U.S. Latinos may get a national museum of their own
National center would showcase Hispanic role in building America
By Tal Abbady | South Florida Sun-Sentinel
July 22, 2008
Hispanics colonized the New World, discovered Florida, fought for the United States in every major war, shaped cities like Miami and Los Angeles and have become a sought-after electorate.

But no national museum exists to tell their story exclusively.

Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Miami, hopes that will change in a few years. She is the lead Republican sponsor of a bill recently passed by Congress that paves the way for the National Museum of the American Latino, the first of its kind. Rep. Xavier Becerra, D-Los Angeles, conceived the idea five years ago.

The bill creates a 23-member commission that would look into the logistics and practicality of creating such a museum. Backers hope it will be built as part of the National Mall in Washington, D.C., not far from a museum dedicated to American Indians and another, still under construction, dedicated to African-Americans.



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National Museum of the American Latino Commission "It's way overdue," said Ros-Lehtinen. "Hispanics have contributed to the well-being of this country in so many ways."

Those contributions stretch way back. As governor of Louisiana, Count Bernardo de Galvez obtained critical supplies for American revolutionaries and eventually reconquered Florida for Spain.

By her own account during the Civil War, Cuban-American Loreta Janeta Velazquez slipped into a male disguise and joined the Confederate Army.

Galvez and Velazquez are but two of the hundreds of Hispanics who have formed part of this country's history since its earliest days.

Ros-Lehtinen said she envisioned a museum that would include Hispanics' roles "in every facet of American life," including science, education, entertainment and politics. It would be a be a much larger venture than the Smithsonian's Latino Center, which acts as a research center and helps organize Latino-themed exhibits throughout the Smithsonian Institution.

There are no details yet on who will serve on the commission, which was authorized in May. Organizations such as the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities have written letters urging Senate Appropriations Committee members to fund the group.

Lobbyists close to the project worry that the Senate is leaning toward appropriating less than half the $2.1 million the bill's sponsors requested for the commission's first year. The group will need $3.2 million over two years to study the museum's construction costs and come up with a development plan.

Some observers wonder how a Latino museum would balance the history of immigrants, including those who are undocumented, with that of U.S.-born Latinos, particularly with a divisive immigration debate as a backdrop.

Others ask how the histories of multiple groups tucked into the "Latino" label, including those who are descendants of U.S. Hispanics from Texas to California born in the Spanish colonial era, will come together in one institution.

"We're trying to remove the color of politics from this and leave those decisions to the people who aren't politically partisan," Becerra said. "I'm pursuing this legislation as an American, not as a Latino."

Larry Calderon, vice president for community and government affairs at Nova Southeastern University, said he hoped the museum would buck stereotypes and raise provocative questions about being Hispanic. "I was raised to believe that Hispanics were Mexicans," said Calderon, who is Mexican-American.

But in South Florida, "You get Spanish-speaking, blue-eyed blond people who are perfectly Argentinian or Brazilian. The museum would have to include the whole thing. It would have to be a cross-section," he said.

Carol Damian, interim director at Florida International University's Frost Art Museum, wants a Latino history museum that includes artistic contributions and goes beyond cliched themes.

"Latinos need to take their place along with everyone else in the Mall," she said. "But I hope this isn't turned into a simplified story of immigration and identity."

Though a potential opening is years away, Becerra's brainchild has its detractors.

"We're segregating an entire culture," said Cuban-American F. Lennox Campbell, a Philadelphia-based freelance art critic who argues Latinos should be included more in mainstream museums.

"It's a noble thing to shed light on what Latinos have contributed to American history, but do it in the right place," he said. "Don't separate it in a museum just for me."

Tal Abbady can be reached at tabbady@sun-sentinel.com or 954-356-4523.
What a crock...
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