Titled "Healing Communities Torn by Racism and Violence," Menchú-Tum's speech addressed the need to find equilibrium both individually and in the world.
Menchú-Tum, who is considering running for President of Guatemala in September, spoke to the audience in Spanish, with Professor of Spanish Ilan Stavans translating. Much of the large audience consisted of Spanish speakers who were not College students but had heard about the event one way or another.
Menchú-Tum began her speech talking about a certain equilibrium within every human. "Each of us has two great fortunes," Menchú-Tum explained, "A material fortune and a spiritual fortune." To be healthy, she said that these two fortunes have to be in balance. Yet, she said that in the modern human this balance is often absent.
"We are not always aware that we have that spiritual fortune," Menchú-Tum said. "It's that spiritual fortune that makes us human. It is the strongest energy that gives us life."
Often, the material fortune dominates a person. According to Menchú-Tum, this imbalance leads to egotism, selfishness and, ultimately, loneliness. By ignoring this imbalance and simply letting it continue, Menchú-Tum said humans become ill and feel pain. Only when this pain and suffering sets in do they realize they have a problem.
According to her, this does not have to be the case, nor should it be. "We don't have to suffer first in order to become conscious of our condition … We can make an effort to live a plentiful, fulfilling life without having to suffer," she explained.
It is from here that Menchú-Tum transitioned to the focus of her speech: racism. Racism, according to her, is an illness that humans are quick to dismiss. Just as they overlook their lack of internal equilibrium, they often fail to recognize that they are racists. She used the analogy of an alcoholic in denial to express this point. "Racism is an illness that is mental and emotional and it forbids us to see the pluralistic aspects of the world," she explained.
It is from here that she brought up the second central equilibrium, that between the individual and society. She emphasized the need to join forces and work together-to replace monocultural systems with multicultural ones. "It's a basis of respect that has to be found in order to understand that the other is different from me, but also complements me," Menchú-Tum said. "That we can dream together … And then we could build a world for all of us made of equality for everybody."
Currently, Menchú-Tum said humankind lives in much darkness and must find the light. She said the only way to do this is to listen to others and work as one. "There will come a new time of equilibrium. A time when I hope we recognize diversity as a wealth and not a problem," she said. "We need to rescue the values of humankind in general … If we rescue the collective values, we can build a better world. We can cultivate solidarity. We can cultivate mutual support."
Focusing on the general, Menchú-Tum did not speak at all about her personal experiences. Born in Guatemala in 1959, Menchú-Tum's life was dramatically affected by the Guatemalan Civil War, which lasted from 1960 to 1996. Government soldiers burned her father alive during a peaceful protest, raped and killed her mother and shot her brother.
A Quiché-Mayan, Menchú-Tum took up the cause of the indigenous people of Guatemala. Her autobiography, "I, Rigoberta Menchú, An Indian Woman in Guatemala" (1983) received international attention and brought light to the treatment of the indigenous Guatemalans.
Professor Arthur Zajonc introduced Menchú-Tum as "a remarkable and courageous woman who has stood for and worked for peace tirelessly both for her home country of Guatemala and also for the rights of indigenous people in her home country and around the world."
Zajonc was able to get Menchú-Tum to come to the College through his connections to the PeaceJam Foundation. PeaceJam aims to develop young leaders by exposing them to Nobel Peace Laureates.
While focusing on racism, Menchú's speech took a number of side-steps along the way. Menchú spoke of the widespread depression that exists among the youth of Guatemala. As a Mayan spiritual leader, she says she receives many of these youth, some of whom are contemplating suicide, and tries to turn them in the right direction.
Her first piece of advice to them is to return to nature. "Listen to the river. Listen to a tree. Walk on the soil without shoes. Look at the sun at sunrise," Menchú-Tum suggests to them. After this turn towards nature, she tells the youth to pursue some goal.
"I appreciated her view that a personal and experiential relationship to nature can be a healing force on our lives," Zajonc said after the speech. "In addition, she emphasized that we all need ideals, worthy goals for which we can work. It can start small, but change does not happen by itself."
"It was very encouraging that she focused so much on unity, on bringing things together," said Brad Giguere, a junior at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. "It's really nice to meet and hear someone who has done so much."
"What I did get out of it was impressive," said Shaylon Stolk '10, though she said some of the meaning of the speech was clearly lost in translation.
Pamela Liu '08, who played a key role in organizing the event, agreed that the non-Spanish speakers may not have received the full effect of the speech. "The Spanish speakers, who were the majority of the audience, probably took in [Menchú-Tum's] message with more immediacy because they were able to process her words directly," Liu acknowledged. "Her talk was a bit more generalized than I had hoped, but I think our success lies in the hope and inspiration that she was able to instill in those who were present."
The speech was followed by a book signing in the Campus Center. Menchú-Tum joked that she needed to sell the books in order to fulfill her material fortune. "If you don't have means, you can't build a better world," she explained, "To dream is good, but to build something out of that dream is far better."