Mayan People today

In today's world the Mayan people still suffer many of the same cruelties as they did after the Spanish Conquest. They suffer poverty, racism, and the loss of their culture through violence and and nonviolent means. These people mystify me and make my heart soar, because even though they suffer much they still persist on. I was looking at the wonderful clothing that the women in these communities wear, the bright colors and amazing detail in the designs. I was saddened to read that they men do not wear their traditional dress for the most part because it is dangerous for them to be recognized as Mayan. I think that as a human population we do not learn from our own histories, or perhaps it is because there are too few in power to create change. When I read about their current suffering at the hands of the Mexican government and hostile para militia groups, as well as what missionaries are doing to these people; I am reminded of how here in the U.S. we did much the same to our Native American tribes. Missionaries for instance set out to educate these tribes in Catholicism, and forced their own religious and cultural traditions to cease. Just as the Spanish Conquest took place in Meso-America, the English took land that didn't belong to them just because they were the more powerful force, or more of an unlimited supply of people. The Native tribes were forced onto reservations that offered ill agricultural opportunities and overcrowding conditions, in the threat of complete extinction as the alternative. In our society today they are still viewed by many with racist contempt, much as the Mayan's are in their own communities. In the destruction of the rainforest the small community of Lacandon which are also Mayan are having their very way of life and resources destroyed. I think that in this the deforestation of the rain forest is dangerous for all man kind as well. Ironically enough new diseases are springing up that have never been seen as the deforestation occurs, perhaps Mother Nature's way of telling us were going to far for big business and capitalism?
I found the attempt by Rigoberto Menchua's heart felt plea for peace and to help our fellow man instead of solely ourselves to be very moving. I haven't read very much into the criticism and controversy she received over her book, but I wonder how many of these scholars that are offering judgment were actually present during the events that she describes. Although memory can be tainted with emotion, I wonder how much of it was an attempt to silence her pleas as to not show what is really occurring.