Hundreds of thousands of people flocked to the National Mall to visit museums and monuments this past weekend to celebrate independence, but Rep. Jim Moran, D-Va., says that there was one museum missing: the National Museum of American People. In an effort backed by nearly 150 ethnic and minority group organizations nationwide, Moran and Rep. John Duncan, R-Tenn., introduced legislation Thursday calling for a presidential commission to study the establishment of a national museum on immigration and migration next to the Capitol.
“It’s time to tell the story of all of the American people,” Moran said.
This proposal comes only a week after the National Museum of the American Latino Commission, established in 2008, released a report calling for Congress to create a museum to be added to the Smithsonian that would commemorate Latino American history and culture.
Moran said he fears building individual ethnic museums — such as the American Latino museum — on the National Mall because that could create a “proliferation of museums” that are segregated.
“I am concerned because there are an infinite number of museums you could have for an infinite number of people in one nation,” Moran said. “We’re trying to emphasize the common values and principles that bind us together.”
A supporting body that promoted the bill to create the group of the Latino museum’s Hispanic leaders, Raven Group spokesman Estuardo Rodriguez disagreed, saying that the proposal of the American People Museum would not curtail the effort his company started helping six years ago.
“Everyone has an important story to tell and Washington is the place to tell it,” Rodriguez said. “I can’t foresee what will come of the limited space out there but we will trust.”
