Francis White, Christina Kasper-Lewis, Sheila Meshell, Jordan Jackson, and Ralph Dunuan celebrate their homecoming wrapped in butterfly blankets at the third annual Welcome Home and Honoring Celebration earlier this month. (Photo: Jordan Somers)
By Nyla Moxley
Among vividly colored textiles and to the backdrop of rhythmic drumming by the Singing River drum group, event goers mingled and embraced at Eighth Generation headquarters in Georgetown, Seattle on Nov. 5.
Huy’s annual Welcome Home and Honoring Celebration and Blanket Ceremony honored formerly incarcerated Indigenous community members upon their reentry to society and celebrated their accomplishments. Approximately 50 people attended.
The Indigenous non-profit works year-round to provide multifaceted support for Indigenous prisoners in the Pacific Northwest and across the country by working with tribal governments, state correction agencies, education institutions, and both public and private businesses.
This year, five honorees received blankets: Ralph Dunuan, Christina Kasper-Lewis, Sheila Meshell, Jordan Jackson, and Francis White.
The blankets were designed by Louie Gong—an artist, activist and educator. Gong founded the art and lifestyle brand Eighth Generation in 2008. It was purchased by the Snoqualmie Tribe in 2019 making them the first tribe to own a lifestyle brand. They are the first Native-owned company to create and distribute Native-designed wool blankets.
Andy Ward (left) hands the microphone to formerly incarcerated Indigenous community members at the third annual Welcome Home and Honoring Celebration earlier this month. (Photo: Jordan Somers)
“This is a special event where we get to honor some brothers and sisters that have come home and have demonstrated fortitude, perseverance, and resilience on their journey,” Andy Ward, Huy program director, said. “It takes a community of support to do this work, and we want to thank everyone that contributes to Huy and helps us carry out this mission.”
In his opening remarks, Ward shared an anecdote about Meshell, who had confided in him that she was nervous about attending. She had watched videos of past ceremonies and spotted her grandfather, who Ward recognized as the late Francis Cullooyah, who formerly served as Huy’s vice chairman.
“She told me that when she was young and making mistakes, like many of us have, he [Cullooyah] would tell her the butterfly story,” Ward said.
Ward recounted Meshell’s telling of her grandfather’s story. The story begins with the spirit searching for a deeper truth, “and it has to choose to enter the cocoon and enter into the sacred silence of sobriety for a conscious surrender.” The old life then dissolves in this space, and it becomes a time of “fierce, unseen resilience.”
“In this stillness, the medicine of the community and the strength of the ancestors hold the space, protecting the spirit as it undergoes its physical and spiritual transformation,” Ward said. “The pain of shedding the path becomes the foundation for absolute healing.”
The struggle and pushing to break the cocoon’s walls is what forces life and vitality into the wings, Ward continued. The boundary of the struggle is what allows the butterfly to fly.
“When the shell breaks, the journey is fulfilled, standing in the light of new dawn, the spirit is no longer bound by old cycles — the transformation is complete,” Ward said. “She told me that story, and I kind of had a moment… it was powerful and full circle.”
To Ward, many of the people in the room are butterflies, having made a decision to be in a cocoon and giving their life over to a higher power to become something else.
In a butterfly blanket, Ralph Dunuan hugs a community member at the third annual Welcome Home and Honoring Celebration earlier this month. (Photo: Jordan Somers)
Ward facilitated the ceremony, speaking about and to each honoree, while sharing their achievements related to higher education, career development, sobriety, and home ownership. He began with Kasper-Lewis, laying out her trajectory from searching for basic resources to working as an advocate at the Chief Seattle Club and her recent promotion as a case manager.
Kasper-Lewis encouraged Huy’s work inside of prisons.
“Please keep going, reaching—you never know who you’re going to find,” she said.
Meshell was honored next. She received her associate’s degree and is currently two quarters away from earning her bachelor’s degree while working two jobs. She expressed gratitude and acknowledged the work of her late grandfather, Cullooyah.
“I wish that he was able to see me get the honor of this blanket, because he didn't get to see me like this,” Meshell said. “It really means a lot.”
Ward then turned to Jackson, explaining his perseverance post-reentry, including attending church, sobriety meetings, and learning coping skills. Jackson began as an advocate at Chief Seattle Club and recently graduated top of his class in a pre-apprenticeship program.
“I never thought I’d be where I am now,” Jackson said.
Next, Ward highlighted White’s sobriety after being resentenced and receiving an early release date. White worked his way up from a forklift driver to a managerial position at a food distribution site. After having charges vacated and receiving a reinstatement hearing, White obtained his driver’s licence and now owns a truck.
“I never thought I’d get a license,” White said.
Dunuan was the final honoree. He serves as a tribal liaison for Seattle colleges and was a teaching assistant for the ‘World without Prisons’ class. Dunuan currently works with the DOC on reentry plans and legislation around verbiage in the Revised Code Washington (RCW). He is also a supervisor at the United States Postal Service and is building a native collective group at Seattle Central College.
“I served 26 years of incarceration, over 10 of that was in isolation,” Dunuan said. “I made it out because of my community, and I made it out better than most.”
The Singing River drum group performs an honoring song at the third annual Welcome Home and Honoring Celebration earlier this month. (Photo: Jordan Somers)
All five honorees stood wrapped in their respective blankets and enveloped by the community as the Singing River drum group performed an honoring song.
Gabe Galanda, Huy chairman, explained that this is ongoing work.
“It's bringing our relatives back home, and then making sure that on that continuum, they are on a path forward towards continued self-improvement, towards continued healing, in search of whatever they might need to not fall down again,” he said.
For Galanda, the ceremony is about propping up those who come home and their successes, “make them feel loved, literally wrap them with warmth and love, so that they might not fall victim to what got them in trouble to begin with.”
“It's really bending the recidivism number downward, so that we have more relatives coming home and staying home rather than coming home and going back,” Galanda said.
Follow along with Huy’s work and events here. Learn more about Eight Generation here. Their flagship store is located in downtown Seattle at 1406 1st Ave.
Looking to book a space for your upcoming event? Check out Colman Commons for all your event space needs at colmancommons.com
