Barack Obama Names Emilio Estefan To “Commission To Study The Potential Creation Of A National Museum Of The American Latino.


President Barack Obama has named Emilio Estefan to his 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?

Sounds like an interesting idea, but why start from the Revolutionary War forward? Florida, California, and many other states had histories (some brief, some longer) with the old Spanish Empire, they should consider including some of that in this proposed museum.

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.

official websitehttp://americanlatinomuseum.org/

After the next US census is conducted, which will be very soon, Americans will one day awaken to the news that the Dominican population is the THIRD largest latino community in the US after the Mexican and Puerto Rican one, yet President Obama saw fit to not include a single Dominican-American on the board overseeing the formation of this project. Dominicans, the invisible Latino. Whatever. To include Emilio Estefan on the board, someone not known for more than being responsible for a spate of bubble gum hits(and the last one was a while ago) through the years, is ridiculous. There are many eminent latinos in academia that would've been better suited for this task. Does Obama want to open a real musuem celebrating American Latino culture or does he want to make a music video??

Brilliant Obama initiative!
S.

It's a rather moot point in my day to day life but I really don't like the interchangeable use of "Latino" and "Hispanic" in American dialogue.

Neither do I. I don't like the "hispanic" label. Which term do you have a beef with?

And yet no one outside of the tri-state area hears about us at all. Even within the tri-state area some have never heard of or met a Dominican. Growing up I constantly had to explain where DR was located.

Latino.