Respect for the Pima-Maricopa Indians


I am reluctant to talk about Indians in Arizona. I've been learning a lot lately, and when I try to share what I've learned, I am often interrupted by people who tell me that the words "Pima", "Maricopa", and "Indian" are no longer used. But I beg to differ. And it's all about respect for who these people are, what they've done, and what they continue to do for Phoenix.

If you understand the concept of a talking stick, you will allow me to hold it for a few paragraphs. If not, I'm afraid that there's nothing that I can do, as you will never hear me.

Yes, it's important to learn the modern names that these people now prefer, which is Akimel O'odham (the River People) for the Pimas and Piipaash for the Maricopa people. And you can use the term Native American instead of Indian if you prefer. But in doing so, it is my hope that you will not be losing their legacy.

The history of Indians in America is painful to learn about. The horror, and the bloodshed in Arizona was some of the worst. And no, I'm not suggesting dwelling on those things, which are wounds that are still all too recently healed. But if you are brave, I suggest that you do take a look. You will need to research tribes like the Pima, the Maricopa, the Yuma, and the Apache. And that will be a good beginning.

Respect for these people means doing more than a quick glance at a caption in a photo. It means finding out for yourself. Don't let me, or anyone else, try to give you easy answers. Go stand by the Gila River and look for the face of Montezuma in the Estrella Mountains. Find books that were written when Geronimo was still alive.

You will find that the Pima-Maricopa communities aren't nearby Phoenix, Phoenix is nearby them.
If you liked this article, and would like to see more, please consider becoming a patron of History Adventuring on Patreon. If you're already a patron, thank you! You make this happen!

Click here to become a Patron!
History adventuring posts are shared there daily. The basic tier is a dollar a month, and the PhD tier, which includes "then and now" photos, billboards, aerials, videos, and super high-definition photos, is five dollars a month, and is discounted for seniors, veterans, and students.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Why cars in the future won't need stop signs, red lights, or stripes on the road

Image
Time-travel with me into the future. Where we're going, we'll still need roads, but our cars won't need the kind of stuff that human drivers need, like stop signs, or stuff painted on the road. And if you're already panicking that computers will take over, don't worry, they already have. The fact that you're reading this right now combines so much amazing computing power that it would have been unthinkable to anyone in the 1960s, or '70s, when I was a kid. Speaking of being in the geriatric age group, if you're like me or older, you took a lot of pride in knowing the rules of the road, such as what to do at a stop sign if four cars approach at the same time, the difference between a "yield" sign and a "merge" sign, or maybe how to parallel park. But calm down there old-timer, that type of knowledge will just be as quaint as how to use a horse and buggy is nowadays. Sorry! The best way to picture how traffic will flow in the future is ...
Read more

Watching a neighborhood grow and change in Phoenix, Arizona

Image
I stopped to take a closer look yesterday at where the old Circle K had been in my neighborhood, which is a suburb of Phoenix. And it's got me to thinking about how much Phoenix grows and changes over the years, and how people feel about it. This particular neighborhood was built in the mid 1980s, when there had been only a smattering of houses and a community college (Glendale Community College, built in 1965). There are some houses that I can tell are from the 1970s, and a few even older, but what happened here is that the neighborhood suddenly appeared in 1985 or thereabouts. There are three shopping centers on the corner of 67th Avenue and Peoria - the one in the photo is called "Peoria Station", and it was designed to kinda look like a train station. The other three are called Westporte Village, Brittany Square, and Crossroads Plaza. I've lived in this neighborhood for a very long time, and no one ever uses those names, even though the signs are still up. But the...
Read more

Why did Adolf Hitler always have such a bad haircut?

Image
As someone who has been interested in history since I was a little kid, I've always asked the most childish questions, and quite often never got an answer. As a kid, I was told to run along and play, and don't bother the grownups, so I set my questions aside to work on when I myself became a grownup. But some questions I really haven't found a satisfactory answer for, and get thrown away as I find myself learning the more important stuff. I now understand the grownups, but the kid in me still has childish questions like "Why did Adolf Hitler always have such a bad haircut?" The first question to ask is whether a particular style (whether hair, clothing, etc.) was in style at the time. The moustache was, and you can Google a photo of Charlie Chaplin, who wore the same style of moustache at the time, and quite stylishly. The wide lapels were in style in the 1930s, as was were the tall shirt collars and small ties. But the haircut wasn't - it's just awful. Me...
Read more