A Lone White Male Republican Senator Blocks Creation of National Latino and Women’s Museums

The push to create two new museums in D.C. honoring the contributions of Latinos and women in American history has been nearly two decades in the making and, on Thursday, appeared on the cusp of becoming a reality. The white male senator said he opposed the creation of “separate but equal museums for hyphenated identity groups.” “My objection to the creation of a new Smithsonian museum or series of museums based on group identity—what Theodore Roosevelt called hyphenated Americanism—is not a matter of budgetary or legislative technicalities. … It sharpens all those hyphens into so many knives and daggers.” “Generations of Latino Americans have shaped our country as it is today, but as I suggested a moment ago, many Americans simply aren’t aware of the vast contributions made by these men and women who have come before us, and one critical way we can right this wrong is by providing a home for their stories in the nation’s capital,” Cornyn said in support of the museum. “Univision, Telemundo, affiliates across the country, national organizations and others have been waiting for this moment—a moment that everybody in the Congress of the United States agrees to, except for one colleague.” Shortly after that one colleague scuttled the Latino museum, Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine introduced her bill to establish a Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum. “I can think of no better way to tell the story of American women, to inspire those young girls and young boys who come to Washington to tour all the wonderful museums that are part of the Smithsonian, than to create a museum of American women’s history so that they can better understand the contributions of American women to the development of our nation and its proud history,” Collins said.