board and owner of the Lincoln-Martí private school where Elian Gonzalez is enrolled.)
1983 Gunfire shatters windows of three Little Havana businesses linked to Cuba.
1986 South Florida Peace Coalition members physically attacked in downtown Miami while demonstrating against Nicaraguan contra war.
1987 Bomb explodes at Cuba Envios, which ships packages to Cuba.
1987 Bomb explodes at Almacen El Español, which ships packages to Cuba.
1987 Bomb explodes at Cubanacan, which ships packages to Cuba.
1987 Car belonging to Bay of Pigs veteran is firebombed.
1987 Bomb explodes at Machi Viajes a Cuba, which arranges travel to Cuba.
1987 Bomb explodes outside Va Cuba, which ships packages to Cuba.
1988 Bomb explodes at Miami Cuba, which ships medical supplies to Cuba.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
And that's just the stuff he could remember, there's a lot more. What's really amazing about this whole rediculous controversy is that you would think that after the Elian debacle and the resulting embarrassment to the Cuban community of South Florida they'd think twice about making fools of themselves in the eyes of the entire country all over again. And it's all over a book for 3 year-olds! In Meee'ami you're never to young to start hating the monster, I guess!
posted by William Duane at 1:44 PM
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