(distorted voice muttering) (person speaks Mayan) (pensive reed music) (Alberto whoops) (water splashes) (pensive reed music continues) - [Berenice] Mexico's Yucatan is a beautiful place with many natural wonders, including refreshing cenotes, jungles teaming with birds, and white sand beaches.

(waves murmuring) Yet the Maya people who have lived there for a millennia have faced centuries of oppression, exploitation, discrimination, malnutrition, and economic deprivation.

While Cancun and the Maya Riviera tourist strip offers jobs to Maya from the interior, it separates workers from their families with a profound social cost.

The new Tren Maya could bring a tsunami of social change.

The luxury passenger train line starts in Cancun and loops through the Maya heartland - [Berenice] It's unclear whether the Maya will benefit greatly from the Tren Maya and economic growth or their culture will be inundated and they will be relegated to low wage jobs.

Plus construction could harm their environment.

(Norberto speaks Spanish) - There are opportunities and risks for the construction of the Maya train.

On the positive side, it will generate jobs and income opportunities for the Maya people who are already working as welders, as construction workers.

At the same time, these are the type of jobs that they will get in entry level positions.

The opportunities will be there if there is an effort to empower and build capacities in the Maya people.

(people speaking Spanish) - It is important to recognize indigenous people, because they are equal members of society.

And for many years they have suffered from historic discrimination, historic racism, that have hindered their economic opportunities and their wellbeing.

And also they should be compensated because their resources are a selling point for the tourism industry.

And what are they getting in return?

A few jobs, entry level jobs, a few economic opportunities.

It's not fair.

It's a matter of equality.

(pensive reed music continues) - [Berenice] When an asteroid measuring six miles across slammed into Earth 66 million years ago, ground zero was the Yucatan Peninsula, a place called Chicxulub.

The asteroid wiped out most of life on the planet.

The asteroid left behind a geological crust in the Yucatan that is a jumble of limestone rocks, not great for agriculture, but useful for building pyramids and railroad infrastructure.

The Maya civilization emerged in what is now southern Mexico and Central America, and produced vast cities and monumental temples before collapsing in the ninth century.

The ancient Mayas left behind thousands of crumbling ruins, ranging from small monuments on the outskirts of today's villages to the magnificent sites of Chicen Itza and Tulum.

(pensive reed music continues) (pensive reed music continues) Spanish conquistadors slaughtered and subjugated the Maya.

After Mexican independence, the boom industry was making rope from the fibers of the henequen plant.

It was called green gold.

To harvest and process henequen land owners made serfs of the Mayas, and after a peasant uprising, defeated them in a long, grinding war.

The Mexican revolution in the early 20th century brought some relief.

Plantation land was redistributed to peasants, and workers' rights were established in a new constitution.

Modern times have not been kind to the Maya.

All industries died and economic pressures and globalization siphon people from the villages.

Still, Mayan de Yucatan have been more resilient and cohesive than many other indigenous groups elsewhere.

Now their culture faces new pressures, from increased tourism and real estate development.

(tense drum music) (Miguel speaks Spanish) (Deira speaks Spanish) - [Berenice] Maya cultural traditions in the Yucatan run deep.

(Norberto speaks Spanish) (person speaks in foreign language) (tense drum music) (rapping in foreign language) - [Berenice] Jesus Pat Chable, who goes by the stage name of Pat Boy, is Mexican rapper of Maya heritage, who often sings in the Mayan language.

One of his songs was featured on the soundtrack of the movie "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever."

(Pat Boy sings in Mayan) - Wanted to celebrate the collection with an artist who centers his practice in the richness of Maya language.

It is an absolute honor to introduce to you Pat Boy, Jesus Christobal Pat Chable.

(Pat Boy sings in Mayan) (audience cheers) (people speaking Spanish) (Pat Boy speaks Spanish) (Pat Boy speaks Mayan) (Norberto speaks Spanish) - [Berenice] Clothing is another mainstay of Maya culture.

The typical Maya village garment for women is the huipil, a loose cotton tunic long like a dress that is typically embellished with elaborate embroidery.

(person sings in Spanish) (Silvia speaks Spanish) (Silvia speaks Spanish) - [Berenice] Art can be a powerful medium for spreading awareness about Maya cultural issues.

(Marcelo speaks Spanish) (Marcelo speaks Spanish) - [Berenice] Numerous initiatives are underway aimed at strengthening Maya's society and improving the health and wellbeing of the people.

- So we are doing this project on health and nutrition in one of the villages.

And basically what we are doing is empowering the children to be the agents of change in their communities and in their families by providing them with resources that they will adapt and that they will shape according to the way their lives are shaped by the community and by the school.

It's a novel approach, because it's a bottom-up approach.

We don't come with any preconceived ideas about what the children should be doing or the parents.

We ask what they do.

We progress through different stages to find out the best solutions for the health issues that the children and the parents have identified that are the most important in the village.

So the Maya in Yucatan have gone through a nutrition transition that move them from their traditional foods to a globalized food system that relies a great deal on junk food, on beverages that are high caloric with very low nutritional value.

What we are doing part of this project is actually trying to create interest on the traditional foods again to counteract the effects of globalization on the choices of food that the families eat and consequently on the health of the children and on the health of the communities.

(light cheerful music) (people murmuring) (dog barking) (pensive reed music) - [Berenice] While many Maya have immigrated, many others have stayed home.

There are hundreds of Maya villages and settlements in the Yucatan where people continue to speak their language and live the Maya way of life.

Many people rely for food on corn, beans, and squash grown together in small plots, or milpas.

They live in tight knit family compounds, often combinations of palapas and modern concrete buildings.

(bright cheerful music) Xocen, a typical village, has more than its share of artisans.

In the two-family compound, Leonila and her daughter Mari do embroidery for huipils and other products.

Leonila only speaks Mayan.

(Leonila speaks Mayan) (Leonila speaks Mayan) - [Berenice] Leonila's son, Miguel went to college and worked in Cancun, but decided to return to the village as a partner in a small ecotourism business.

Miguel guides bird watching tours and teaches local people to appreciate nature through his company Xocen Birding Trail.

To support Miguel's business, Leonila now stitches bird designs on clothing.

(Miguel speaks Spanish) (people speaking in foreign language) (bird croaking) (Miguel speaks Spanish) (Miguel speaks Spanish) - [Berenice] Miguel promotes reforesting to regain the balance of nature and to provide food.

(Miguel speaks Spanish) (Miguel speaks Spanish) - [Berenice] Some of the young people are learning ancient rituals from their grandparents.

(Jose speaks Spanish) - [Berenice] In Xocen, as is elsewhere in Mundo Maya, Christianity and traditional Maya religion are fused.

(Miguel speaks Spanish) - [Berenice] In recent years, developers have been buying up land in the interior, and people from elsewhere in Mexico and foreigners have been buying houses there.

The place seems to be on the cusp of an economic boom.

(cheerful mariachi music) (pensive reed music) Murem, Museo de Ropa Etnica de Mexico in Valladolid, collects and exhibits traditional Mexican clothing and has an extensive Maya collection.

- Our mission is to interact with the people from the Mayan communities in a way that we can help them continue to preserve traditions into the future.

We feel very strongly that the textile traditions which are disappearing very quickly are something very special and need to be preserved.

And so however we can help someone who's an embroider or a weaver or whatever type of work that deals with these kinds of traditional textiles and the life that surrounds them, we are very interested in being able to assist in keeping it going.

(Amanda speaks Spanish) - [Berenice] One of Murem's programs is aimed at teaching local sewers how to make clothing and embroidery that will appeal to tourists.

- We decided to do this ancestral course at the museum in Valladolid, because we wanted to join together some ancestral stitches with contemporary products to give some of these local women an opportunity to offer modern useful products easily made with very little fabric to tourists and modern travelers, really.

I love doing the course, and the idea is really great, but I was just a little bit conflicted, because we want to preserve these traditions and we love seeing the women around the town with their beautiful clothing, and it's all very traditional and also has a great value.

But at the same time, we don't want to destroy their customs and traditions, but we want them to be able to access earning money from tourism with contemporary simple projects that they can just get a better income for themselves and their families.

- [Berenice] The museum's gift shop features items made by local artisans.

- Because we deal with so many artisans on a regional or local level, we are working directly with them to ensure that they have a place to sell their goods.

The long-term benefit is that by using these stitches to make these products to sell to these people, including traditional pieces, that it will be a way of extending the tradition of embroidery, weaving or whatever textile work in the region.

(rooster cawing) (Tei speaks Spanish) - [Berenice] Maya, people in the cities and villages have been organizing to control their own fate.

Rather than being pushed aside by outsiders, they want to build businesses aimed at reaping benefits from the coming boom.

Yaxunah near the famous archeological site Chichen Itza is one prominent example of the push to develop community tourism.

(Nayeli speaks Spanish) (Nayeli speaks Spanish) (people speaking Spanish) (Nayeli speaks Spanish) (Nayeli speaks Spanish) (birds chirping) (Nayeli speaks Spanish) - [Berenice] The town even has a women's softball team, Las Samasonas, whose members wear huipils on the field.

(Nayeli speaks Spanish) (people cheering) (Nayeli speaks Spanish) (person sings Spanish) (Elias speaks Spanish) (pensive reed music) - [Berenice] Over the years, many thousands of Maya have left their home villages in search of economic opportunity, heading elsewhere in Mexico or to the United States.

Often they have found challenges where they land.

- In their home countries Indigenous peoples face a number of challenges.

Their lands are being threatened by extractive projects and energy projects, the creation of protected areas, like national parks and tourism ventures, including the Train Maya project in the Yucatan.

Another challenge includes poverty caused by structural racism that creates disparities, unequal access to health, education, housing, and employment.

And that leads to involuntary migration then.

And then of course, climate change, gang violence and conflict within their countries are further push factors.

At the US-Mexico border crossing, there's a fundamental lack of understanding of the specific needs and rights of Indigenous peoples.

Many indigenous migrants arriving from Central and South America are mistakenly identified as Hispanic or Latino and provided with Spanish interpreters.

And this can happen because of their inability to communicate in English or Spanish, fear of discrimination, and also a lack of birth registration and identity documents.

Well, in terms of policy reform, what is needed is a human rights based approach, rather than a militarized response at the border.

The US should adopt policies to better identify indigenous peoples at the border and address their specific needs and preferences by providing indigenous language interpreters, social workers, and humanitarian aid in general.

And there should be more indigenous border and immigration officers, and the US should end the immigration detention of children and prohibit the separation of children from their parents.

They should investigate and where appropriate prosecute allegations of violence by government officials and put in place measures to prevent discrimination and abuse of Indigenous peoples.

(people speaking Spanish) - [Steve] Tens of thousands of Yucatec Maya have migrated to the San Francisco Bay area over the past few decades.

They're lured by abundant restaurant and farm jobs and already made network of fellow Yucatecos.

One of the early resettles was Tommy Bermejo.

He arrived in 1958 through a US guest worker program.

He switched from farm labor to restaurant work, and in 1965 he opened Tommy's Mexican restaurant in San Francisco with his wife Elmy.

He helped many other Yucatecos establish themselves in the area - At that time not many Yucatecan people.

Yeah, but now, oh my goodness.

Now it's a lot of people.

But, you know, because you help this one and this one going to help another one, then another one, and then becomes bigger.

- My brother-in-law is cousin, that's Tommy's cousin.

That's how we meet Tommy, and Tommy say, "Come on, guys, let's go to California."

And that's how we decide to come this way.

- A lot of people would come just to get some advice, and he also provided some tough love sometimes about making sure that not only were you making money but making sure that you saved, that you sent money back to those family members who needed it.

And one of the heartwarming stories was when my dad passed away, there was a gentleman that came here, and he said that my dad encouraged him to open his own business selling produce.

And he says, "You need to do this.

You need to look for your family."

And he goes, "And I'll be your first customer."

- We got here in the United States and we got a job working in the kitchen.

Me and my brother, Felipe and they used to talk Maya in the kitchen.

And the guests, when they come, and they used to ask to the owner of the business, he used to ask "Why you have Chinese cooks in the back in an American restaurant?"

And then, me and my brother, we are not Chinese, we are Mayan.

That's the Mayan language we talk.

It was beautiful to live like a Mayan.

Yes.

I used to live in the jungle with all the family, maybe 50 members.

For me to grow up like that, it was the best, 'cause everything natural, you don't need money.

Everything you grow you hand.

Yeah.

(Luis speaks Spanish) - Coming out of the jungle and going to school, it was a big challenge, because in that time you feel low because that's how it's been treated.

I mean, you know, rich people, and you're indigenous.

- [Steve] Now, as earlier, Yucatec people leave their homeland to escape poverty in the hopes of finding opportunities in the United States.

- I went two years in the school, just only two years, you know, no more.

So I start working with my father and in like maybe 12 years, 12-13 years old.

I work in the field, you know, an hacha, machete, no chain saw.

There is hard.

Here is not, not for me.

(laughs) - [Steve] Many Yucatecos have come to San Francisco's Mission District, which has long been a magnet for Mexicans and now has a distinctly Maya flavor.

For many, life in the United States is difficult.

There's the language barrier.

Some Maya immigrants can't read and write.

The immigrants are often stuck in low wage jobs.

Undocumented people live in fear.

(Luis speaks Spanish) - They have it in their mind, "How about the money that I had to pay that I owe in Mexico, how I'm gonna do it?

My family waiting for me, waiting for the money," is that's when you see the depression there.

And then start doing, you know, drinking.

(people chattering) - [Steve] Some may immigrants end up homeless, which is what happened to Luis Poot's cousin, Luis Gongora Pat.

One spring day in 2016, Luis was shot dead in the Mission District by police who claimed he was threatening them with a knife.

Witnesses denied he drew the knife.

Only one officer was disciplined for escalating the situation.

Afterwards, people from the community protested, and artists painted a mural memorializing Luis in an alley that's lined with social commentary murals.

(Luis speaks Spanish) - [Steve] Associacion Mayab offers services to help immigrants.

- The goal is to preserve our culture, help these people, special with food, sometimes housing, sometimes like medical.

That's what we trying very hard.

(cheerful music) (Kimberly speaks Spanish) - [Steve] Along the coast there are many farms where Maya people work for low wages.

Advocates are trying to help them start their own farming businesses.

- (indistinct) is a program for farm workers to receive training and education, how to run a business in farming, education about sustainable farming, healthy soils, irrigation systems, composting, the use of windbreaks, so everything, and as well as, you know, educational around the business.

They are future farmers.

(traffic humming) - [Steve] Arturo Mul settled along the coast and after working in restaurants for years, he opened his own restaurant in the seaside town of Half Moon Bay.

- Mayan people both here in the United States and Mexico.

- And to their wonderful cooking.

- Indeed.

- The food is one of the most important thing maybe in the Mayan culture.

Yeah, the flavors.

And there's a lot of people from the Yucatan.

They look sometimes, they look for Mayan food and they have to go to the city and some of it, they don't know we are here.

And then they come with, they say, "Oh, I didn't know you guys here."

And then "I want to eat something from the Yucatan, like Panucho, Salbutes, Empanadas, or Cochinita Pibil or something like that."

So we use the Achiote, it's a red condiment.

You mix it up and then you rub it really well in the cochinita, you wrap it with the banana leaf, and then you cook it for three or four hours, and then it comes really good too.

That's the Cochinita Pibil.

(people chattering) - [Guest] Wonderful.

Wonderful.

- We'll be back.

- [Guest] Yeah, we'll be back next time we can.

- Hope you guys enjoyed.

- I think the Mayan culture's always been survivals.

We have figured it out.

And also coming from Yucatan, we've also sometimes felt that it was a little different than the rest of Mexico, but we are our own culture, we're very unique.

And if you ask somebody from Yucatan, "Are you from Mexico?"

Usually the answer is "No, I'm from Yucatan."

And it's a part of Mexico.

So we see ourselves as a little bit the same, but yet apart or unique.

(people chattering) (person sings Spanish) (pensive reed music) - [Berenice] The Maya have shown incredible resilience for centuries.

In fact, other Mexicans call them Yucatecos, a slang for the stubborn people of Yucatan.

Now, massive changes may come quickly.

Will the Maya people and their culture persevere?

Will they be able to adapt to a rapidly changing world without losing their inner Maya (Norberto speaks Mayan) (Norberto speaks Mayan) (pensive music) (Pat Boy raps in Mayan) (bright music)