ANSWER

Many times my spirit is pulled to share particular stories because someone, I know not who, needs to hear the story. This time I remember how strongly I was pulled into a line of connection to post this story to connect someone, I know not who, who needed connection.

The story of the Salish story of the Woman who became a Horse has sides to it that repels, and provokes, and most importantly reveals, and gives expression to primal elements within a soul. It tells of the deeper souls of women with wild spirits unable to be contained by tradition. Those women have always struggled in the West, and more traditional societies. Perhaps the story emboldened a woman wild of spirit and free of expression. I don’t know. I hold the stories and tell what I am told.

Interesting to me was the way, and the fact that the People released her to be herself at some point. That simple revelation freed everyone. It seemed to have been done, in the end, lovingly and with the sweet exhale of breath. - Heart Song Stone Man

a SALISH story of a Wild Woman's Song

Woman Who Became a Horse - Salish

A chief had many horses, and among them a stallion which his wife often

rode. The woman and stallion became enamoured of each other. The woman grew
careless of her household duties and always wanted to look after the horses.


When the people moved camp, and the horses were brought in, it was noticed
that the stallion made right for the woman and sniffed about her as
stallions do with mares. After this she was watched.
When her husband learned the truth, he shot the stallion. The woman cried
and would not go to bed.

At daybreak she was gone, no one knew where. About a year after this it was
discovered that she had gone off with some wild horses. One day when the
people were traveling over a large open place they saw a band of horses, and
the woman among them. She had partly changed into a horse. She also had much
hair on her body, and the hair of her head had grown to resemble a horse's
mane. Her arms and legs had also changed considerably; but her face was
still human, and bore some resemblance to her original self.


The chief sent some young men to chase her. All the wild horses ran away,
but she could not run so fast as they, and was run down and lassoed. She was
brought into her husband's lodge; and the people watched her for some time,
trying to tame her, but she continued to act and whinny like a horse. At
last they let her free. The following year they saw her again. She had
become almost entirely horse, and had a colt by her side. She had many

children afterwards.

Source: Franz Boas, Folk-Tales of Salishan and Sahaptin Tribes = Memoirs of

the American Folk-Lore Society, vol. 11 (Lancaster and New York: American

Folk-Lore Society, 1917), p. 53.

From the Archives of Blue Panther

Michael Shawn Perry

SHAWN MICHAEL PERRY has taken the multi-hyphenate to new heights. This singer, songwriter, actor, educator / motivational speaker and activist was born in Southern California into indigenous heritage (his father is a Native American of Salish ancestry; his mother, Panamanian of Mayan ancestry), Shawn has embraced his culture, past and present with an eye to the future.

Shawn first came to the public's attention through his acting skills. He has appeared in films as diverse as Last of the Mohicans and Hidalgo and television productions such as My Indian Summer. His stage credits include the highly-acclaimed production of Ghost Dance at Los Angeles's Actors Gang Studio. Shawn has been a member of SAG and AFTRA for over ten years.

Shawn's musical ambitions led him to the studio with a collection of songs highlighting the human experience as seen through indigenous eyes. The strength of his music and beauty of his words was enhanced by producer John Avila, the talented bassist/producer of Oingo Boingo. Final polishing was added by the skillful mastering techniques of Ron McMaster (Capitol Records). The results were marketed as the limited edition "RUN2U". Tracks "Freedom" and "Libertad" received terrific response and airplay. Due to their popularity, these songs are featured on the new full-length CD, SHAWN MICHAEL PERRY & ONLY THE BRAVE. Together with his band, Only the Brave, Shawn is on the road, spreading his message.

Please see our website for more information on our motivational speaking program "All That Culture Music of The America's" and for more detailed information on Shawn Michael Perry.

http://www.onlythebraveentertainment.com/

For bookings:
951 566-7501

 

Shawn Michael Perry's wheel or logo

Shawn Michael Perry, Salish-Mayan composer

“There is something distinctive about a man's life walking the path of his gifts. It removes him, no, it separates him from the hold of his fears, and holds him distant from the mundane; from those who simply exist and hang on to the energy of his discovery. He becomes following his path. Bold souls wrap around themselves, and embrace others. It is a way of being powerful; a way to be a man.” - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories

Native sovereignty

Inherent sovereignty under siege in Lara appeal Part Two

Posted: December 05, 2003 - 11:39am EST

by: Jerry Reynolds / Washington D.C. correspondent / Indian Country Today
http://www.indiancountry.com/?1070642490

WASHINGTON - The inherent sovereignty of tribes can be seen as the power of "we the people," the same power that founded America.

But in the case of tribes, it came about much earlier because "we the Indian people," if you will, had been governing themselves in tribes for centuries. And so their inherent sovereignty is said to "predate the Constitution," as recognized in U.S. Courts and international law.

Centuries of antagonism from the British colonies and later American states is held to have extinguished inherent tribal sovereignty over former tribal territories now governed by the United States, or for that matter, states of the United States. This is the general basis for legal arguments that seek to find an extinction of sovereignty. But in negotiating treaties and pressing their legal rights in the U.S. courts, tribes have asserted a pre-existing inherent sovereignty over their own remaining territories, subject to oversight of Congress as the U.S. treaty-making power. This is the general basis for the legal standing of tribes as limited dependent sovereigns.

This is all pretty clear, and readily comprehensible despite the many Indians who speak of tribal sovereignty as if the "limited, dependent" part of the formula doesn’t apply, and the many more non-Indians who speak of tribes as if the "sovereign" part of it doesn’t apply.

But beyond these clear lines of thought, as egos and resources and competing priorities come into play, the limited and dependent, but stubbornly real sovereignty of tribes is subject to periodic legal sieges that would further reduce its arena of relevance. One such anti-sovereignty approach is to translate inherent powers, which require only the consent of the governed for its expression, into delegated powers, which rely on the will of the delegating authority.

Time after time, U.S. history demonstrates that political will is a major problem for tribes - which however justly courts may reason, congressional willpower may lag behind. The Marshall decisions of the early 19th century may have established the basis of tribal rights, for instance, but President Andrew Jackson famously suggested the chief justice ought to also enforce his rulings and instead proceeded with Cherokee removal. More recently, a judge opined that the Black Hills takings were as rank and dishonorable a piece of wrong dealing as the government has ever engaged in, but concluded that nothing could be done about it (beyond offering a cash payment) at this later stage of history. And only a month ago, Congress overruled the clear reasoning and just decision of the courts by stalling a court-ordered historical accounting of the trust funds - not because one isn’t past due or because Indian trust beneficiaries haven’t been harmed, but because the wealthiest nation in the history of the world can’t afford to pay for it.

A modern philosopher has noted that the "obstacles to comprehension" have less to do with understanding than with lack of willpower. In each of these cases and many others, it becomes clear the U.S. Congress could do what courts and the Constitution require of it if it had the will. As one commentator said of congressional intervention in the trust funds case, "If they had the will to do an historical accounting, they would find the money."

Against this background, the Supreme Court’s decision to hear an appeal in United States v. Lara could indeed prove to be a significant test of tribes’ inherent sovereign powers, as the Washington law firm of Hobbs Straus Dean & Walker LLP, long active in Indian-specific litigation and co-drafter of a "friend of the court" brief in the case, has already suggested.

Brief details of the Byzantine legal proceedings in the case were recounted in the first installment of this series; suffice to say here that by letting a lower-court ruling stand in Lara, the court would establish the principle that inherent sovereign powers, once lost, cannot be restored by Congress. If the high court overturns the lower court, on the other hand, the precedent will be set for replacing a tribe’s lost inherent sovereign power with delegated federal power - the kind that is subject to the political will of Congress before the reasoning of courts.

©2003 Indian Country Today

Native American Nez Perce & Salish woman Kola Anderson in black shawl