This is the first part of two of a presentation took place at the November 2008 public meeting of the New Jersey Commission on American Indian Affairs.Ronald Yonaguska Holloway is speaking as one of the leaders of The Sand Hill Band of Indians. The Sand Hill Band is a tribe which is indiginous to New Jersey.Unfortunately, the Sate of New Jersey has failed to recognize the existence of this Tribe as indigenous. The state has gone so far as accept a report issued by this "Commission" that (by failing to recognize the Sand Hill Band of Indians as native/indegenous to New Jersey) makes the denial of New Jersey's Sand Hill Band of Indians tantamount to an official policy/ruling of the State of New Jersey.....and that is just plain wrong!!! The Sand Hills have repeatedly attempted to correct this situation over the years but have met with no significant success and, in my opinion have been disrespected by the "powers that be".Finally, last summer, the Sand Hill Band of Indians went public with some limited blogging that began to light a tiny candle in the massive dark shadow of ignorance that is the average citizen's level of knowlege regarding American Indian affairs/history in general. I read the blogs, began to become more fully informed, and engaged in blogging/sharing my own perspectives. Frankly, what I saw happening here in NJ was/is a kind of cultural genocide. To deny a people their heritage and their identity is a strike at the core of what it means to be a human being. I was/am disgusted and outraged by the sheer incorrigible obstinacy that the State of New Jersey has displayed regarding the provision the simple recognition and respect due to these good and proud people.....who, frankly, had been extremely reluctant to "go public" with these problems; and have only done so as a last resort. In this "Commission", we have an official organ of the State government that operated under the aegis of the New Jersey Secretary of State.....which is actively denying the existence of the Sand Hill Band of Indians as an indigenous tribe to New Jersey.....and that's just dead wrong. I became more involved to the point of attending and recording the September and November meetings of the Commission. Evidently, the few sparks of publicity that resulted from the blogging was sufficient to motivate the Commission to, at least, allow the Sand Hills to make a presentation at the September meeting. An understanding was reached that at the September meeting Ronald Yonaguska Hollaway would be allowed to speak at some length. That understanding was violated, and he was forced to curtail his remarks. A video of that process/fiasco was put up on the web along with the 9 or so minutes that Yonaguska was actually allowed to speak. The irony is that they (the commisioners and their legal council) wasted 13 minutes in a procedural kerfuffle designed to merely give Yonaguska the same 5 minutes that anyone else would get....and then, finally/grudgingly, allowing him ten minutes. Ironically about 23 minutes were consumed......when all the Sand Hills were asking for was 20 to start with. Perhaps the fiasco in September and the attendant publicity had some motivating effects, since Yonaguska was able to come to the November meeting and was given sufficient time to make a cursory case. (If he had used all the materials, evidence, facts and arguments available the meeting would likely have gone 24 hours at least. :-) What you see here now on blip.tv is the Commission being fairly polite and respectful to Yonaguska and allowing him to finally make the beginnings of a case for the full recognition (by the State of New Jersey) of the FACT that the Sand Hill Band is an indiginous tribe native to New Jersey and that they have been so since long before Henry Hudson sailed up river and long before Queen Isabella of Spain was born. I am confident that those of you with the time, intelligence and objectivity to be able to listen with an open mind and a human heart will find yourselves in sympathy with the cause of granting the Sand Hill Band of Indians all the recognition, rights and privileges due them. Less