Letter To The Author Of I, Rigoberta Menchu

568 Words2 Pages

Dear Rigoberta Menchu:I have recently read your autobiography I, Rigoberta Menchu, in which your portrayed as an oppressed yet ultimately triumphant victim of classism, racism, colonialism, and of course sexism. In your book you talk about your family, a Quiche Indian family, which was very poor. The small plot of land that the family owned did not produce enough to feed everyone. Life on a plantation was harsh.People lived in crowded sheds with no clean water or toilets. Your people, the native Indians in Guatemala had no rights of citizenship. You were restricted to people of Spanish descent and were, therefore, vulnerable to abuses by those in power."We are living in a troubled world, in a time of great uncertainty.

It's a time to reflect about many things, especially about humankind as a whole, and the balance between collective and individual values". This is something you have mentioned and something that I completely agree with. Indigenous people are among the most victims of terrible incomprehensible repression and violation of the law in many parts of the world.The atrocities that you wrote about in your book are both compelling and heartbreaking. Though, I have not limited myself there, I have investigated further your story. I searched the Internet several times about your book, story, and life what I found amazed me. I read articles stating that your book I, Rigoberta Menchu is falsely chronicled.

"A recounted in your autobiography, the story of Rigoberta Menchu is the stuff of classic Marxist myth. According to your book you came from a poor Mayan family, living on margins of a country from which had been dispossessed by Spanish conquistadors. Their descendents, known as Ladinos, try to drive the Menchus and other Indian peasants off claimed land that they had cultivated. As said in your book, you are illiterate and were kept from having an education by your peasant father, Vicente. He refuses to send you to school because he needs to work in the fields, and because he is afraid that the school will turn his daughter against him.

From the articles I found on the Internet it has been proven that you went to a private institution, and that your family wasn't as poor as to the point of starvation.You make these linkages explicit: "My personal experience is the reality of a whole people". It is a call to people of good will all over the world to help the noble but powerless indigenous peoples of Guatemala and other Third World countries to gain their rightful inheritance.

Show More
Related

  • Analysis Of Miranda's 'Bad Indians'

    1027 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the book Bad Indians, Miranda talks about the many issues Indigenous People go through. Miranda talks about the struggles Indigenous people go through; however, she talks about them in the perspective of Native Americans. Many people learn about Indigenous People through classrooms and textbooks, in the perspective of White people. In Bad Indians, Miranda uses different literary devices to show her perspective of the way Indigenous People were treated, the issues that arose from missionization, as well as the violence that followed through such issues. Bad Indians is an excellent example that shows how different history is told in different perspectives.

    Read More

  • Chicana Power Book Summary

    671 Words  | 2 Pages

    Blackwell puts together the first book-length study that talks about the roots of the Chicana movement. She talked about all the struggles that they faced for being activist; and the real life stories of what other women went through. Being an activist does not seem easy but the way they fight for what they believe in, can influence many other women who are scared to stand up for what they believe. As Blackwell stated in the acknowledgement vii, stories do have the power to inspire, transform and

    Read More

  • Schmerber V. California Case Analysis

    1279 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Court held that because of the “special facts” the “attempt to secure evidence of blood-alcohol content in this case was an appropriate incident to petitioner’s arrest.” Under current jurisprudence, we would construe the language about “special facts” as relating to the exigent circumstances exception to the Fourth Amendment – which resists categorical rules – and instead focuses on the need for the intrusion and the availability of a warrant. However, the language also justifies the search as “incident to petitioner’s arrest,” which would indicate that the test was upheld as a search incident-to-arrest. In situations where it is appropriate, that has been described as a “categorical” exception to the warrant requirement that does not require any case-by-case

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Obergefell V. Hodges

    700 Words  | 2 Pages

    Abstract On June 26, 2015 a divided Supreme Court ruled in the landmark case Obergefell v. Hodges that same-sex couples could now marry nationwide. At the time of the split ruling there were 9 supreme court justices, 5 of the justices were Republicans, and the remaining 4 were Democrats. In high profile cases it is except that the justices will vote along party lines. When the 5-4 ruling was reveled by the following statement. “It would misunderstand these men and women to say they disrespect the idea of marriage. Their plea is that they do respect it, respect it so deeply that they seek to find its fulfillment for themselves. Their hope is not to be condemned to live in loneliness, excluded from one of civilization’s oldest institutions. They ask for equal dignity in the eyes of the law. The Constitution grants them that right (Corn,2015).” written by

    Read More

  • Rigoberta Menchu's Book

    1621 Words  | 4 Pages

    Rigoberta Menchu, a Quiche Indian woman native to Guatemala, is a recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize for politically reaching out to her country and her people. In her personal testimony tittled “I, Rigoberta Menchu” we can see how she blossomed into the Nobel Prize winner she is today. Following a great deal in her father’s footsteps, Rigoberta’s mobilization work, both within and outside of Guatemala, led to negotiations between the guerillas and the government and reduced the army power within Guatemala. Her work has helped bring light to the strength of individuals and citizen organization in advocacy and policy dialogue on the world scale. In a brief summary of the book I will explore why Rigoberta Menchu is important to Guatemalan development, what she did, and how she helped her people overcome the obstacles thrown their way.

    Read More

  • Essay On Exceptions To The Fourth Amendment

    1445 Words  | 3 Pages

    The 4th amendment provides citizens protections from unreasonable searches and seizures from law enforcement. Search and seizure cases are governed by the 4th amendment and case law. The United States Supreme Court has crafted exceptions to the 4th amendment where law enforcement would ordinarily need to get a warrant to conduct a search. One of the exceptions to the warrant requirement falls under vehicle stops. Law enforcement can search a vehicle incident to an individual’s arrest if the individual unsecured by the police and is in reaching distance of the passenger compartment. Disjunctive to the first exception a warrantless search can be conducted if there is reasonable belief

    Read More

  • Difference Between Indigenous Women And Feminism

    1746 Words  | 4 Pages

    Feminism and Indigenous women activism is two separate topics although they sound very similar. In indigenous women’s eyes feminism is bashing men, although Indigenous women respect their men and do not want to be a part of a women’s culture who bring their men down. Feminism is defined as “The advocacy of women 's rights on the ground of the equality of the sexes.” In theory feminism sounds delightful despite the approaches most feminists use such as wrong-full speaking of the opposite gender. Supposedly, feminism is not needed as a result of Indigenous women being treated with respect prior to colonization. Thus, any Native woman who calls herself a feminist is often condemned as being “white”. This essay argues that Indigenous women may

    Read More

  • Indian Horse Wagamese Analysis

    1457 Words  | 3 Pages

    The novel “Indian Horse” by Richard Wagamese demonstrates the many conflicts that indigenous people encounter on a daily basis. This includes things such as, the dangers they face and how they feel the need to flee to nature, where they feel the most safe. Another major issue they face is being stripped of their culture, and forcibly made to believe their culture is wrong and they are less of a human for being brought up that way, it makes them feel unworthy. Finally, when one is being criticised for a hobby they enjoy due to their indigenous upbringing, they make himself lose interest and stop the hobby as it makes them different and provokes torment. People who are trying

    Read More

  • Exploring Ethical Principles in Healthcare

    1239 Words  | 3 Pages

    Justice is a complex principle, it assures that distribution of benefits and resources are fair among all patients. It also ensures equality throughout the hospital. Within the ethics principal Justice, are five conceptualizations, to each; an equal share, according to need, according to effort, according to contribution, according to merit. An example of to each, an equal share would be, if there were four patients in need of a certain type of ankle brace but the hospital only have three that could be used, they could not just give 3 patients and brace and let one go without because that would be injustice. So the doctors would have to order a new brace and wait until all 4 have arrives or the doctors would have to find a different solution for all four patients to be equally benefited. An example of to each, according to need, would be there are 2 patients, one patient is able to walk with a walker and the other patient is able only able to move around in a wheel chair, the doctors would have to decide if it would be more of the a justified beneficial need to get the patient who can use a walker one and a wheelchair for the other

    Read More

  • The Exclusionary Rule

    835 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Exclusionary rule requires that any evidence taken into custody be obtained by police using methods that violates an individual constitutional rights must be excluded from use in a criminal prosecution against that individual. This rule is judicially imposed and arose relatively recently in the development of the U.S. legal system. Under the common law, the seizure of evidence by illegal means did not affect its admission in court. Any evidence, however obtained, was admitted as long as it satisfied other evidentiary criteria for admissibility, such as relevance and trustworthiness. The exclusionary rule was developed in 1914 and applied to the case of Weeks v. United States, 232 U.S. 383, and was limited to a prohibition on the use of evidence illegally obtain by federal law enforcement officers. Not until 1949, in the caw of Wolf v. Colorado, 38 U.S. 25, 27-28, did the U.S. Supreme Court take the first step toward applying the exclusionary rule to the states by ruling that the Fourth Amendment was applicable to the states through the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment which states: the security of one’s privacy against arbitrary intrusion by the police-which is at the core of the Fourth Amendment- is basic to a free society. It is therefore implicit in the “concept of ordered liberty” and as such enforceable against the States through the Due Process Clause.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of The Gender Gap At School By David Brooks

    742 Words  | 2 Pages

    He based this conclusion on a British research study. He stated the study asked “400 accomplished women and 500 accomplished men to name their favorite novels. The men preferred novels written by men…the women leaned toward books written by women.” However, everyone knows that there are gender differences amongst reading preferences. There often significant group differences, sometimes even strong ones, but we 'd also find that individuals are complicated and groups are flexible. His analysis does not completely support his

    Read More

  • Apartheid: The History of the National Party and Its Influence in South America

    1304 Words  | 3 Pages

    In 1948 the National Party took power of South Africa. The all-white minority government began enforcing already existing laws that encouraged segregation and separatism in the non-white majority country. Under these new sanctions apartheid, which literally means a policy or system of segregation or discrimination on grounds of race, non-whites would be forced to not only go to separate public facilities but would later be force to live on separate lands similar to that of the Native Americans in the United States. Even though there was strong opposition to the new set of laws both from within and form outside the country these outrages and unethical policies remained in effect for almost 50 years

    Read More

  • Invitation to Sociology by Peter Berger

    922 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...action with others… especially men. This supplies final substantiation of the authors' argument, that women continue to be oppressed by their male-dominated societies. It is a bold undertaking for women to ally and promote a world movement to abandon sexist traditions. Although I have never lived in a third world or non-Westernized country, I have studied the conditions women suffer as "inferior" to men. In National Geographic and various courses I have taken, these terrible conditions are depicted in full color. Gender inequality is a terrible trait of our global society, and unfortunately, a trait that might not be ready to change. In America we see gender bias towards women in voters' unwillingness to elect more females into high office, and while this is not nearly as severe as the rest of the world, it indicates the lingering practice of gender inequality.

    Read More

  • Social Satire

    512 Words  | 2 Pages

    As a realistic part of the rights to liberty and the pursuit of happiness, freedom in one's domestic relationships is very important. The freedom to put together one's domestic relationships in ways that best fit one's needs, desires, and life is critical in one's pursuit of happiness. The importance of this freedom to arrange one's domestic relationships freely becomes understandable in versions of the "Defense of Marriage Act" (DOMA), which is proposed, and sometimes passed, on the national and state levels. DOMA legislation, in its different forms, limits the legal definition of marriage to the “legal union of a man and woman.” (Sullivan, 1976, DOMA Act, pg. 2)

    Read More

  • Essay About Matrimony

    1043 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the eyes of the Supreme Court, same-sex couples do not meet the prerequisites and qualifications needed to be legally married. The old-fashioned idea of marriage consists of a husband and a wife, where the man works and provides for the family while the woman stays home to tend the children. It’s no mystery that these outdated

    Read More

More about Letter To The Author Of I, Rigoberta Menchu

Open Document