Nobel Prize of Peace, human right fighter, advocate for ancestral people and environmentalist Rigoberta Menchú was at San Francisco #CANA @Indigenous People Cultural Arts Healing Center, where she received a recognition by SF Mayor London Breed and the only Latina in higher office at the town, Supervisor Myrna Melgar, proclaims May 27th as Rigoberta Menchu Tum Day in San Francisco.

We had the privilege of hearing a speech by Rigoberta Menchú, learning from her life experiences, great wisdom, and the tribulations faced as an activist. She presided over a Mayan blessing for the inauguration hosted by the non-profit organization #sfcarnaval in support of the new Healing Center at Cultura y Arte Nativa de las Americas (CANA). Her blessing was centered around invoking the energy of ‘Ahau Tekin’ for the new space and its current occupants.

Recognized as a social leader, activist, political figure, writer, and spiritual guide, Dr. Rigoberta Menchú Tum began her diverse journey in social justice as a Maya K’iche’ woman collaborating with the Committee of the Peasant Union (CUC) and the Catholic Church. Her strong dedication to justice was rooted in her upbringing in a farming family where she directly observed the challenges and sacrifices faced by her relatives. Regrettably, members of her family were subjected to torture and murder by government forces while advocating for the rights of indigenous farmworkers in Guatemala. Dr. Menchú Tum’s persistent advocacy aimed at bringing about transformative change to honor not only her family but also countless others striving for a better future.

She told us about her humble beginnings, about her life long journey, about her learnings and even about her teaching today after many Honoris Causa Doctorates. She teaches Human rights at the Autonomous University of Mexico, or Universidad Autonomy de Mejico (UNAM).

As the founder and lifelong president of the Rigoberta Menchu Tum Foundation, Dr. Menchu Tum has devoted her life’s work to education, food security, environmental plight, human rights, ancestral peoples’ rights, and social justice with a primary focus on advocating for the most disadvantaged members of society who are in urgent need of support.

Proclamation presented by Supervisor Myrna Melgar, which proclaims May 27th as Rigoberta Menchu Tum Day in San Francisco.

When I asked her about her views regarding policies of former President Donald J. Trump, and the radicalization of society in the last years, Menchu stated, “I think it’s a blessing that we lived through an era of such violence and are still alive, and having life compels us to keep fighting against impunity, violence, femicide … to prove that violence, discrimination, racism should not and will not be forgotten,” later she also added in regards to the border wall discussion: “The wall threatens our globalism as it sows fear among Americans and across the globe. Fear should not dominate us; instead, unity must prevail in overcoming these challenges.”

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