The Smithsonian National Museum of American History takes El American’s Idiocy of the Week award for opening an exhibit on Hispanic American history in a woke, Marxist key.
If Hollywood decided to make a fifth installment of the hit comedy saga Night at the Museum set in this new Hispanic American history section, it would miss out on the chance to feature such succulent characters as Fidel Castro, Hugo Chavez, or Daniel Ortega.
In any back alley in South America, you can find more references to these leftist dictators than in the Smithsonian. (Image: EFE)
The Smithsonian has decided to sweep these key figures of the continent’s recent history under the rug, and there is no trace of them in this exhibition. It does not seem to be because they were not relevant, nor because there is not enough space in the museum. Rather, it is because it would remind us of the miseries caused by leftism in Latin America, and that does not fit in with the ideologized and self-serving rewriting of history that is intended to be carried out.
Of course, the exhibition tells whatever it wants in order to perpetuate the anti-imperialist, anti-colonial, and anti-conservative narrative that Marxists like so much. Thus, the bad guys in this Smithsonian movie are, recently, the right-wing dictators and, since always, the European conquerors.
Smithsonian Latino exhibit: each section worse than the last
Divided into several sections, the first parts of the exhibit talk about the brutality of European colonization, slavery, and the heroic resistance of the indigenous peoples, but say nothing about the countless indigenous tribes that joined forces with the Spanish to defeat the Aztec Empire. Apparently, for the Smithsonian, the Aztec Empire’s custom of making thousands of human sacrifices a year, including children, was a mere prank that does not deserve to be told.
The Smithsonian also turns a deaf ear to the defense of indigenous rights by Bartolomé de las Casas, who ensured compliance with Queen Isabella I of Castile’s directives to “treat the said Indians very well and with affection, and to abstain from doing them any harm.” The Smithsonian only seems to see that there were conquistadors who committed abuses, of course, but not that whenever possible, the Crown punished them severely.
If the Smithsonian shows selective blindness and deafness to the Spanish, American expansion does not fare much better. Again, although there were reprehensible acts, the exhibit uses the typical words of a communist pamphlet in which they only talk about subjects, colonial relationships, and imperialism. In fact, they claim that even today, Puerto Rico’s commonwealth status is a sign of imperialist authoritarianism.
Apparently, in the Smithsonian sourcebook, they tore out the page where it said that in 2012 there was a referendum in Puerto Rico in which voters expressed that they would like to keep their Commonwealth status, and that they would even like to be another state within the United States. Only 5% of voters opted for independence. They must have missed it.
In the part dedicated to immigration, there is no mention that the exodus was due to the economic and social disaster of socialist policies in their countries of origin, but the Smithsonian blames the mass flight of Hispanics to the United States on the consequences of American imperialist policies! It is curious that they decide to flee to the country that oppresses them so much.
Literally, they say that “sometimes U.S. foreign policy contributed to the violence and corruption driving people to migrate,” and gives as an example the case of Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista. As we all know, Miami is full of Cuban exiles fleeing Batista, and there are hardly one or two Cubans who fled Fidel Castro, are there?
We suppose that along the same lines, if the Smithsonian had a section dedicated to the Berlin Wall, they would say that after its fall West Germans ran to the East fleeing capitalism.
All in all, the Smithsonian’s Latino exhibit is worth a visit. First, because it’s hilarious and gets more laughs than Ben Stiller’s museum movies, and second, because at least they don’t use the word “Latinx” in the name. That’s something.
Ignacio Manuel García Medina, Business Management teacher. Artist and lecturer specialized in Popular Culture for various platforms. Presenter of the program "Pop Libertario" for the Juan de Mariana Institute. Lives in the Canary Islands, Spain // Ignacio M. García Medina es profesor de Gestión de Empresas. Es miembro del Instituto Juan de Mariana y conferenciante especializado en Cultura Popular e ideas de la Libertad.
Social Networks: @ignaciomgm