Anglo Saxon Europeans came across the Atlantic Ocean in search of sanctuary from total authoritarianism. They sought freedom to live life, as they wanted, free from slavery, freedom of religion, and freedom from taxation on all of their hard-earned property. Somewhere in their being, knowledge burned with a certain sense of their equality to all other men and they yearned for this equality. They had knowledge of the "New World" across the ocean where they could attain this freedom. This New World was a symbol of freedom and the Europeans had plenty of hopes and dreams to achieve; however, there was a slight problem with the New World. This New World was not new, but rather an old world with a well-established people possessing their own ideology on politics, religion, and culture. This trip across the sea was ill fated from the beginning because there would soon be a clash of cultures with one declared victor and one put nearly into extinction. One of the tools used by the Europeans in pursuit of their freedom was a religious discrimination against the Native Americans. The god of their bible had no room for people whose melanin has shades of red or black. This short essay will focus on one particular Native American, William Apess, who fought against the discrimination his people experienced by exposing the hypocrisy of the white Europeans who called themselves Christians. Apess fought for civil rights before his time. This essay will examine how he exposed the hypocrisy of these so-called Christians by providing not only biblical proof, but also exposing them to examples of their hate by giving them a glimpse in the mirror, a chance to reflect upon their actions, and how in pursuit of their own freedom they trampled the Native A...
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...unto reservations to live in impoverishment simply because they thought very highly of themselves, deserving of every good thing. If this was not enough to prove the hypocrisies' Apess asks one more very potent question, echoing the already blatant example of Christian hypocrisy given. He asks if the Indians are guilty of robbing a nation of their whole continent, murdering their women and children, and then disinheriting the few that remained of their "lawful rights, that nature and God require them to have?" (Calloway, 2012, p. 319).
Works Cited
Calloway, C. G. (2012). First peoples A documentary survey of American Indian history (4th ed.). Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martin’s.
Houdmann, S. M. (n.d.). What does the Bible say about racism, prejudice, and discrimination [Entire issue]. Got Guestions.org. Retrieved from http://www.gotquestions.org/racism-Bible.html
Professor and poet Deborah A. Miranda, pieces together the past and uncovers and presents us with a story--a Californian story--in her memoir, “Bad Indians.” Her use of the Christian Novena, “Novena to Bad Indians,” illustrates the irony of using the form of her oppressors as a call out for help, not to God, but to her past ancestors. We tend to think of religion as a form of salvation and redemption of our lives here on Earth, in which we bare down and ask for forgiveness. But by challenging this common discourse using theological allegories and satirical terminology, Miranda turns her attention away from a Deity to call the reader out for help. It is crucial to recognize the struggles that the Native community currently face. Californian Indians are often not given recognition for their identity and their heritage, and are also repeatedly stereotyped as abusive, alcoholic, uncivilized, and “freeloaders” of the United States government. Such generalizations root back from European colonization, nevertheless still linger in our contemporary society. Miranda has taken the first step forward in characterizing few of these stereotypes in her Novena, but she’s given her story. Now what are we going to do with ours? It’s up to us to create our
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."
“Ask him, before he comes into the presence of the Lord, if he is willing to conform to the laws of the country in which he lives, the country that guarantees his idle existence.” This is the general belief shared among the missionaries, in order for the Native Americans to enter the “utopia” which the evangelists have created, the Indians must throw away their way of life and adapt completely to the white man’s culture. Mrs.Rowell’s claim and Miss Evans acceptance of this ideology reveals that the American missionary society believes that they are above these Native American “heaths”. Furthermore, in Gretchen Ronnow’s, “Native American Writers of the United States”, Ronnow declares, “He [John M. Oskison] often juxtaposes issues without indicating his own opinion about them: traditional values versus mainstream values, formal education versus the teachings of Native American elders, intermarriage versus separatism… (254).” The relation between American settlers (in this case, the missionaries) and Native Americans is enlightened since Oskison has been exposed to both cultures as a Cherokee American by birth. Therefore, Oskison works are based upon his observations growing up. Overall, from the perspective of Oskison and history, it is easy to prove that Americans believed their ways to be better. With this understanding, it is not surprising that Mrs.Rowell and Miss Evans would treat Harjo with contempt and believe themselves to be
Dorothea M. Susag, Roots and Branches: A Resource of Native American Literatures--Themes, Lessons, and Bibliographies (1998).
Jacquelyin Kilpatrick , Celluloid Indians. Native Americans and Film. Lincoln and London: University of Nebraska Press, 1999
...744,” in The World Turned Upside Down: Indian Voices from Early America, ed. Colin G. Calloway (Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 1994), 101
In George E. Tinker’s book, American Indian Liberation: A Theology of Sovereignty, the atrocities endured by many of the first peoples, Native American tribes, come into full view. Tinker argues that the colonization of these groups had and continues to have lasting effects on their culture and thus their theology. There is a delicate balance to their culture and their spiritual selves within their tightly knit communities prior to contact from the first European explorers. In fact, their culture and spiritual aspects are so intertwined that it is conceptually impossible to separate the two, as so many Euro-American analysts attempted. Tinker points to the differences between the European and the Native American cultures and mind sets as ultimately
Josephy, Alvin M, The American Heritage Book of Indians, New York, American Heritage Publishing Co,1961
The American version of history blames the Native people for their ‘savage ' nature, for their failure to adhere to the ‘civilized norms ' of property ownership and individual rights that Christian people hold, and for their ‘brutality ' in defending themselves against the onslaught of non-Indian settlers. The message to Native people is simple: "If only you had been more like us, things might have been different for you.”
“I love the pure, peaceable, and impartial Christianity of Christ: I therefore hate the corrupt, slaveholding, women-whipping, cradle-plundering, partial and hypocritical Christianity of the land. Indeed, I can see no reason, but the most deceitful one, for calling the religion of this land Christianity.” Frederick Douglas’s infamous quote was used to explain how slave masters seem to value a different form of Christianity than he was used to. Slave masters would explain to slaves and slave families that Christianity wrote it into their bible and laws that they were meant to be slaves and pick out particular passages that they would manipulate to support their views. For centuries, slave owners have looked for way to justify the need for slaves and a way to manipulate slaves into believing that slavery was their true calling. They would use Bible stories such as the Curse of Ham as well as the Mark of Cain in reference to African Americans to legitimize slavery to their slaves. Slaves often spoke on this in their narratives of the time as slaves. Harriet Jacobs was another enslaved child that spoke on this misuse in her narrative “Incidents in The Life of a Slave Girl”, Jacobs spoke from a more domestic view of slavery. She often questioned religion for this very reason, how can something so cruel possibly be of God? Olaundah Equiano was different from Jacobs in the respect that he never doubted his own religion, simply believed that he worshipped a different Christianity than Whites did. Just as education is presented as a paradox in “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglas” so too is the issue of religion and Christianity. On the on...
What makes us human is the ability to recognize the good in other people and in turn recognize the good in ourselves. There is a saying that whatever you think about another person is just a reflection of what you think about yourself; it is like looking into a mirror. Paintings can act like mirrors as well; we can gaze into a painting and see the good of the subject being portrayed and in turn we can identify the same attributes within ourselves allowing us to relate to the subject matter. Both Rembrandt and Vermeer were able to capture intersubjectivity in their paintings. In The Return of the Prodigal Son (Fig. 1) and Aristotle (Fig. 2) by Rembrandt and The Milk Maid (Fig. 3) and Woman Weighing Pearls (Fig. 4) by Vermeer there is an autonomy that can be recognized in the painting as well as within us.
In this way the religion practiced by the Native Americans was taken as contradictions to Christianity. The natives were informed that Christianity was designed to be an eternal rule of significance and a means from which they could use to return to God from their religions that had deviated (Eliot par. 3). Through sermons given by Whitfield, the minds of the natives were engaged in religion and making religion the subject of most of their discussions. They embraced all the opportunities to hear what was been taught on Christianity. The Christian revivals were attended by the young and old alike (Edwards par.
Slavery, the “Peculiar Institution” of the South, caused suffering among an innumerable number of human beings. Some people could argue that the life of a domestic animal would be better than being a slave; at least animals are incapable of feeling emotions. Suffering countless atrocities, including sexual assault, beatings, and murders, these slaves endured much more than we would think is humanly possible today. Yet, white southern “Christians” committed these atrocities, believing their behaviors were neither wrong nor immoral. Looking back at these atrocities, those who call themselves Christians are appalled. In Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Written by Herself, Harriet A. Jacobs describes the hypocrisy of Southern, Christian slave owners in order to show that slavery and Christianity are not congruent.
In his essay An Indian’s Looking-Glass for the White Man, William Apess talks about the incompatibility of being a good Christian while still discriminating between races. He argues that this social hypocrisy is not supported by the Biblical text, or by Christian teachings. It is Apess’ belief that if God were to love white people as much as they believe, he wouldn’t have created fifteen colored people for every white one. He goes on to remind his white Christian audience, that it has been the white race the one who has committed the most terrible crimes in the history of mankind. Apess places emphasis on the fact the neither Jesus nor any of his apostles or disciples were white skinned. He also argues the right of the white man to control and subjugate the other races, more
The Native Americans who occupied America before any white settlers ever reached the shores “covered the land as the waves of a wind-ruffled sea cover its shell paved floor” (1). These Native people were one with nature and the Great Spirit was all around them. They were accustom to their way of life and lived peacefully. All they wish was to live on their land and continue the traditions of their people. When the white settler came upon their land the values of the Native people were challenged, for the white settlers had nothing in common and believe that it was their duty to assimilate the Native Americans to the white way of life.