OPINION: Why I Am Mad at Republican Utah Senator Mike Lee

Senator Mike Lee with his buddy, soon to be former President Trump

To preface my explanation for my clearly directed anger at Republican Senator Mike Lee of Utah, I would like to say that I am a young woman, a descendant of both strong African American and Puerto Rican bloodlines, and a frequent museum visitor with a deep infatuation with history and culture not only in the United States, but also internationally. This short, but important explanation of what demographics I belong to in my everyday life have a direct connection to exactly what Senator Lee did this past Thursday night that angered myself as well as many other Americans looking for something to look forward to once COVID-19 is an eliminated threat to international livelihood. New York Times Writer, Nicholas Fandos, summarizes it best by stating, 

“For more than two decades, Latinos and their allies in Congress have been fighting to approve the creation of a National Museum of the American Latino in Washington. The push to create a national women’s history museum has taken about as long. In the end, the objections of a single senator out of 100, Mike Lee of Utah, were enough to stop both measures and ensure that for now, their proponents will keep waiting.”

With this quick read came many questions in my mind. Why would he vote in this way? What is there to gain from this decision? How would these museums be turned into a political statement to enable the senator’s conservative agenda? Well his explanation begs even more questions. Lee went on to say that,

“My objection to the creation of a new Smithsonian museum or series of museums based on group identity — what Theodore Roosevelt called hyphenated Americanism — is not a matter of budgetary or legislative technicalities. It’s a matter of national unity and cultural inclusion.”

First of all, what I assume to be the quote Senator Lee is referring to here was taken from Theodore Roosevelt’s anti-hyphenated Americanism speech made in 1915 to the majority Irish-Catholic group, Knights of Columbus, where the former president goes on to say that “there is no room in this country for hyphenated Americans.” He even states that there is “no such thing” as a good american with hyphenated demographics in the United States. 

This term is a worn out excuse used by politicians and Americans in times of war and economic, political, and mental instability where blame can be easily dumped on a demographic of American citizens who find pride in both the land where they currently reside and the country of origin of their ancestors. Evidence of this is littered in American History with the most prominent example being Japanese-American internment camps put in place during World War Two by Teddy’s own cousin, President Franklin Roosevelt, with his 1942 executive order 9066 put in place shortly after the bombing of Pearl Harbor that past December.

This is not a Nazi conentration camp, but a Japanese-American internment camp, a part of World War II history many time overlooked by American textbooks and education.

(More on this topic here: https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/japanese-american-relocation)

In short it is a term used in times of fear which is the only way I can come to terms with the opinion made by Senator Lee as our society is in the midst of a cultural movement as a result of increased globalization and technological advances finding homes in our everyday routines. So I can see how he can be scared or even intimidated by cultural passion and racial equality enthusiasm in the 21st century. 

BLM: An example of cultural passion and racial equality enthusiasm in the 21st century potentially intimidating Senator Lee

However, what I am struggling to understand is how this has literally anything to do with a proposed series of Smithsonian museums that would only be adding to others that already exist highlighting the history of other hyphenated American demographics? How has the Smithsonian African American Museum of History and Culture not fueled “national unity and cultural inclusion in this country?” What specific exhibits in the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian call for inequality in the United States? How has any other museum in this country highlighting the advances made by American women been detrimental to the cultural unification of the melting pot that is the United States? These are all questions I am struggling with answering myself as I know many people who would love to see themselves represented in a way that is positive and beautiful in a space that is safe and welcoming like a free museum in our nation’s capital would in this situation. 

In no way would these museums be gigantic fasades of distraction from the clear societal issues at play in this country, but it is so upsetting as much as it is predictable that a caucasian male born into white privilege and familial political influence would single handedly strike down the immediate approval of two museums that could change a number of minority groups’ lives forever.

Additional reading around this topic:

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/11/us/politics/mike-lee-smithsonian-latino-women-museums.html

https://www.npr.org/2020/12/11/945389843/sen-mike-lee-blocks-legislation-for-latino-womens-museums

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/12/10/lee-smithsonian-museum-blocked-444496

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