SENATE HOLDS HEARING ON LEGISLATION TO CREATE A NATIONAL MUSEUM OF THE AMERICAN LATINO
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Home / In the Press / SENATE HOLDS HEARING ON LEGISLATION TO CREATE A NATIONAL MUSEUM OF THE AMERICAN LATINO
Washington, D.C. – Yesterday, the Senate Rules Committee held a hearing on the National Museum of the American Latino Act (S. 1267), which would establish a museum in the Smithsonian Institution dedicated to the preservation and celebration of over 500 years of American Latino history. The bill has bi-partisan support from 45 cosponsors, and companion legislation passed the House of Representatives in July by unanimous consent. The Friends of the American Latino Museum (FRIENDS), the only national advocacy campaign striving for the creation of a Smithsonian National American Latino Museum, urges the Senate to now take up and pass this legislation. The full hearing can be viewed here.
“As a patriot, I want our country to reach its fullest potential. But to get there, we need to know where we came from,” said Danny Vargas, chairman of the FRIENDS board and a witness during the hearing. “Our mission is to create a museum that illuminates the American story for the benefit of everyone, for a more complete telling of our nation’s history. After passing the House by unanimous consent in July, it is clear that this is far from a partisan issue, and speaks to the heart of what it means to be an American. We urge the Senate to similarly take up and pass the National Museum of the American Latino Act, so that we can begin to fill in the missing pieces of our country’s story.”
“We find it vital that we proudly share our community’s incredible stories, and celebrate a more complete telling of American history,” said Cici Rojas, a member of the FRIENDS board and a witness during the hearing. “The most important message is that the Latino story is the American story. As a nation, we must honor the promise of what our country was built on and what it stands for, and that includes the American Latino community’s contributions.”
“It has been 15 years since a coalition of Latino and Latina advocates gathered to champion the creation of a Smithsonian National American Latino Museum and 26 years since the Smithsonian’s Willful Neglect recommendation that the museum be built,” stated FRIENDS President and CEO Estuardo Rodriguez. “As the nation comes out of one of the most divisive political elections in our history, the creation of this museum becomes even more important as it can serve to educate, inform and bring our nation together centered on our shared experiences, sacrifices and commitment to this great nation. We ask that the Senate not miss this opportunity and act to pass the National American Latino Museum Act before the end of this year.”
Latino stories are drastically underrepresented in the Smithsonian’s collections—as acknowledged by the Smithsonian Institution itself in its 1994 Willful Neglect report. This legislation, led in the Senate by Senators John Cornyn (R-TX) and Bob Menendez (D-NJ), acts on the report’s recommendations to move forward in the creation of a Smithsonian National American Latino Museum.