“A psychologist in the field of trauma, Bessle Van der Kert, made an observation several years ago; he noted that survivors heal when they find a greater passion for something other than their trauma. For me, this is my research on Centeotzintli or sacred maiz. It is a many-years story, but it involves the search for origins and migrations. At a certain point, I was told by elders from throughout the continent: “If you want to know who you are, follow the maiz.” That’s what I do now. In the process, I learned that the stories I had been looking for were right in my own home… from my own parents who are 86 and 81… the stories they had told me when I was growing up that became the basis for my dissertation: Centeotzintli: Sacred maize – a 7,000-year ceremonial discourse.

To be beaten is dehumanizing. To be treated as a suspect population and to be told to go back to where you came from is violating. To be denied one’s human rights makes us less than human. To fight for one’s rights is rehumanizing. To find one’s roots – one’s connections to that which is most sacred on this continent – to that which is many thousands of years old and part of one’s daily life – is affirming and it is to find one’s humanity.”

from “Running Past PTSD,” by Roberto Rodriguez