{"id":584020,"date":"2023-07-23T22:46:45","date_gmt":"2023-07-23T19:46:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/smithsonian-latino-museum-sees-its-fate-thrown-into-budget-fight\/"},"modified":"2023-07-23T22:46:45","modified_gmt":"2023-07-23T19:46:45","slug":"smithsonian-latino-museum-sees-its-fate-thrown-into-budget-fight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/smithsonian-latino-museum-sees-its-fate-thrown-into-budget-fight\/","title":{"rendered":"#Smithsonian Latino museum sees its fate thrown into budget fight"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/08\/espaillatadriano_081222gn_w.jpg?w=900\" \/><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>A project to build a national museum of Latino history and culture is up in the air amid a dispute over the museum\u2019s contents that has cast its funding prospects into the larger fight over the fiscal 2024 budget.<\/p>\n<p>The House <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/download-scripts-themes-apps\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"9\" title=\"Download Scripts &amp; Themes &amp; Apps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">App<\/a>ropriations Committee on Wednesday approved an interior and environment funding bill that bans the federal government from spending any taxpayer money on the National Museum of the American Latino, part of the Smithsonian Institution, which was approved by Congress in 2020.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr1_ab\"><\/aside>\n<p>With zero funding for a project that\u2019s been a core priority for many U.S. Latinos, the museum\u2019s im<a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/social-mediaa\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"1\" title=\"Social Media\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">media<\/a>te future is now at the mercy of highly politicized budget negotiations in Congress.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is an unfortunate roadblock: to now be talking about zeroing out funding to the museum,\u201d said Estuardo Rodr\u00edguez, president and CEO of the Friends of the National Museum of the American Latino.<\/p>\n<p>At Wednesday\u2019s Appropriations hearing, Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-N.Y.) introduced an amendment to restore funding to the museum that was defeated 27-33.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Latino community is not monolithic. We are very diverse and the fact that Republicans want to drive a stake into the heart of the Smithsonian Museum honoring the Latino culture in America is unacceptable,\u201d\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/repespaillat\/status\/1681778987272372225?s=46&amp;t=bNl_HqsLF4WK9OqavoHetA\">wrote Espaillat on Twitter<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>With Wednesday\u2019s vote, the fight over funding the museum moved outside the committee\u2019s reach, making it more difficult for any single legislator to reverse the action.<\/p>\n<p>Before the funding fight, the Latino museum was searching for a permanent home, lobbying Congress to approve construction in one of two sites on the National Mall; a parallel push is being made to house the Smithsonian American Women\u2019s History Museum, which received funding in Wednesday\u2019s vote.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr2_ab\"><\/aside>\n<p>Republicans s<a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/trip-and-travel\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"10\" title=\"Trip &amp; Travel\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">trip<\/a>ped the Latino museum\u2019s funding in a dispute over its contents, vision and a gallery billed as \u201cthe first physical presence of the National Museum of the American Latino\u201d the Molina Family Latino Gallery at the National Museum of American History.<\/p>\n<p>The Molina Gallery <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/latino.si.edu\/exhibitions\/presente\" data-type=\"URL\" data-id=\"https:\/\/latino.si.edu\/exhibitions\/presente\">currently hosts the \u201c\u00a1Presente!\u201d exhibit<\/a>, which seeks to provide an overview of U.S. Latino history in a relatively limited space, but critics have said it reflects an ideological view, with a focus on European colonialism, forced migration and U.S. interventions in Latin America that propped up right-wing dictatorships.<\/p>\n<p>The Molina Gallery\u2019s avoidance of criticism of left-leaning totalitarian governments such as Fidel Castro\u2019s in Cuba angered many Latinos whose communities came to the United States fleeing such regimes.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr3_ab\"><\/aside>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t know who did this, I don\u2019t know if they\u2019re Hispanic, but it\u2019s really kind of like a racist portrayal of Hispanics. And also just trying to portray the United States as evil in every way,\u201d said Rep. Mario D\u00edaz-Balart (R-Fla.), who has taken the lead in expressing GOP concerns on the issue.<\/p>\n<p>D\u00edaz-Balart\u2019s issues with the exhibit <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/general\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"3\" title=\"General\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">general<\/a>ly mirror frictions that exist among communities that compose the broader U.S. Hispanic community.<\/p>\n<p>Those differences can stem from peoples\u2019 diverse countries of origin, reasons for migrating, length of time in the United States and other factors.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr4_ab\"><\/aside>\n<p>Broadly speaking, the dispute illustrates competing visions of Latino history, one anchored in the Mexican-American economic migration experience and another in the Cuban-American experience of fleeing the totalitarian regime set up in Cuba after 1959.<\/p>\n<p>Hispanic identity in the United States is a diverse patchwork quilt of cultural experiences from more than 20 countries on three continents that\u2019s created several distinct political and historical viewpoints within the community.<\/p>\n<p>D\u00edaz-Balart said the gallery\u2019s focus on U.S. history of interventionism in Latin America and portrayal of Latinos as victims is offensive.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr5_ab\"><\/aside>\n<p>The gallery is named after C. David Molina and his wife, Mary Molina, the ancestors of the Molina family that funded the project.<\/p>\n<p>Molina was the founder of Molina Healthcare, now a Fortune 500 company, which he started in 1980 to provide medical services to workers in Southern California.<\/p>\n<p>According to detractors, the Molina Gallery shows Latinos through that Southern California lens, distorting the history of the country\u2019s Hispanic community overall.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr6_ab\"><\/aside>\n<p>\u201cFor taxpayer money to be used, it\u2019s got to be done well,\u201d said D\u00edaz-Balart.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI for one have no inclination to support any entity that basically distorts the history and the reality of the Latino communities and of Latinos in the United States and then uses this as an excuse to bash, basically, the United States and make Latinos and Hispanics victims.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But the museum\u2019s supporters say the project can\u2019t be judged based on one gallery\u2019s contents.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr7_ab\"><\/aside>\n<p>\u201cTo hold the Smithsonian accountable to a gallery that was conceived prior to the actual bill passing in December 2020, that was conceived prior to Jorge Zamanillo ever getting the first job interview to be the director of the American Latino Museum, that\u2019s unfair,\u201d said Rodr\u00edguez.<\/p>\n<p>Zamanillo, a Cuban-American anthropologist who headed the HistoryMiami Museum from 2016 to 2022, was appointed director of the Smithsonian Latino museum in May of 2022, barely a month before the Molina Gallery opened.<\/p>\n<p>HistoryMiami, formerly the Historical Museum of Southern Florida, is a Smithsonian-affiliated institution that\u2019s the largest historical museum in Florida.<\/p>\n<p>The Smithsonian did not immediately respond to The Hill\u2019s request for comment on this story.<\/p>\n<p>Rodr\u00edguez said he toured the Molina Gallery with members of D\u00edaz-Balart\u2019s staff to alleviate Republican worries about the content.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI had a very good conversation about all of the concerns. I agreed with some of the concerns, but I also said, \u2018This is 5,000 square feet. In 5,000 square feet, you\u2019re just not going to be able to give every single exhibit the attention it deserves, right? You\u2019re jamming 500 years of history into 5,000 square feet,&#8217;\u201d said Rodr\u00edguez.<\/p>\n<p>But D\u00edaz-Balart said the Smithsonian has only given \u201clip service\u201d to his complaints.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI would hope that it was done right, but I\u2019m not gonna just roll over \u2013 which is I think what they expected,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor a long, long time, I\u2019ve been sending every message possible. \u2018Hey, folks, this is real. We have a serious problem.\u2019 And it\u2019s not just me, it\u2019s not just me. So here\u2019s where we are, and I hope that they wake up, I do. But as of now, they clearly have not.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Copyright 2023 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.<\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. 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The House Appropriations Committee on Wednesday approved an interior and environment funding bill that bans the&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":584021,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thehill.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/08\/espaillatadriano_081222gn_w.jpg?w=1280","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[70897],"tags":[106918,134417,134343,144651,90482,124783,34149,144652,115],"class_list":["post-584020","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-adriano-espaillat","tag-blog-briefing-room","tag-campaign","tag-estuardo-rodriguez","tag-house","tag-international","tag-latino","tag-mario-diaz-balart","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/584020","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=584020"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/584020\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/584021"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=584020"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=584020"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=584020"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}