Unmasking the Mayan

http://anthropology.si.edu/maya/ - Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History

One million Maya Indians from Mexico and Guatemala are living in the United States. Unlike earlier waves of immigrants to our shores, the Maya are descendants of a New World civilization whose mystery resonates across this continent, and the globe. Few Americans are aware that there was extensive trade between the ancient peoples of North America and Mexico for at least a thousand years. A darker mystery surrounds the modern Maya. After centuries of poverty and injustice, some fight for recognition behind a black Zapatista mask. Those who seek better economic opportunities by migrating north must disguise themselves in Western clothes and customs. Thus the Maya remain hidden, faceless, both at home and in the cities and rural areas of our country.