Statement of Congressman Xavier Becerra
on H.R. 4863
A Bill to Create a Commission to Plan for a
National Museum of the American Latino
House Administration Committee
1310 Longworth HOB
July 22, 2004
Chairman Ney, Ranking Member Larson, Members of the Committee, thank you for holding this hearing on H.R. 4863, a bill to establish a Commission to develop a plan of action for the potential establishment and maintenance of a National Museum of the American Latino. I introduced this legislation with Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen as a first step toward exploring the feasibility of moving forward with an idea that has long fueled the beliefs and aspirations of millions of Americans.
The Commission to establish the National Museum of the American Latino (“Commission”) would be charged with examining and reporting to Congress and the President the parameters of a plan to establish a new museum dedicated to the art, history, and culture of the Latino population of the United States. The Commission would be comprised of experts from the national art and museum communities as well as individuals with experience in administration and development of cultural institutions. Commissioners would be appointed in a bipartisan manner by the President and the leaders of the House and Senate.
H.R. 4863 was modeled after legislation introduced by Congressman John Lewis of Georgia in the 107th Congress that established a similar commission whose work culminated in the plan for the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture.
I congratulate my friend and colleague, Congressman Lewis, the members of this Committee and all who worked so hard to bring the National Museum of African American History and Culture to its point of success today.
Three years ago, the National Capital Planning Commission gave expression to the primary function of the cultural and historical exhibitions on the National Mall. It said
The memorials and museums that define Washington's Monumental Core express America's connections to its past and its direction for the future…. [T]hese cultural and commemorative public spaces are physical reminders of our collective past and repositories for our most precious artifacts; they help us understand what it means to be an American.
(National Capital Planning Commission Memorials and Museums Master Plan, 2001; emphasis added).
Latinos have been part of American history since before the founding of the United States. They were present on the American continent for more than two centuries prior to the Declaration of Independence. Spanish colonists founded the first permanent settlement in the territorial United States in St. Augustine, Florida in 1565, four decades before Jamestown and Plymouth Rock. During the American Revolutionary War, General Washington’s army was successful at Yorktown in part because of support from a multi-ethnic army led by Bernardo de Galvez on a southern front against the British, driving them out of the Gulf of Mexico, fighting them on the Mississippi and in Florida. In every subsequent military conflict, Latino soldiers fought along side their American brethren. In fact, there are proportionately a larger number of our nation’s Congressional Medal of Honor awardees that are of Latino heritage than from any other ethnic group.
The commitment of Americans of Latino descent to the defense and progress of the American nation is obvious from its history. Yet many people lack knowledge of this history and of Latino contributions to American society. Latinos are often viewed as merely an immigrant population, with a heritage that is alien to the American way of life.
We are a nation of 290 million people, 40 million of whom are Latinos who share a heritage drawn from a combination of old world and “new world” cultures. Among America’s ethnic groups, Latinos are unique in the fact that you can find mixed strains of cultural influence from Europe, Africa, and the pre-Colombian Americas. The mixture of cultures makes many Latinos more open to change, to adoption of new norms and customs, to add new flavors to the recipes we cook, and to accept differences in others. In a word, Latinos reflect what it means to be an American, a citizen of a nation that welcomes and embraces diversity.