I've seen several people use [this source] (http://www.mesoweb.com/olmec/publications/ClewlowEtAl1967-OCR.pdf) as evidence that black people were in North America prior to the Native Americans.
How should I verify(or refute) sources like this being used to push certain ideas?
There's always room for discussion, but perhaps these previous topics will answer your inquiry.
What is some of the best evidence that corroborates the Afro-centric view of ancient history?
Is There Any Evidence That Moors Reached The Americas Before Columbus?
Is there any truth to claims that Africans arrived in the New World before Columbus' voyages?
How did pyramids get built in both America and Egypt if these two societies had no contact?
I also recommend checking out the following two articles
HaslipāViera, Gabriel, Bernard Ortiz de Montellano, and Warren Barbour. "Robbing Native American Cultures: Van Sertima's Afrocentricity and the Olmecs." Current Anthropology 38.3 (1997): 419-441.
de Montellano, Bernard Ortiz, Gabriel Haslip-Viera, and Warren Barbour. "They were not here before Columbus: Afrocentric Hyperdiffusionism in the 1990s." Ethnohistory (1997): 199-234.