I think someone we know isn't here.

Oh yeah, and we know this person, I think, pretty well.

It's a Wednesday morning in June.

The Smithsonian's National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C. is mostly empty

right now.

Its doors won't open to the public for another hour and a half, but my colleague Alejandra

Salazar and I caught early access today.

So we're here, and so is our boss.

Well, kind of.

Yeah, that's Maria, that's like a fine.

She's standing there with hoop earrings and her red lipstick.

Okay, so she isn't actually here here, but she's on a screen in front of us.

Dressed in a black jumpsuit and heels, welcoming us to a groundbreaking new exhibition called

Presente, a Latino history of the United States.

Now I'm standing here with Ray, my colleague you just heard from, Renato Lanyo's Jr.

and we're face to face with a life-size video of Maria Inochosa.

Hi, Maria.

Hey, Maria.

Maria is one of about a dozen Latinos and Latinas featured in this exhibition for their

work in the Latino community.

She pops the honks greens in the center of the gallery space, along with others, a nurse,

and immigration activists, other journalists like her.

...