San Francisco Carnival will lead the Nobel Peace Prize winner as grand marshal

The grand marshal of San Francisco Carnival will be a Nobel Prize-winning indigenous rights advocate. And people in the Bay Area cite her as an inspiration in their own fight to preserve indigenous cultures.

Ancient dance traditions passed down from the Mayans and Aztecs are kept alive by people like Lidia Doniz of San Jose. Doniz is a Guatemalan-American whose family was forced to flee the genocide of indigenous people in her homeland in 1975.

And today, Doniz Rigoberta credits Menchu ​​​​Tum, who became the face of Guatemala’s human rights movement and who will be honored as this year’s Carnival Grand Marshal, with saving the ancient traditions and restoring pride in indigenous cultures.

“She has allowed us to recognize the importance of our culture and our ceremony. And even though we are not in Guatemala, we can still practice these traditions that have been passed down for thousands and thousands of years,” Doniz said.

Menchu ​​Tum won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1992 after dedicating and risking her life to publicize the plight of indigenous peoples during the Guatemalan Civil War, in which hundreds of thousands of people were killed or disappeared.

She lost her own mother, father and brothers to the violence.

“She said the quiet things out loud. She spoke about the murders of indigenous people, the violence against indigenous women in a country with political unrest. That was a dangerous thing to do, to have that courage. And despite all the trauma her own family has experienced. The fact that she kept going despite her own tragedy is a really important piece of being able to have a say as a woman,” Doniz said.

Menchu ​​​​Tum is still speaking. Although she was forced to leave her home country and come to the US for a while, she was able to return to Guatemala and uses her platform to continue fighting for the rights of her people.

Doniz said Menchu ​​Tum’s influence has led to good results in the Bay Area. There are now places like the Indigenous Healing Center in Marin, dedicated to the special needs of Indigenous families.

“Everyone matters and everyone deserves to be safe. Her work is a testament to that. That someone can speak out loud and really create movement and change,” Doniz said.

Rigoberta Menchu ​​Tum is celebrated during Carnival and remains a source of pride for the Bay Area’s indigenous community and supporters.