California Congressman Xavier Becerra and Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen co-sponsored bill H.R.512, that was signed by President Bush. The bill establishes a commission to study the feasibility of a National Museum of the American Latino. That’s a good thing no? I mean wouldn’t it be great if I could take my daughters to a museum was about the different Latino groups in the U.S., including their own Chile, Mapuche-Rican heritage and social movements? I mean there is a Smithsonian Museum of African American History and Culture coming soon , and the National Museum of the American Indian. Why not a Latino museum documenting and celebrating us? And anyway maybe some history, showing that some of our ancestors have been on the North American continent and in U.S. territory for a long time would give some anti-immigration activists a new perspective?

From the website of the National Museum of the American Latino:

Latinos were present on the American continent for more than two centuries prior to the Declaration of Independence. The first permanent European settlement in 1565 was St. Augustine, Florida, 41 years before the establishment of Jamestown. Spaniards mapped an explored a large portion of the continent, from California to the Southwest; up the Mississippi and the east coast. They named many of the areas and those names still are part of this country: Florida, Colorado, California, Nevada, Montaña, San Francisco, Los Angeles, El Paso and Santa Fe.

In many other posts I have expressed my problem with the co-option of the term “American”, so it would be curious to see how this museum handles that. But according to some, that’s not the only problem. There is another Latino museum-like institution already in place. From The Unapologetic Mexican:

The Smithsonian has the Smithsonian Latino Center, which is underfunded. Efforts should go there, not toward creating a separate organization.
He [Roger Hernandez from the Californian] posits that “Latinos” will never escape their image of being outsiders to the American culture if we are isolated in such a way.
‘I should think it’s a fantastic idea. So why do I feel uneasy?
Because if this becomes a separate Latino museum, distinct and physically apart from other museums in Washington, it will end up reinforcing the image of Latinos as outsiders too exotic to ever be part of the national mainstream.

But wait, can there really be the expectation that federally funded institutions are going to get our story right? Schools certainly haven’t done a great job. In high school it was through my peers (thank you Gualesca Rodriguez) and organizations such as Muevete and the National Congress for Puerto Rican Rights that schooled me. My daughter, searching for Mapuche information certainly has hit a wall with museums so far.

If this museum does go forward, I certainly will visit it (and blog about it) but I likely will be bothered by some things and be forced to go back to the community to fill in the gaps.

Popular education movements anyone?

Via / Hispanic Tips, La Prensa San Diego, National Museum of the American Latino, The Unapologetic Mexican