Not so friendly reminder that the Bering Strait Theory is racist, wrong and disproven. It implies that Natives were settlers, whereas modern science indicates we were here long before the land bridge, and traditional knowledge says we've been here forever.

It has also been used to justify stealing Native land because it makes it seem like our claim to our homelands isn't that significant. The original people who came up with the theory intentionally went with the smallest number they could get away with using - 12,000 years.

Later, that number expanded to 30,000 years, and today some scientists argue that Natives were here as far back as 40,000+ years ago!

The Bering Strait Theory also says that the ancestors of Natives were Siberian, and that the continent of North America was completely uninhabited. This is a way of making us seem like settlers while also still crediting Europeans with the "discovery" of the continent.

Today the Bering Strait Theory is discredited, but is still taught in schools as the truth. I would encourage people to abandon it and teach Native creation stories instead, because they provide more insight into our connection with the land than Western science ever could.

To just give you a taste, there were a group of Wampanoag who literally didn't have a creation story. Isn't that fascinating? Most people have a creation story, so I think the fact they didn't speaks to the permanence the Wampanoag felt pre-contact.

There are so many other creation beliefs, including within the Wampanoag Tribe. I would invite you all to do some research. You'll be amazed at what you find, I promise. (And I guarantee the creation beliefs will be so much more interesting than a land bridge.)

Also, if you're a settler and you disrespect Native creation beliefs and stories on this thread, I'm instantly blocking you. Our creation beliefs should be taken seriously and aren't some pseudoscience. They're literally a way of life.

Turns out there is evidence that Indigenous people have been living here for at least 130,000 years: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/new-evidence-human-activity-north-america-130000-years-ago-180963046/

Final thought: when you talk about how Indigenous people came to inhabit North America, please don't forget to talk about Black people, who are a displaced Indigenous people. It's vitally important to talk about the slave trade in any conversation about Indigenous people.

Some book recommendations for those who want to know more about Native creation beliefs. Some of these books are old and imperfect, but they contain some really rare stuff. If any Natives have any recommendations, please add them!

For children (courtesy of my childhood book collection):

This website is a great resource for Native children's books: …https://americanindiansinchildrensliterature.blogspot.com/ 

Definitely give @debreese a follow while your at it.

For my mutuals only: I had to go private for a bit because two major white supremacist accounts and a bunch of white "leftists" were sending me threats/r-wording me over this Tweet.