Commentary: Steve Pearce, candidate for Governor, renewed his call for protection of Native American artists and jewelers throughout New Mexico. Recently, Pearce met with Native American artists and jewelers coinciding with the Gallup Inter Tribal Indian Ceremonial and discussed his work on the issue. Pearce has previously taken action to give Native American artists and jewelers long sought after relief in combatting cheap fake products coming into the country and hurting their livelihood.
“Native American artists and jewelers across New Mexico have long sought relief in combatting cheap fake products coming into the country, which are misrepresented as authentic and original American Indian artwork—an enterprise that not only exploits their cultural traditions but their livelihood and has diverted millions of dollars from Native American communities, artists, and families,” said Pearce.
Pearce said the schemes are so elaborate that one village in the Philippines even changed its name to “Zuni” in order to stamp their imported jewelry as made in Zuni.
“Many Native American families in our state rely on the production of their artwork as a primary source of income and enforcing existing regulations for artists is critical to protecting their families and communities,” said Pearce.
When Congressman Pearce was informed about this issue he took immediate action and alerted the relevant federal agencies of the problem. Pearce sought and received approval to place a New Mexico investigator on behalf of the Native American artists inside the Homeland Security Investigations agency (HIS) to facilitate the prosecution of counterfeit products.
“This New Mexico presence – directly inside the prosecuting agency – will be a tremendous step toward protecting Native American artists and will directly focus on identifying the source of the problem while bringing accountability. The multimillion dollar counterfeit industry not only affects artists, but merchants and consumers as well.
“Appointing and funding this position, which will act as an Investigative Fellow, is one of the first actions I will take as Governor. This is a bold step that will finally protect our Native American art and jewelry industry from fakes that exploit their cultural traditions and divert resources from Native American communities,” said Pearce.