ROSWELL, NM – In a letter sent yesterday, the New Mexico Center on Law and Poverty (NMCLP), Smith and Marjanovic Law, and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of New Mexico urged the City of Roswell to allow Food Not Bombs Roswell (FNBR) to resume their constitutionally protected meal sharing demonstrations in the city’s Pioneer Plaza. The letter called upon the city to rescind an ordinance that unlawfully prohibits FNBR from engaging in this form of protected speech and political expression.

FNBR founding member Jocelyn Smith said, “FNBR engages in peaceful direct action through food sharing to communicate our message that society can end hunger and poverty by directing our collective resources towards meeting people’s basic needs, instead of funding the military and war. Sharing meals with our community is a powerful way to express our belief that food is a human right.”

FNBR peacefully shared food and political flyers at Pioneer Plaza for over a year without issue. In the Summer of 2025, City of Roswell staff prohibited FNBR from food sharing in Pioneer Plaza without an approved “special event” permit.

“As humans, we have a long history of sharing food in community with each other as a way of expressing our beliefs–including the belief that access to essential needs, like food, is a basic human right,” said NMCLP Public Benefits Attorney, Marco Alarid White. “Food Not Bombs Roswell has a right to demonstrate and express their belief by sharing meals with their community, and requiring a permit to do so infringes on their freedom of speech.”

Roswell City Ordinance 10-99 prohibits the “sell[ing], offer[ing] for sale, dispens[ing] or purvey[ing] refreshments, food, beverages, or goods wares and merchandise of whatever description” without a franchise or concession agreement from the city.

The ordinance is unconstitutionally overbroad, the letter contended. When food sharing is used to communicate a political or moral message, it is protected under the First Amendment and the New Mexico Constitution.

“There’s no better way to combat all the death, the destruction, and the bombs in this world than by giving people sustenance, by giving life, and by giving food,” said Roswell Community Organizer, Jeffrey Cabana.

“Our public plaza should be a place where people can gather and share food as a community – that is what public spaces are meant for,” said Roswell Community Organizer, Jeneva Martinez. “Food Not Bombs Roswell has such an important message–we can live in a community where no one ever goes hungry if we choose to use our collective resources to take care of each other.”

A copy of the letter the Center sent to the mayor and city council can be found here: https://www.nmpovertylaw.org/nmclp_resources/%f0%9f%93%84-demand-letter-to-city-of-roswell/