PHOENIX — The Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community is asking residents whether the tribe should officially change its name to include the community’s original language.
The community is hosting a meeting on Oct. 28 for members to consider whether they want the traditional O’odham and Piipaash names included in the tribe’s identity. The inclusion of these traditional names could help normalize the use of Indigenous languages in daily life, according to a website on the name-change proposal.
The tribe noted how “Pima” and “Maricopa” were terms reportedly used by early Spaniards to label the O’odham people hundreds of years ago…