Filmmaker supports Salazar's proposed Latino museum

M.E. Sprengelmeyer, Rocky Mountain News

Tuesday, March 20, 2007

WASHINGTON — A prominent Hollywood filmmaker teamed up with Sen. Ken Salazar on Tuesday in hopes of advancing a proposed National Museum of the American Latino Community.

At a Senate subcommittee hearing, Moctesuma Esparza, a producer behind movies like The Milagro Beanfield War, made an impassioned endorsement of Salazar’s legislation creating a commission to study the museum.

Esparza said he has dedicated his career to busting through Hollywood stereotypes and portraying fellow Latinos as "three-dimensional human beings."

He said the museum is needed to help recognize the descendants of Spanish settlers who played an instrumental role from the earliest days of the union, as well as newer immigrants who contribute to society.

"This country is ours. We are its founders. We gave our money and blood," Esparza said.

Salazar chaired Tuesday's meeting of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Subcommittee on National Parks, which includes Salazar and the two other U.S. Senators of Latino heritage, Mel Martinez, R-Fla., and Bob Menendez, D-N.J.

In trying to advance the bill, "That should help," Martinez joked.

Salazar, whose family helped settle the city of Santa Fe, N.M., long before the signing of the Declaration of Independence, said he is hoping a museum can be built on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.

The site could be the biggest stumbling block, as the National Park Service and an advisory commission have said the National Mall is filled to capacity already and would like to see any new museums developed elsewhere.