National Backlash Only the Tip of the Iceberg

Washington DC, WA -- (ReleaseWire) -- 09/01/2022 --Today, Mike Baggz announced his intent to lead a boycott against the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC), located on the National Mall in Washington, DC. Recently, concerns have mounted among Black American descendants of chattel slavery in the United States, who feel betrayed by the museum's decision to include the curation of Latinx history within the building. In recent weeks, the NMAAHC posted a nationwide job listing for a Latino curator to further their Latino Studies program, although the Museum's mission states that they focus exclusively on non-Latino Black Americans who are descendants of the chattel slavery that occurred in the United States. The museum was founded on the understanding that the culture and history of African Americans should not be intertwined with that of other ethnic groups, and the inclusion of Latino culture can thus be considered a revision of history.

Established by an Act of Congress in 2003 and opened in 2016, the NMAAHC serves as a global hub to document, memorialize, and educate the public about the lineage, history, culture, and lives of Black Americans from the start of US chattel slavery through contemporary times. Black Americans who are descended from chattel slavery are, therefore, deeply concerned about the redirection of NMAAHC's legally established purpose and mission. Mike Baggz and many others have pointed out that the most alarming aspect of the inclusion of the Latinx identifier is that it would inherently include White-identified Latinos like Rafael Trujillo, who practiced some of the vilest and most vitriolic anti-Black racism in the Western hemisphere, specifically in the Dominican Republic, by committing genocide against Black-skinned Dominicans and Haitians.

Black Americans have recently been quite active on social media about this change in the purpose, mission, and direction of the NMAAHC. Generally, these responses have expressed the sentiment that the inclusion of Latinx history in a formal space that was specifically created, by an Act of Congress, to focus on Black Americans is immoral and confusing. Some feedback from Latinx community representatives like Soledad O'Brien was quickly shut down on social media. O'Brien, born María de la Soledad Teresa O'Brien to Australian and Cuban immigrant parents, is not a descendant of victims of US chattel slavery, so the Museum is not focused on her and her lineage, yet she weighed in.

Speaking on the Torraine Walker Show podcast, Mike Baggz, the entrepreneur who started the conversation on social media, stated that efforts will continue in the quest to seek accountability from the Museum, "We will continue demanding responsibility from those in charge and plan accordingly." He has emailed the Museum and received in return a standard copy-and-paste reply with no real answers or specifics. In response to the NMAAHC's misguided mission and the lack of engagement by its staff, Baggz created a petition that has amassed well over 2,400 signatures to date.

Since beginning this action, the museum has faced an onslaught of criticism from the Black-American community against what is perceived as an attempt to erase the rich culture and history of this population. The museum's attempt to be more inclusive of other ethnicities is detrimental to the Black-American story. "A space specifically created for African Americans should not be intertwined with any other ethnic groups, and efforts to [include Latino history] will be considered a revision of African-American US history," stated Mike Baggz. "The most alarming part of this effort by NMAAHC is the fact that it would also include Latinos of all races, many of whom hold the vilest anti-Black sentiments that are historically rooted and documented in Latin-American culture."

At the time of this press release, no response has been received from the NMAAHC, and additional attempts to follow up on the issue have been ignored.