National Latino Museum Faces Funding, Discriminatory Hurdles

A national museum that honors Latinos in this country will probably not be coming anytime soon, according to a New York Times report. Sadly, the reasons the federal museum is having trouble getting off the ground are similar to the reasons Latinos have a hard drive driving while Latino in Arizona: discrimination.

But the difference between Arizona’s outright anti-Latino bias and the prejudice we’re seeing at the federal level is, as many things these days, disguised by concerns about the budget. It’s clear that Latinos are not fully represented in other national museums — a report in the 1990s found that Latinos were mostly ignored in these institutions. Yet, although the National Museum of African American History and Culture and the National Museum of the American Indian were funded largely by the federal government, the word on Capitol Hill is that a Latino museum would be okay — as long as it’s not federally funded.

¿Pero, qué? Am I missing something here? Could someone explain to me how this is not the same thing? The Times reports:

Federal money for the museum would not appear to be an option, members of Congress say, as it was for the African-American and Indian museums. The National Museum of African American History and Culture has a $500 million price tag, half of which is being paid by the federal government. The government paid for two-thirds of the Indian museum.

Commission leaders chose in recent days not to speak about their report before they brief Congress, in the first week of May. But it is anticipated that the panel will suggest that should a museum be authorized by the government, most of the financing could be raised privately.

Smithsonian officials have said they are open to the idea of including a Latino museum in their network, though some concede that it would be difficult to raise money for such an institution from the private sector while they are still committed to raising $250 million to finish the African-American museum.

There’s more information in the story, but pretty much what’s going on here at the highest “cultural” levels of our society is the same thing going on in the streets: if people can get something “useful” out of Latinos, they’ll take it, but when it comes to giving up something meaningful in return, the answer is “no.” I won’t expect this museum to be on my to-do list in D.C. anytime soon.

Follow Sara Inés Calderón on Twitter @SaraChicaD