This week, we've turned our Perspectives segment over to Breja Fink's A.P. Language and Composition class at Beloit Memorial High School.
This year Beloit’s Kids Against Hunger campaign donated over 285,000 meals to families in Guatemala, and although inspiring, I found myself asking the question: why is a nation that was economically backed by the U.S. during the Cold War experiencing a 75% poverty rate in their capital city?
The answer isn’t simple.
The Guatemalan Civil War began in 1960 when an insurgence group rebelled against military leaders due to the U.S. involvement in their defense affairs.
Over the next 36 years, the Guatemalan people suffered through genocide, starvation, and hundreds of massacres in large part due to U.S. economic interest in agricultural land. To maintain this, the U.S. funded a militarized government that committed what some call the Second Holocaust against the Mayan people.
Until now, I’d never heard about this.
Though peace accords were enacted, the unequal distribution of land — which contributed to the original cause for war — remained. This caused many farmers and previous insurgent members to partake in illegal activities to survive. Shanty towns — of sorts — appeared and poverty soared.
Again, I ask, why I’d never heard of this? Why does the American school system ignore Latin American history that plays such a vital role in our everyday lives?
The Guatemalan people are suffering, and although the U.S. contributed to this outcome, we have done virtually nothing to aid them. This is unacceptable.
Once again, the aid of my peers and community volunteers truly changed the lives of numerous impoverished families.
We still have work to do.
I’m AudreyMcManigleand that’s my perspective.