Marcos Aguilar (Masewalli Mexicano) is co-founder and Executive Director of Semillas Sociedad Civil - Anawakalmekak and Executive Director of the Tzicatl CDC American Indian Resurgence Initiative. Marcos served as a bilingual single-subject secondary teacher for the Los Angeles Unified School District from 1994-2001. Marcos received a Bachelor’s degree in Chicana & Chicano Studies from the University of California, Los Angeles in 1994 where he helped lead the design and founding of that department. He also holds a single-subject teaching credential in Social Science and a Masters in Education Administration from California State University, Los Angeles.

 

Marcos has worked for the UCLA Center X Principal Leadership Institute and consulted for the San Francisco Unified School District on Indigenous education and policy. Marcos helped lead the establishment of Indigenous Peoples Day in the City of Los Angeles in 2017 serving in key roles as a community interlocutor. In 2019, Marcos was community-nominated as a commissioner to the National Forum of Mexico on Constitutional Reform for the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and Afromexicans.

 

Marcos has been married to Minnie Ferguson for over 30 years with whom he has raised three children and co-founded Semillas/Anahuacalmecac. Marcos met Minnie at UCLA as an undergrad and followed in her footsteps as a student organizer. Marcos was born in Mexicali, Baja California Norte in Kumyaay/Cucapa territory and has been a danzante of the Azteca-Chichimeca tradition for over thirty years. Besides co-leading Anawakalmekak, Marcos is currently engaged in co-leading various local and international campaigns involving advancing the rights of Indigenous Peoples, access to quality education for Indigenous youth and decolonizing public spaces across the city and county of Los Angeles.

 

Marcos has most recently served as the lead advisor to the rematriation of over 12 acres of land to establish the Chief Ya’anna Vera Rocha Regenerative Learning Village and Tuatukar Ecocultural Center for Indigenous Resurgence as a part of his organization’s collaboration with the Gabrielino Shoshone Nation and the NDN Collective.