By Agueda Pacheco Flores – CrossCut.com – Photo: Dorothy Edwards | Crosscut.
Photo: Christina Gallegos of Seattle, Washington, looks through an exhibit with her grandson Cash Overton, 8, during the Sea Mar Museum of Chicano/a/Latino/a Culture grand opening event.
The name alone, (Sea Mar Museum of Chicano/a/Latino/a Culture), reflects the difficulty of representing the diverse identities within the Mexican American and Latin American experience. Museum curator Jerry Garcia admits the name is substantial, and says Sea Mar (the 41-year-old affordable health care organization backing the museum) spent a long time discussing it. The founders decided to include both masculine and feminine spellings, as opposed to the contemporary catch-all phrase Chicanx or Latinx, because it reflects the language used by Mexican Americans during the time period showcased in the permanent exhibit (1930s-1970s).
