Bipartisan group of legislators revives effort to establish National Museum of the American Latino

A bipartisan group of legislators has revived an effort to open a national museum in Washington, D.C., to honor and recognize the work, culture, and history of U.S. Latinos and Latinas. "At a time when hateful rhetoric so often poisons our airwaves and our newsfeeds,” said a member of the group and co-sponsor of the legislation, New Jersey Sen. Robert Menendez, “it’s never been more important that we come together to tell the story of the American Latino in a way that it deserves to be told.”

“The Latino population in the United States has reached nearly 58 million in 2016 and has been the principal driver of U.S. demographic growth,” Pew Research reported in 2017, “accounting for half of national population growth since 2000.” Yet there is no national museum that recognizes this diverse community. The National Museum of the American Latino Act, should it pass, would establish a Smithsonian National Museum of the American Latino on the National Mall.

Such a museum has been shamefully overdue. NBC News reports that, as far back as 1994, the Smithsonian Institution Task Force on Latinos “concluded that not enough is being done to recognize and include Hispanic contributions, with the Task Force report going as far as labeling it ‘a pattern of willful neglect’ toward the Latino population in the United States.” As Friends of the National Museum of the American Latino chair Danny Vargas said, “Latinos have been contributing to the fabric of America from [its] earliest days.”

It’s long overdue, but can it pass this Congress? One co-sponsor, Rep. Jose Serrano of New York, said he believes that the legislation can pass the Democratic-led House, where at least half a dozen Republicans support the bill. He acknowledged that the Senate will be an “uphill battle,” but according to a release from his office, at least five Senate Republicans currently support the legislation. Among the co-sponsors are historymakers themselves, such as Nevada’s Catherine Cortez Masto, the first Latina elected to the Senate, and New York’s Nydia Velázquez, the first Puerto Rican woman elected to the House.

Advocates such as Julissa Arce, an author and activist who has been outspoken about her story as a formerly undocumented immigrant, are fighting to make the case. “Our history, contributions, struggles and triumphs aren’t only Latino in nature, they are American,” she said. “The time is now for a Smithsonian National Museum of the American Latino on the National Mall. Until the museum is built, and until the names of Latino heroes, civil rights leaders, scientists, and artists are known and celebrated, the history of America will remain incomplete.”

from Daily Kos http://bit.ly/2PN7hCG