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.166297.1
SENATE JOINT MEMORIAL 28
48
TH LEGISLATURE
- STATE OF NEW MEXICO -
FIRST SESSION
, 2007
INTRODUCED BY
John Pinto
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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.166297.1
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 chair of the all Indian
pueblo council, the United States department of agriculture and
the New Mexico livestock board.
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