Gabe Galanda: Defending the religious rights of Indian inmates

Native peoples in the United States endure the highest incarceration rate of any racial or ethnic group, at 38 percent higher than the national rate. Inspired by that reality, and the accomplishment of getting Washington State to remedy its recent wrongs, in 2012 local tribal leaders and advocates formed a non-profit organization to provide economic, educational, rehabilitative and religious support for Native American, Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian prisoners, chiefly those Natives imprisoned in the Washington DOC.

Huy was formed. In the traditional Coast Salish language of Lushootseed, Huy, pronounced “hoyt,” means: “See you again/we never say goodbye.” “Hoyt” is what many Pacific Northwest Native people say to one another or loved ones instead of saying “goodbye.” In many Native languages, there is no word for goodbye.

Headquartered in Seattle, Huy launched its efforts by watchdogging state prison religious policymaking in Olympia and agency behavior towards Native inmates throughout the state’s twelve prisons; by sharing religious rights information throughout Indian Country, chiefly via the Internet and social media; and by obtaining IRS 501(c)(3) tax status and fundraising for charitable monies. To date, through the generosity of the Muckleshoot, Swinomish, Nisqually, Snoqualmie, Tulalip, Stillaguamish, Squaxin Island, Kalispel, Spokane and Grand Ronde Tribes, Huy has raised and in turn gifted over $100,000 to “circles” of Native prisoners in Washington and elsewhere.