Latinos love meat.

Pernil.  Pollo asado.  Pollo frito. Lechon. Chuletas.  Biftec.

Even meat — or stuff that resembles meat — that come in cans makes many of us salivate: Salchichas. Corned beef (basic instruction for cooking: Dump in a pot with some tomato sauce, sofrito, and a few papa fritas; mix, heat up and serve with white rice.)

And how about that morsilla?

So now I’m hearing one of the cool things to do now is “D.I.Y. butchering.” As in do-it-yourself butchering.  So says a recent article in the New York Times.

“ … D.I.Y. butchering also allows self-conscious carnivores — who in the past were candidates for vegetarianism — to justify their flesh-laden dinners. By learning to slaughter and butcher, they say, they can honor their pigs and eat them, too.”

Ha!  Latinos have been doing this for years. For better or for worse.

So on behalf of Latinos everywhere, I guess I can say: Welcome D.I.Y. butchering newcomers.

I was just a little kid living in Puerto Rico when I learned – very unexpectedly – where we get our chuletas from.  It was shortly after we moved back there from New Jersey after my grandmother, Mamita, got sick.

In the morning, the sound of roosters would signal the start of a new day for us.  We didn’t own any but it sounded like everyone else in Barrio Blondet did.

And some mornings, I would also hear high pitch squeals coming from the direction of the house across from us.   My “Nancy Drew” addiction hadn’t yet kicked in, but still I knew there was only one thing I could do: Go and investigate.

I set off alone one morning.  I crossed the street and walked towards the sound coming from the backyard.

I stood there and watched as the neighbor slit the throat of a screaming pig.  I didn’t move while I watched the blood flow from the gaping wound into a bucket.  I didn’t leave until the ghastly sounds subsided.  I never returned.

Many years later, as an adult, when I was walking with my mother Ines on Bergenline Avenue in Union City, I would avert my eyes whenever we passed the stores where live chickens in cages waited to meet their destiny.

The thought of fellow Latinos slaughtering pigs and sentencing chickens to death never bothered my mother.  In fact, she herself was quite handy with a knife (as one of my father’s girlfriends found out when she showed up on our doorstep).

And my mother never quite understood why her daughter did not want to eat meat.  Here’s a typical scene that played out year after year after year.

“I found the most beautiful chuletitas en Shop-Rite.  Mira que linda son! I’m going to make you two.”

“I don’t want it.  Yo no como carne!”

“Que que?  Pero estas muy flaca.   Tienes que comer!”

And often I gave in.  It was tough to look into her hurt eyes and say no.  You know how it is.

My mother is no longer around to tempt me.  I don’t eat meat anymore.  At least I do my best not to.  When I eat out, I’ve learned to ask if pork is used when I order habichuelas.

For so many years, I simply didn’t want to eat meat for ethical reasons.  And it turns out my eschewing animal flesh also has health dividends. And yet, when I talk to Latinos about this, I often get puzzled looks.  Like the ones my mother used to give me.

And while we may have differing views when it comes to meat, I have a sneaking suspicion there won’t be a lot of Latinos in these D.I.Y. butchering classes.

Their families would probably laugh themselves silly if they found out they had to pay to learn how to “honor their pigs and eat them, too.”

When all is said and done in this election, I hope that we as Latinos in New Jersey can come together again.  I hope that this past election year has been a learning experience and not one which drives a nail in the coffin of unity.  Many of us, including myself, have had our feelings hurt and others have been attacked mercilessly by the media and other Latinos.  This election has proven to be a test of our will to stand together while acknowledging that we all have faults,  and shown that many in our community would sacrifice themselves for causes they strongly believe in.

Education is a great example of an issue that this year has caused great animosity among people who a year ago were brothers and sisters.  We fight for the side that we know in our hearts will be best for our Latino children.  Some will attack anyone who disagrees with their side.  They will attack anyone who agrees with what they consider the wrong side.

Why are we so passionate about education and our children that we are willing to risk the unity we have built?  I don’t want an answer! I was there in Dayton St. School, Franklin, Garfield, Elizabeth High, and too many others to mention.  I had my Spinal Cord Injury in my sophomore year but before that I experienced it all.  I was jumped by eight other students because I was Puerto Rican.  I chipped my teeth when another student tripped me.  I was told not to aspire to great things because nothing great ever happened to kids like us.   Teachers sometimes acted more like wardens than educators.  I was there with my brothers and sisters and our struggles were those of our young kids today.  In some schools fear still reigns as king and we pray for a better future for them.   I know why we would do anything — so that they can do better than us.

However, I was troubled this year by the disrespect we have shown one another.  I was more troubled by my willingness to entertain gossip, innuendo, and half-truths.  I did not like the way I spoke to friends.   The truth is we are trying to have our kids taught by one entity or another but we are the ones that need an education.  I started believing in the abilities of Latinos to unite and be empowered while at Rutgers, when survival instincts told us we better stick together.   We knew then what we have forgotten now.

I have spent the last 10 or so years as a delegate of the Latino Leadership Alliance of New Jersey. Throughout that time I have grown to value differences of opinion and in some cases differences of ideology.  It is what has made us a strong organization; in fact, it is the founding mantra.  We work and tolerate others’ differing beliefs because the substantive issues like immigration, diversity, discrimination prevention and, yes, education are workable by us.  We can do something about them, or at least try.

I don’t know who will win in November.  I support one person and others may support someone else.  The truth is that a day after the election we will still be faced with the same issues as a community. The same struggle to form a better future for our children out of blood, sweat and tears.

However, we must not continue the tone of disrespect, which has prevailed.  We must show our children that we are leaders who came together despite our differences for one purpose.

Them.