Truth Exposed in An Indians Looking-Glass for the White Man :: Synthesis Essays

Truth Exposed in An Indian's Looking-Glass for the White Man  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚   William Apes, in his essay "An Indian's Looking-Glass for the White Man," argues that to profess Christianity and still distinguish between races is a hypocrisy not supported by the Bible. In the first part of his essay Apes asks several questions such as why, if God loves white people so much, did he create fifteen colored people for every white one; and of all the races, who has committed the most heinous crimes? He goes on to emphasize that neither Jesus nor his disciples were white skinned. He also questions the white person's right to control Native Americans. Apes asks his predominately white, Christian audience to reexamine their own prejudices and concludes his essay pleading "pray you not stop till this tree of distinction shall be leveled to the earth, and the mantle of prejudice torn from every American heart--then peace shall pervade the Union." Apes accurately portrays the racism that Native Americans suffer. Racism exists in both the individual and within politics. During the late 1800's, when this article was written, it was illegal in Massachusetts for whites and Indians to intermarry. He labels this as a clear infringement on individuals to make their own decisions. He also raises the point that many white people do not even consider the Indian to be qualified for the rights of an individual. This dehumanization allows white people to steal the Indians' land and murder them with out a second thought. He calls on the whites, as Christians, to reassess these racist views. People cannot call themselves Christians and persecute others, based on skin color, in the name of Christianity. Apes says that words must be supplemented by actions, backing himself up with scripture such as I John 3:18, "Let us not love in word but in deed." Although Apes convincingly argues against the biases within the Christian community, he bases h is arguments on several assumptions, neglecting to address problems such as the language barrier and problems that arise when two different cultures try to occupy the same land. When Apes uses Christianity as his tool to dispel racism he makes several unbacked assumptions. To begin with, he forgets that whites and Indians rarely use the same language let alone have the same religious values, therefore no one tool can be used for both cultures. Besides just the obvious language barrier, whites and Indians use entirely different words and phrases to express concepts.