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THE SANDHILL UNITE! [1]

['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']

Date: 2024-06-04  

(For expedience sake- Principal Chief Dr. Ronald Yonaguska Holloway will be referred to as Principal Chief Yonaguska. The Federation of Aboriginal Nations of the Americas will be referred to as FANA, The Red Chief of the SandHill, Lance Red Hawk Shauger will be referred to as Red Chief Red Hawk. Principal Blood Chiefs will be referred to as Principal Chiefs)

It has been a long journey to where the SandHill Band of Lenape and Cherokee Indians (NY, NJ, PA) has become globally recognized under the leadership of Principal Chief Dr. Ronald Yonaguska Holloway. He is also FANA’s Minister of International Affairs and Ambassador to the UN

Principal Chief Yonaguska was one of three Chiefs who had met by happenstance at an Indigenous Forum being held at the United Nations more than a decade ago. It was at that event, that the seeds were planted which began to formulate into an idea of a Federation that would become known internationally as The Federation of Aboriginal Nations of the Americas.

In the meantime, while we were forming the Federation, there was a concerted effort being made by the SandHill leadership to identify and locate those SandHill who were currently scattered throughout America.

Why was that action needed? When the trail of tears occurred, many of the SandHill went into hiding in cities and rural areas throughout New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania. They went into what is referred to as “the woodwork.” Eventually, under the leadership of their Chiefs, the SandHill who dwelled in their ancestorial lands within New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and New York began to come out of hiding and made it known that the SandHill Tribe still existed, and never gave up their sovereignty or abandoned their lands. They still existed as a Tribe, and went by the traditions of having only Chiefs who had the bloodline of former Chiefs, to be allowed to become the Principal Chief. These chiefs are known as Blood Chiefs.

The SandHill followed this tradition even while in “the woodwork” under the guidance of the Blood Chiefs throughout their history. However, because many of them were afraid to come out publicly, in fear that they would be removed and forced to abandon their ancestral lands, it was not until the mid-1900s that the tribal members felt it was safe enough for many of them to come out of the woodwork.

When Principal Chief Yonaguska became Blood Chief of the SandHill, it was because his father, Carroll nowati koga Holloway (Medicine Crow), resigned as Principal Chief. When he left and went to live in another location outside the ancestorial lands, a small family group of SandHill chose to stay with Medicine Crow.**

However, the Tribe under the leadership of Principal Chief Yonaguska slowly and methodically grew in number as more and more Indigenous people came forward who were identified as bloodline SandHill, and presented their ancestral family record(s), which was updated and correctly added to the Tribe’s existing Tribal Records.

Over the years, SandHill Red Chief, Lance Red Hawk Shauger had occasionally reached out to Medicine Crow, thereby keeping the door open for his small “family” band to return to the main Tribe.

Recently, Medicine Crow issued a statement that requested those SandHill who had followed him, to be folded back into the SandHill Mother Tribe under its present leadership. There had been some concerns noted by Medicine Crow that needed to be addressed before he issued his request. He was concerned as to how his band would be treated by the tribe. Because Red Chief, Red Hawk, had been in communication with Medicine Crow over the years, it was decided that all of Medicine Crow’s band who were SandHill Bloodline members would be offered full adoption, along with the restoration of their tribal rights, into Red Chief Red Hawk’s clan.

This would ease Medicine Crow’s concerns, that all of his band would be fairly and equally represented not only by the Red Chief but by the SandHill Tribal Council as well. This action was the final step that brought back the small band to the Mother Tribe whose Tribal members never surrendered their sovereignty, nor left their ancestorial lands, and who were under the present-day leadership of Principal Chief Yonaguska.

I do know that the SandHill have given thanks to their ancestors and the Creator for guiding their present-day Chief’s footsteps into forming the most powerful Indigenous Federation in modern times which is known as FANA and for empowering the SandHill to be able to continue locating the descendants of the long ago SandHill and other descendants of the Lenape/Delaware who had been forced to be on the Trial of Tears, to come home to the Mother Tribe still known as the SandHill.

The SandHill Tribe has always been, and will continue to be a powerful united force who never gave up their sovereignty nor abandoned their ancestral lands.

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**It is not unusual for a Tribe to have a band scattered for whatever the reason. In the 1700s and through the very early 1900s, it was not uncommon for a Tribe to lose a band or bands of Tribal members due to the incursion of the Europeans and then the Americans upon their lands. If the Mother Tribe still existed, then the descendants of those long ago scattered bands would many times request admittance into the Mother tribe. If the mother Tribe no longer existed, which many no longer did, the bands might seek adoption into other Tribes or because they still lived on a section of their ancestorial lands, they established the Tribe once again. It was also not unusual for a small band to follow a former Chief if he decided to move to another location. It was also not unusual for the band to seek readmittance to the Mother Tribe once the Former Chief grew very old or died.

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