Not-native Americans

Dear Editor:I would like to thank Charles Hand for pointing out the mistake I made by stating that the Native Americans were native of America (Aspen Times, May 16). I will more correctly label them as American Indians in the future; the truth is that they in fact are not native to our land. I therefore would formally like to retract calling the American Indians native.The American Indians settled to America between the times of 11,000 to 9000 B.C., crossing the Bering Strait. Assuming each generation lived about 25 years, due to the lack of modern medicine, the following is a correction of my original statement. Somewhere between 420 and 500 generations of American Indians lived here in America before the white European settlers came here, befriended them, and assumed they had the right to take over America as their own land. Sorry for any confusion this labeling the American Indians as natives may have caused everyone. I will try and check my facts more carefully in future discussions. Matthew StarbuckCarbondale