A move to establish museum dedicated to American "Latinos"

[JAT]

WASHINGTON - On the National Mall, the great grassy carpet that is the nation's front yard, there are museums that chronicle virtually every aspect of the American experience.

American history, art, aviation and space travel - all are celebrated through extensive collections of objects and priceless artifacts. A new museum honoring Native American culture is set to open this fall. Another museum, one dedicated to African-American heritage, also has been authorized.

Yet when Rep. Xavier Becerra visits the Mall, he can't help but notice what's missing. There is no museum honoring the nation's 38 million Latinos.

"If you walk into the halls of some of those great museums we have on the Mall, you are going to come out of there really proud of what our history is, our culture, our art," said the California Democrat.

"But at the end of that, you still leave somewhat incomplete because you wouldn't have a full sense of what we are as a people, because there is still a lack of representation of what is now the largest minority group in America."

Becerra and other members of Congress are working to change that. Becerra has filed legislation that would start the process of creating a National Museum of the American Latino. Becerra and others would like to see such a museum located on the Mall - and perhaps affiliated with the prestigious Smithsonian Institution.

http://www.knoxstudio.com/shns/story...5-24-04&cat=HR

More information on Xavier Becerra:
http://www.americanpatrol.com/REFERE...ra-Xavier.html

[Johnson]

Is DC in Aztlan?

[JAT]

All of North America will eventually be "Aztlan". Our new homeland will be the northern part of the Arctic Circle.

[JAT]

I wonder if the museum will be filled with graffiti, dirty baby diapers, broken beer bottles, discarded furniture, old cars covered with primer, wandering chickens and goats, loitering "day laborers", etc.