The Latino Chamber of Commerce in partnership with the Wisconsin State Historical Society is hosting an event called Share Your Voice on Wednesday, May 8.
The event, which will be at the Latino Chamber of Commerce on 2881 Commerce Park Drive in Fitchburg, is free to the public and will run from 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.
It will be a chance for people of color to pitch ideas for what should be included in the new modern, state-of-the-art history museum that the Historical Society is planning. Members of the Historical Society will be showing renderings of what the new museum might look like and what it will be about. They will engage the audience in dialogue about what members of the community might want to see changed in the plans or represented culturally inside of the new downtown museum.
“The reason we’re involved is because we always discuss the fact we want to be at the table making decisions and influencing how Latinos are being seen or included in history,” Latino Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Jessica Cavazos told Madison365. “It’s really important to Latinos to have a voice in how they want to be depicted in the new museum. There’s a diverse and vast community from South America and Mexico in Madison that I think should be represented.”
Anyone wanting to participate is welcome. Refreshments and a greeting session will begin at 5:30. People can also visit [email protected] for more information about the museum.
Cavazos pointed out that this will be a platform for a diverse set of community voices to really be able to shape the historical narrative for people of color.
“I just thought it was an opportunity for us to give our community a voice when it comes to being included,” she said. “Sometimes we leave our history to be depicted in the hands of someone who is not Black or Latino or Asian and then we have what we have now. But we can have a voice and can share in the essence of what our community is.”
