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HOUSE JOINT MEMORIAL 47
48
TH LEGISLATURE
- STATE OF NEW MEXICO -
FIRST SESSION
, 2007
INTRODUCED BY
Ray Begaye
A JOINT MEMORIAL
REQUESTING THE NEW MEXICO LIVESTOCK BOARD TO HELP RETAIN SMALL
BUSINESSES IN COMMUNITIES THROUGHOUT THE STATE AND PRESERVE
TRADITIONAL PRACTICES OF NATIVE AMERICAN AND HISPANIC
COMMUNITIES BY TAKING INTO CONSIDERATION CULTURAL AND
TRADITIONAL PRACTICES IN ADOPTING REGULATIONS FOR MEAT
INSPECTION AND SLAUGHTERHOUSES.
WHEREAS, New Mexico has a diverse and culturally rich
population, and in New Mexico, regulators and regulatory
systems have the unique duty to be aware of the cultural
practices of the communities that are under their regulatory
control; and
WHEREAS, regulation of livestock and meat inspection is
the duty of the New Mexico livestock board; and
WHEREAS, many livestock and meat inspection regulators
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have no knowledge of or hold in disdain the traditional
practices that help to maintain the continuity and cohesiveness
of Native American and Hispanic traditional communities in the
state; and
WHEREAS, many people in traditional or rural communities
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
WHEREAS, a 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 and continue 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 changed to a
job of a community member who knew the culturally appropriate
way to raise and prepare animals for ceremonial or community
use, and now in many cases falls to a butcher or slaughterhouse
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operator; and
WHEREAS, very few of these community businesses remain to
carry on 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
WHEREAS, the practices are viewed many times by regulators
as conflicting with health and safety standards for the
slaughtering and releasing of prepared animals to owners for
personal consumption; and
WHEREAS, the New Mexico livestock board must follow the
regulations of the United States department of agriculture, and
these regulations many times appear to conflict with the
traditions of meat preparation that are basic beliefs of Native
American and Hispanic traditionalists; and
WHEREAS, regulators from the New Mexico livestock board
have some latitude in interpreting regulations and in some
cases may interpret the regulations more stringently than
necessary, while in other cases appear to fall below the
standards expected of them by the United States department of
agriculture; and
WHEREAS, Native Americans and Hispanic communities are
interested in cooperating with and negotiating an understanding
with the New Mexico livestock board to help small custom
slaughterhouses or butchers remain in business, providing a
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much-needed service to people who raise their own livestock and
need to have the animals processed in a culturally appropriate
and traditional manner; and
WHEREAS, as regulations governing the slaughter of animals
have become more and more sophisticated and farther removed
from the traditional values and practices that support the
cultures of New Mexico, it is clear that lack of communication
about and respect for values that are not shared makes
regulation difficult, and many times makes the continued
existence of these small businesses questionable; 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, requirements that exceed a small butcher's or
slaughterhouse operator's capacity to implement many times are
actually targeted at large meatpacking operations that obtain
their animals from feedlots, and these requirements are not
necessarily required to protect the health of the public when a
slaughterhouse operation is small; and
WHEREAS, Native American spiritual leaders and those in
the community who harvest and prepare animals for consumption
for traditional purposes are interested in beginning a dialogue
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with the New Mexico livestock board to discover common ground
that will allow traditions, ceremonies and age-old community
practices to continue, while satisfying those necessary health
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 livestock board be
urged to begin a dialogue with leaders of traditional Native
American and Hispanic communities to discuss the potential for
working together to develop better communication and to provide
better understanding of the needs of both the traditional
community leaders and the regulators pertaining to the
butchering or slaughter of animals in traditional ways for
feasts, ceremonies and community gatherings; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the New Mexico livestock board
and 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 work together to sustain
these small businesses to promote the traditions and cultures
of New Mexico; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the New Mexico livestock board
work with Native American traditional spiritual leaders and
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proprietors of operations that butcher or slaughter animals for
consumption at feasts, ceremonies, Hispanic community matanzas
and other traditional gatherings to address regulatory
restrictions of the United States department of agriculture
that are impeding the operation of these small businesses and
slowly destroying the underlying traditions of the cultures of
New Mexico; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the New Mexico livestock board
report on its progress in developing better communication and
establishing an ongoing dialogue to the appropriate legislative
interim committee no later than September 1, 2007; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be
transmitted to the governor, 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 pueblos council and the New Mexico livestock board.
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