Autry Show

I too was perturbed by the “Culture y Cultura” exhibit at the Autry (“War Is Hell of an Argument,” July 26). If the show’s subject is the 1848 U.S.-Mexican War, why the emphasis on Cesar Chavez, a 20th-century labor organizer? The use of the Aztec symbology is also geographically and historically out of sync. The real point of the show, it appears, is how the U.S.-Mexican War affected Mexicans living in the huge territory the United States purchased in 1848--not only the small number who lived here at the time but the millions who have come since, mainly to avail themselves of the advantages America offers. Not only does it ignore the rest of the peoples inhabiting the region, but the Chicano art portion is heavy on blame-America ideology.

As a long-time member of the Autry, I question the wisdom of including the racially divisive elements and have to wonder what motivates the museum to embrace the radical element of the Mexican American community. I would have expected better from one of my childhood heroes, Gene Autry.

ALICIA S. PARKS

Los Angeles