Mehdi Hasan - One of the biggest misconceptions about Native Americans is the idea that they only exist in history books or fit a single stereotype. Native Americans are the original peoples of the Americas, with histories on the continent stretching back thousands of years. Far from being a monolith, Indigenous nations represent hundreds of distinct cultures and over 800 surviving languages across the Americas. Many tribes also hold sovereign nation status, allowing them to govern their own communities and preserve their identities despite centuries of displacement and forced assimilation. While Indigenous traditions often state they have inhabited the continent "since time immemorial," archaeological and genetic evidence indicates that fully modern humans, known as Paleo-Indians, have been in the Americas for at least 12,000 to 30,000 years (Arnaiz-Villena et al., 2010; Native Peoples of North America, 2015). #briefchat #usimmigration #antiimmigration #trumpadministration #mehdihasan #punjabinewsthatmatters #racist