U.S. Rep. Xavier Becerra has been the force behind the museum's creation.
Should there be a National Museum of the American Latino?
A while back there was a story in the Washington Post about a Latino Museumon the National Mall. Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-Calif.) introduced the bill to set up a commission to study the idea's feasibility. The museum would be based in Washington, around the National Mall and "might be under the umbrella of the Smithsonian Institution."
According to the story by Jacqueline Trescott, "This is one issue that unites our community," said Raul Yzaguirre, the president of the National Council of La Raza.
Let me be the first one to disagree and state for the record that this is one of the worst, most divisive ideas to have come out of anyone's minds in years. And I think that I am definitely part of the "community."
Why have a separate, segregated museum for Latinos? Why not get more Latinos in the existing national museums, period.
For many years, countless Americans – Latino and otherwise – believed that the mosaic portrayed in Washington’s museums was missing a few tiles. In response, the Smithsonian Institution examined itself and in the 1990s determined that the mirror it was holding up to America was indeed incomplete. In 1997, the Center for Latino Initiatives was launched as an effort to respond to the lack of representation of Latinos at the Smithsonian in staffing and exhibitions.
Over 35 million individuals attend the Smithsonian’s museums and traveling exhibits every year. As you can imagine, many are children visiting with their parents or on school trips. Among our nation’s school-age population, about every fifth student is of Latino descent. Every one child out of five born today in the United States is an American of Latino heritage.
All children who visit the nation’s capital take the lessons learned here back home to their communities. We should not allow our children to learn that Latinos are not part of America.Instead, when they visit the nation’s capital they should leave inspired by our past with faith in our future.This country has always managed to give the next generation of leaders good reason to be proud of our history and culture. We must continue that tradition.
