A PROPOSAL FOR THE
PRESERVATION OF CHARRERIA
The recent passage of anti-charreria legislation by both Arizona and Nevada is only the beginning of a renewed assault on the Charro Tradition. Eric Mills and his supporters, are formulating legislation to ban most of Charreria.. They are now crowing over their success in Arizona and Nebraska. While it is disappointing that those state legislatures were deceived by people like Thelia Williams who testified that few horses survive traditional mangana. The obvious bias of the legislation, which exempts steeplechase, jumping and rodeo, in Arizona and where Nebraska bans cola, but not calf roping, gives the charros a golden opportunity to go on the attack.
Charreria has been an integral part of Mexican culture for over 400 years. Beginning as local competitions to exhibit ranch work, it become an organized competition after the Revolution of 1910. That is when different States in Mexico, began to have schools to reintroduce the rural ways to what had become a more urbanized population during the decade long conflict. These schools became focal points of preserving the charro traditions, that had been an important part of the Mexican culture. Around 1925, the Federation was inaugurated and the rules of charreada became formalized.
This should not be too hard to understand in light of the American cowboy traditions that are preserved in Rodeo. Just like the cowboys of Texas were instrumental in reintroducing Texas into the Union after the Civil War, the notion of a unified Mexican culture after the revolution was important to healing the wounds of the war. The same is true of the icons that symbolized each country’s history. Mexico has Pedro Infante, Jorge Negrete, Vicente Fernandez and Antonio Aguilar, while the United States has John Wayne, Roy Rodgers, Garry Cooper and Randolph Scott. Each of these individuals projecting what was believed to be important characteristics of the respective nations. That is why charreada is more then a sport. It is a Tradition, which exhibits a national cohesion.
Not only is charreria important to the notion of Mexico as a Nation, it is also important as a cohesive factor of families. Unlike Rodeo, which is almost exclusively individual competitions, Charros compete as teams. These teams are usually made up of families which may be composed of brothers, and cousins and compadres, who are so close to families that you cannot tell the difference. A number of teams have been family affaires for generation. Because of the importance of family and team, charreada is a real factor in reduction of juvenile crime and the promoting moral behavior. When you see fathers and mothers riding with their infants on the front of their saddles, you know that the child will be a well cared for part of the family.
Because Charreria is more then just a sport, it is important to maintain it in the traditional forms. The problem has been the development of the animal rights movement that has been high jacked by extremists. These are people who want to elevate animals to the stature of humans and have attacked charreria based on emotion and not fact. The idea of protecting animals developed in the 19th century. It is the result of urbanization and industrialization. Before this development, people had to take care of and use animals themselves. It was difficult for a person who needed to butcher a hog to have meat for the winter, to have much sympathy for the animal. If they did, they would starve. Now people have their steak delivered to them in a plastic wrapper, so they do not need to consider where it came from..
The idea of animals being treated like humans, is one of the primary arguments of the animal rights extremist. They complain, that the animals do not get to choose to compete in Charrereda. This is almost too ridiculous to respond to. The reason animals do not get to choose, is because animals are incapable of choice. Animals are used in competitions for the same reason that the steer becomes a steak and the chicken is fried.
The radicals also claim that the animals used in charreada are terrified. This is attaching human characteristic to animals. Animals are incapable of being terrified. They might react instinctively and run away, when pushed, but like the gazella that has seen its offspring eaten by the lion, return to grazing, after the immediate causation ends.
The opponents of charreada fictionalize that most of the animals used in competitions die. While this is absolutely not true, if you tell them, that Charros have been taking care of animals in this manner for 400 years and that if they had been causing repeated serious injuries to animals, they would have stopped. The opponents say that Mexicans still have bull fighting. While there is no logical connection between the two, you have to remember you are not dealing with logical people. The only way really to respond to this is by evidence. Even that will not necessarily be sufficient to influence the most radical, who will continue to condemn charreria even if you have proof that no animals are injured.
The final claim of the opponents is that Veterinarians object to most Charro events and they do have a number of Vets who support this. What they fail to mention, is that these same vets also object to most of Rodeo, Steeplechase and Jumping. The opponents ignore these other events, and attack Charros, because they do not want to bring on the wrath upon themselves, that would result from the money and organization these other groups have.
All of this leads to the question of what to do. These are a few ideas that you might want to consider.
1. Promote Charreria, by:
(a) Producing a video setting forth the history of Charreria and explaining how Charreria helps maintain family values and develops good citizens.
(b) Contacting local government and offering to participate in parades and other social functions.
(c) Getting involved in local Civic Organizations.
(d) Keep in contact with Local and State government officials.
2. Begin to gather evidence to support the fact that few animals are seriously injured in Charreria and that Charreada is no more dangerous to animals then any other event that uses them.
(a) Get videos of Charreada, that show the animals before, during and after the events.
(b) Make sure that all animals used in events are healthy and well nourished.
(c) Getting video tapes of rodeo and jumping events, where animals are seriously injured.
(d) Contact animal rights groups and make the “Charro Challange”, to do a scientific study of the dangers of charreria events in comparison with other events that use animals.
3. Begin to prepare for litigation against Arizona and Nebraska by:
(a) Contacting MALDEF, to see if they would support a suit.
(b) Begin gather as much money as possible, because even if MALDEF does take the case, it is going to cost a substantial amount of money to pursue.
(c) Have a back-up position for attorneys, if MALDEF declines.
These are just a few ideas I have, and I hope you find them beneficial. I am sorry I cannot attend the meeting, but I have a prior commitment.
Randy Janssen
Charros de Bejar, Inc.
