The Guatemalan Silent Holocaust was a period of extreme violence during the Guatemalan Civil War that is not widely known, despite the immense impact it had on Indigenous Maya communities and the role that government power played in carrying out this violence. This topic is important to study because it highlights how political systems and institutions can use power and privilege, especially regarding race and ethnicity, to silence minority communities and justify mass violence against them. While there is research that discusses the violence of the Guatemalan Civil War, what seems to be less studied is the continued silencing of Indigenous voices after the genocide and the long-term effects this violence had on Maya communities, especially as it connects to a larger history of violence against Indigenous populations that has never been fully addressed. This project argues that the genocide against the Maya was not only caused by civil war conflict, but was also a targeted act of violence shaped by racial discrimination and government authority, which allowed these killings to happen on a large scale and continue without accountability. My project draws on written and spoken testimonies from Maya survivors, along with state and federal documents from the United States and Guatemala, to examine both personal experiences of violence and the government actions that supported it. Addressing the silencing of Indigenous communities who experienced state-sponsored violence is important because it exposes the systemic hierarchies that exist within governments and shows how ignoring this history contributes to the continuation of violence and inequality against Indigenous communities today.