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HOUSE JOINT MEMORIAL 46

LEGISLATURE

- STATE OF NEW MEXICO -

FIRST SESSION

, 2007

INTRODUCED BY

Ray Begaye

A JOINT MEMORIAL

REQUESTING THE NEW MEXICO CONGRESSIONAL DELEGATION TO HELP

RETAIN SMALL BUSINESSES IN COMMUNITIES THROUGHOUT THE STATE AND

PRESERVE TRADITIONAL PRACTICES OF NATIVE AMERICAN AND HISPANIC

COMMUNITIES BY URGING THAT CULTURAL AND TRADITIONAL PRACTICES

BE CONSIDERED BY THE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE IN

ADOPTING REGULATIONS FOR MEAT INSPECTION AND SLAUGHTERHOUSES.

WHEREAS, New Mexico is predominantly a rural state, with

many very small communities surrounded by great areas of open

vistas and great distances between communities; and

WHEREAS, due to the rural nature of the state, many people

still raise livestock for personal consumption, but due to the

changes faced by traditional communities, more and more Native

American and Hispanic people rely on commercial ventures to

provide them with traditional foods; and

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WHEREAS, at least ten percent of the population of New

Mexico is Native American, many of whom remain living in

traditional tribal or pueblo communities that were occupied by

their ancestors as long ago as one thousand years; and

WHEREAS, close to fifty percent of the population of New

Mexico is of Spanish ancestry, and many of these people live in

the small traditional communities settled by their ancestors

over the last five hundred years; and

WHEREAS, this large segment of the population of New

Mexico has traditions that must be preserved if the heritage,

culture and spiritual practices of the long-term residents of

New Mexico are to remain vibrant and meaningful into the

future; and

WHEREAS, food and food preparation are basic to

maintaining many belief systems and the traditional practices

of both the Hispanic population and the Native American

population of New Mexico and include rich and important

practices involving the raising, blessing, harvesting and

consumption of animals; and

WHEREAS, slaughtering of animals has for centuries been a

community activity that in the last hundred years has become

the job of a community member who knows the culturally

appropriate way to raise and prepare animals for ceremonial or

community use; and

WHEREAS, the proprietors of these community businesses

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carry much of the traditional knowledge of the appropriate way

and the respectful attitude required to harvest animals for

cultural and traditional activities such as feasts, ceremonies,

matanzas and other community gatherings, and the practices are

viewed many times by regulators as conflicting with health and

safety standards for slaughtering of animals; and

WHEREAS, the United States department of agriculture has

specifically authorized spiritual leaders of religious

traditions such as Buddhism, Confucianism, Islam or Judaism in

regard to the preparation of kosher products to be present as

necessary during the butchering of animals, but spiritual

practices of Native Americans and traditional practices of

Hispanic communities are not recognized in these religious

tradition exemptions, in large part because the need for the

services of a slaughterhouse outside of the community or under

state or federal regulation is a recent phenomenon; and

WHEREAS, in recent years, United States department of

agriculture regulations governing the slaughter of animals have

become sophisticated and removed from the traditional values

and practices that support the cultures of New Mexico, tending

to hold those values and practices in disdain as fewer people

creating and enforcing regulations actually have knowledge or

understanding of these cultural values and practices; and

WHEREAS, small slaughterhouses or community butchers have

found it difficult to remain in business due to the lack of

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understanding expressed and exhibited by regulators and their

regulations, and traditional communities are prohibited from

obtaining animals in the way the animals are required to be

prepared by tradition, due to the regulations; and

WHEREAS, even more stringent regulations prohibit

preparation of slaughtered animals in traditional ways for

resale, as in allowing restaurants to serve some traditional

foods; however, in some cases, parts of animals unavailable,

due to regulation, from local slaughtering businesses are

available as imported delicacies; and

WHEREAS, small butchers and slaughterhouses are

disappearing from traditional communities in many cases due to

the expense of implementing regulations and the regulators'

expectations that to remain in business a butcher will purchase

sophisticated equipment and maintain detailed records that

require sophisticated information technology; and

WHEREAS, some of the requirements that exceed a small

butcher's or slaughterhouse operator's capacity to implement

are targeted at large meatpacking operations that obtain their

animals from feedlots; and

WHEREAS, representatives of traditional communities are

willing to work with the United States department of

agriculture to develop regulations that will allow those

communities to continue their traditions, ceremonies and age-

old community practices while satisfying those necessary health

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and safety concerns of the regulators, and allowing small

butchering and slaughterhouse businesses to prosper and serve a

great need in these traditional communities;

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE

STATE OF NEW MEXICO that the New Mexico congressional

delegation be urged to take action to help protect small

businesses in New Mexico by helping the proprietors of small

slaughterhouses and butchering operations that provide meat and

slaughtered animals for consumption for traditional Native

American feasts and ceremonies, Hispanic community matanzas and

other traditional community gatherings and celebrations to

obtain relief from oppressive regulation through negotiation

with regulators of the United States department of agriculture

and implementation of regulations that take into consideration

the interests and needs of traditional people and communities;

and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the New Mexico congressional

delegation consider requiring the United States department of

agriculture to adopt provisions in regulations that allow

Native American spiritual leaders the same liberty as other

religious leaders to participate in butchering of animals in

specified slaughterhouse operations to ensure that animals for

feasts, ceremonies or other community gatherings are prepared

as required by tradition; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the United States department

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of agriculture be encouraged to engage in dialogue with the

leaders of traditional communities, both Native American and

Hispanic, in New Mexico to reach accord on regulatory issues of

concern to the traditional and spiritual leaders of those

communities and also to aid small community butchering and

slaughterhouse operations to remain as viable businesses and

provide the needed services that they offer in small

traditional communities; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be

transmitted to the New Mexico congressional delegation, the

president of the Navajo Nation, the president of the Jicarilla

Apache Nation, the president of the Mescalero Apache Tribe, the

chair of the all Indian pueblo council, the United States

department of agriculture and the New Mexico livestock board.

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