Today’s Google Doodle honoring Isidro Baldenegro López is showing only on web browsers in Mexico. But the story it tells is worth sharing with the world.
Baldenegro dedicated his life to his ancestral lands, the jagged, snow-topped of Sierra Tarahumara, also known as the Sierra Madre Occidental. He was born there in 1966 in the village of Coloradas de la Virgen.
In 1986, he watched his father die for taking a stand against illegal logging activities there.
“Young Isidro decided to carry on with defending what he believed to be the sacred hills for his community,” writes Google.
He organized peaceful sit-ins and non-violent resistance and, in 2003, was arrested and jailed on false charges of arms and drug possession. Released after 15 months, Baldenegro went on to win the Goldman Prize in 2005 for his environmental activism.
He was assassinated in January of last year, and like his father, died for his cause.
Today’s Doodle appears on what would have been Baldenegro’s 52nd birthday. The artwork “celebrates fearless commitment to protecting the people and environment of his homeland through peaceful resistance,” says Google.
The simple, dignified graphic is not credited toward a specific artist.
