Senator calls for unity in blocking Smithsonian museums for Latinos and women

'We've seen in recent years what happens when we indulge the cultural and identity Balkanisation of our national community’

Senator Mike Lee blocked segregation of the Smithsonian for "hyphenated identity groups" that would have created new national museums for American women and Latinos.

Citing the need to bring unity to the country and not further division, the Utah Republican said the vital role played by Latinos and women should be told at the Museum of American History.

"I understand what my colleagues are trying to do and why. I respect what they're trying to do. I even share their interests in ensuring that these stories are told. But the last thing we need is to further divide an already divided nation with an array of segregated, separate-but-equal museums for hyphenated identity groups," Mr Lee said on Thursday.

"At this moment in the history of our diverse nation, we need our federal government and the Smithsonian Institution itself to pull us closer together and not further apart."

The National Museum of the American Latino Act and the Smithsonian Women's History Museum Act were introduced on Thursday by Senators Bob Mendez and Susan Collins, who highlighted the popularity of the African American and Native American history museums.

Ms Collins said the 100th anniversary of women's suffrage was the moment to pass the legislation, while Mr Menendez questioned whether Mr Lee’s arguments against women and Latino museums would have been made against the Native or African American museums.

"I don’t see them as being separate and apart,” Mr Menendez said. “I see them as part of the collective history mosaic that is coming together under the Smithsonian.”

Those criticisms of the Smithsonian's so-called segregation into hyphenated identity groups comes after the museum was forced to apologize for claims that hard work, rational thinking, the nuclear family, justice and the ability to follow schedules were aspects of "whiteness".

While they took down the "Whiteness & White Culture" material after Republicans made it an election issue, the interim director of the National Museum of African American History and Culture, Spencer Crew, told The Washington Post they weren’t being racist.

“The whole idea behind the portal is how do we give tools to people to have these conversations that are vital to moving forward. This was one of those tools,” Mr Crew said. “We have found it’s not working in the way we intended. We erred in including it.”

Mr Lee's comments on Thursday reflected the election-campaign criticisms of the Smithsonian and the “critical race theory” that Donald Trump has railed against throughout 2020.

Mr Lee said American history is an "inclusive story that should unite us", and that there shouldn't be exclusive museums of history for Latinos, women, men, Mormons, Asian-Americans or Catholics.

"We've seen in recent years what happens when we indulge the cultural and identity Balkanization of our national community, the so-called critical theory undergirding this movement does not celebrate diversity, it weaponises diversity," he said.

“It sharpens all those hyphens into so many knives and daggers, it has turned out college campus into grievance pageants and loosed Orwellian mobs to cancel anyone daring to express an original thought.”