Town Hall at Cal State LA:
“Willful Neglect” and The Future of Latina/o/x History at The Smithsonian
Join us in response to the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Latino cancellation of the nearly-complete exhibit on Latino Youth Movements to bring accountability for the willful neglect and erasure of Latinx communities in U.S. history.
Background
Our Town Hall on March 19, 2024 will bring together organizers of the civil rights movement era in Los Angeles with current college students, teachers and faculty, community members, artists, and politicians to discuss the future of Latina/o/x history at the Smithsonian and the long-documented history of willful neglect of Latina/o/x inclusion. (See Willful Neglect The Smithsonian Institution & U.S. Latinos 1994 Taskforce Report.)
During 2022, an intergenerational colectiva of Cal State LA Chicana/o and Latina/o Studies students, faculty, alumni, and local partners, in collaboration with representatives from the Smithosonian’s National Museum of American History, conducted oral herstories of Chicana/Latina/Indigena activists, including leaders of the 1968 East LA school walkouts such as Victoria Castro, Margarita Cuaron, Paula Crisostomo, Celeste Baca, Rachel Ochoa-Cervera, Cassandra Zacarias Alarcon, Yolanda Rios, Diane Holguin, Gloria Arrellanes, and Teresa Gonzalez. These oral herstories were supposed to be part of the Latino Youth Movements exhibit in the National Museum of the American Latino, which Congress formally established in December 2020 at the same time it authorized a museum for women’s history.
In late 2022, the brand-new Smithsonian National Museum of the American Latino canceled the nearly-complete exhibit on Latino Youth Movements. The cancellation was because museum leadership, with pressure from Republican politicians, perceived the content controversial, too radical to lead to long-term funding goals, and in opposition to a whitewashed vision of Latina/o/x history. (See Controversy Over the National Museum of the American Latino; Red Scare at the Smithsonian?; A Congressional Clash over Latino History; Smithsonian’s Latino Museum Faces Political Winds.) The cancellation of this groundbreaking exhibition has been shocking and disappointing on both local and national levels, and especially to members of the Cal State LA and Los Angeles community who were
dedicated to assisting in the telling of this herstory in collaboration with Smithsonian curators. We should be alarmed by this cancellation and the fact that it is being replaced with an “apolitical” music exhibit because both contribute to a political silencing of Latina/o/x voices. They are a reflection of how our Latina/o/x civil rights stories and struggles for justice are being attacked across the country in the ongoing culture wars over critical race theory, ethnic studies, and LGBTQ+ history and curricula.
Activists of the movimiento era fought for the ability to create, study, and teach our own histories. In the face of this most recent assault, we are now fighting again for the same rights. Our Town Hall invites leaders from the 1968 East LA Walkouts, students, faculty, activists, artists, community members, politicians, and representatives of the Smithsonian to not only discuss the importance of documenting these social movements, but to also bring accountability for the willful neglect and erasure of Latinx communities in U.S. history.
When: March 19, 2024 12:30-4:30 pm
Where: Cal State LA- Los Angeles Rooms in the Student Union
For more information: Contact [email protected]
