Barack Obama Names Emilio Estefan To “Commission To Study The Potential Creation Of A National Museum Of The American Latino.”
24 September 2009, 2:00 PM. By Alex Alvarez
This photo was taken during Cinco de Mayo at the White House. Which does not bode well.
President Barack Obama has named Emilio Estefan to the “Commission to Study the Potential Creation of a National Museum of the American Latino.” Doesn’t calling it “National Museum of the American Latino” make us sound more like some rare species of reptile than “National Museum of American Latinos” would have?
The purpose of the commission will be, as its highly descriptive name implies, to study and determine how this new national museum, based in D.C, would serve in portraying the history and culture of Latinos in the U.S.
Others appointed to the commission include Andrés W. López (a Harvard-educated lawyer based in Puerto Rico), Cindy Peña (a businesswoman with broadcast experience from Denver), Abigail M. Pollak (a University of Miami grad who works for Estudio Grau Abogados in Peru) and Cid Wilson (who serves on the board of directors board of directors of Latino Justice PRLDEF and the National Council of La Raza (NCLR). Gilberto Cárdenas and José B. Fernández will continue to serve on the commission.
The museum’s official website gives us an idea of what we can expect:
The National Museum of the American Latino will create a home for the historical artifacts, images, and personal stories documenting over 500 years of American Latino contributions to the United States. The Museum will serve as an educational tool for the thousands who visit the museum each year, as well as instilling a sense of pride in the Latino community today and in the future.
The museum also sets out to highlight the various cultures at play within the Latino community, the different races and religions that make up our demographic and the role Latinos/Hispanics have played in American history, from the Revolutionary War to the present day.
But what of more recent Latino-oriented happenings? Well. The site’s “Event” section hasn’t been updated since 2008. Which, you know. Is fine. Whatever.
We’ll keep you all updated as more info on what the museum will feature is revealed. Do you think Emilio will want an exhibit on Juanes’ role in bringing Cuba and the U.S. together?
Obama names Emilio Estefan to study creation of the National Museum of the American Latino [The Miami Herald]
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One, I find it interesting they decided to name it “Latino”; I wonder how long that took to figure out. Two, rare species huh? LOL. Three, I can’t wait to see it!
the native american gets the same treatment at the national museum of the american indian.
“American Latino” to make the native-self-denying Spanish speakers proud of their miniscule European ancestry? No wonder he selected a Miami-based Cuban entertainer with deep pockets and a friendly face for the “sanitizing” job. Any former member of the Young Lords or Brown Berets would have been a better choice. I wonder if this museum will include topics such as the invasion of Mexico in 1846, the interventions in Cuba, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, Guatemala, El Salvador, or the support of the repressive regimes in Chile, Argentina, Brazil or Paraguay who forced millions into exile. Most likely the outcome will be a nauseating representation of a friendly brown-faced, salsa-dancing, fruit-hat-wearing individual who never knew anything about the struggles of the Latin American experience.
Not to deny that they were horrible, but I think “millions into exile” when talking about the dictatorships of South America is a bit of an exaggeration. The only Latin American oppressive political system that has resulted in millions of exiles is the one in Cuba, which you seem to support, oddly enough. I guess cuz it isn’t US-supported, and that’s enough for you.
Also, why are you bringing up a museum about Latin America’s problems when this is a museum of the American Latino? Has it not registered to you that these are two separate things? America’s crimes against the American Latino should maybe brought up. But America’s crimes against Latin America? That’s a different museum. Talk to Caracas about it…
The Museum of the Chinese in America just re-opened this week downtown, and it seems pretty cool. It’s not really a government project, although it is partially government funded. It was originally founded in Chinatown by local artists and it seems pretty impressive. An independent community effort seems a better bet for this kind of thing that some ill-conceived and poorly executed government project pandering to a really heterogeneous demographic. And don’t we already have El Museo del Barrio? It’s not that bad, you know. NY Guanabees should trek over there sometimes. Although it’s not very pan-Latin American, it reflects its local community and supports lots of Latino artists. The Hispanic Society of America has a really fancy but little-known museum in the Harlem/Washington Heights border. It’s definitely more “Spanish” than Hispanic, and it doesn’t have much contemporary art, but they do have El Greco and Velazquez paintings there. And it’s in a really, really fancy building that looks like it doesn’t belong in that neighborhood. There are similar cultural institutions in California and the Southwest. I don’t think a big catch-all museum in DC is such a good thing.
OK, I didn’t write guest comment #3 above. Maybe I should get a username. But then I won’t be annoyingly anonymous.
I wrote comment # 3 above, my friend. I agree with you. A more local effort is always better than a government pushed initiative. As you well know, it is difficult to place all people of Latin American/Iberian descent (or like we prefer to say in the Spanish speaking part of the New World: Iberoamerica) into one bucket. I am afraid that is exactly what this project aims to do: Create a pad-in-the-back institution for the “sacrifices” and contributions that brown faces have made in the US’s wars since the War of Independence adorned with some “Latin Jazz” with spicy food flavors, washed down with some Reposado Tequila Margaritas or Cuban Mojitos (God forbid any Cuban cigars…). I am amazed by how much Obama has moved towards the mainstream and by choosing Emilio Estefan he is just pitching to the trendy elites of “Latinos” in Miami who are relatively new comers and represent a small portion of the population of Latin Americans in the US. Anyhow, he decided for an entertainer and what we will get is entertainment. I personally don’t need to be entertained into homogeneity by anyone.
I really enjoyed the Celia Cruz exhibit at the Smithsonian a few years ago. She had her own corner at the Museum of American History. I was very proud to be Cuban when I saw that.
I hope this proposed museum has similar exhibits that teach not only Latins but other folks about our various cultures.
Also, I feel like posting in Spanish just to annoy the Mecha rep up there, but I’m on a laptop and I never figured out how to get the accents on a laptop keyboard.