Back in 1994, a report was commissioned by the Smithsonian to survey the representation of Latino culture in its museums. It found “a pattern of willful neglect” toward the country’s Latino population. Then, in 2011, legislation was first introduced to establish a museum dedicated to it.
But it wasn’t until this July that the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill with bipartisan support to establish a National Museum of the American Latino.
Arizona attorney Ruben Alvarez of Molera Alvarez is a member of the regional advisory board for the Friends of the National American Latino Museum. The Show spoke with him about why it's the time is right for such a move and what it would mean to Latinos in Arizona and across the country.
