**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 107^th^ 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.]{.underline}

(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.

We are yet a young nation when compared to the rest of the world, and
our collective past and history is continuously being written. We are in
the capital city of a nation that holds dear a set of core principles,
such as liberty, democracy, and justice. Generations of new Americans --
our children and immigrants -- will also embrace these principles, but
also add to the expansive definition of "American." When the children of
America visit Washington to learn what our museums have to teach them,
they go home believing that they have an understanding about what it
means to be an American. Still, you and I know there is so much more to
teach.

For many years, many Americans -- Latino and otherwise -- believed that
the mosaic portrayed in Washington's museums was missing a few tiles. In
response, during the 1990s, the Smithsonian examined itself and
determined in its own studies that the mirror it was holding up to
America was indeed incomplete. In 1997, the Center on Latino Initiatives
was launched in part as an effort to respond to studies on the lack of
representation of Latinos at the Smithsonian in terms of staffing and
exhibitions.

In the last several years, the Center for Latino Initiatives
successfully has been promoting a more Latino-inclusive program for the
entire Smithsonian. The Center has made the museum community in
Washington more reflective of the entire American population and has
been at the core of the organization of several important national
traveling exhibitions.

The success of the Center is evidence that there is a need and a
constituency for more Latino-inclusive exhibits in the nation's capital.
Yet the Center's success will continue to depend on the willingness and
openness of the other institutions in Washington to add Latino-inclusive
exhibitions to their established agendas. A more permanent installation
would ensure inclusion without depending on annual lobbying by the
Center of the various directors of the other 16 Smithsonian museums in
the Washington area.

At the same time, I expect that the Commission will propose to create a
museum that will complement other Latino-inclusive exhibits at the other
institutions. A new museum would provide a permanent space for
Latino-related exhibits that also radiates its influence more
effectively into the other museums in Washington.

I am not a museum expert, nor an art historian, but there are plenty of
talented people in the community that could think seriously about what
it would take to begin this project. The Commission would determine how
to best reflect culture and historical contributions of the diverse
community of 40 million Latinos living in the United States.

The capital city of Washington was visited by nearly 17 million
individuals last year -- one million from outside of the United States.
One in three of these individuals visited an art or historical museum.
Over 35 million individuals attend the Smithsonian's museums and
traveling exhibits every year. Ninety percent of these visitors are from
the United States. As you can imagine, many are children visiting with
their parents or on school trips.

Among our nation's school-age population, about every fifth student is
of Latino descent. In fact, the Census Bureau tells us that every fifth
child born today in the United States is an American of Latino heritage.
Many of these children will visit the nation's capital and will take the
lessons learned here back home to their communities. When we visit the
nation's capital we should leave inspired by our past with faith in our
future. This country has always managed to give the next generation of
leaders good reason to be proud of our history and culture.

This legislation, H.R. 4863, is just another building block in
developing what has become the American experience -- what we teach
ourselves and share with the world. Passage of this bill would be the
first step toward giving America and all its people a better chance to
fully experience what it means to be an American.

Once again, thank you Mr. Chairman, Mr. Larson, and the members of the
committee for considering this bill today. I look forward to working
with you toward its passage.