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Essay / The Truth Exposed in an Indian's Looking Glass to the White Man William Apes, in his essay "An Indian's Looking Glass to the White Man", argues that to profess Christianity and continue to distinguish between races is a hypocrisy that is 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 people of color for every white person; and of all races, who has committed the most heinous crimes? He goes on to point out that neither Jesus nor his disciples had white skin. It also questions the right of whites to control Native Americans. Apes asks his predominantly white, Christian audience to re-examine their own prejudices and concludes his essay by pleading: "I beg you not to stop until this tree of distinction is razed until the cloak of prejudice be torn from every American heart - then peace will return. permeate the Union." Apes accurately describes the racism suffered by Native Americans. Racism exists both within the individual and within politics. In the late 1800s when this article was written, it was illegal in Massachusetts for whites and Indians to intermarry. He calls this a clear encroachment on the ability of individuals to make their own decisions. He also raises the fact that many whites do not even consider Indian. is qualified to claim an individual's rights. This dehumanization allows white people to steal Indian lands and murder them without hesitation. He calls on white people, as Christians, to re-evaluate these racist views. calling themselves Christians and persecuting others, because of the color of their skin, in the name of Christianity, says that words must be supplemented by actions, relying on scriptures such as I John 3:18: “ Let us love, not in words, but in deeds. » Although Apes argues convincingly against prejudice within the Christian community, he bases his arguments on several assumptions, neglecting to address issues such as the language barrier and the problems that arise when two different cultures attempt to occupy the same territory. When Apes uses Christianity as his tool to dispel racism, he makes several unsupported assumptions. For starters, it forgets that whites and Indians rarely use the same language and even fewer have the same religious values, so no tool can be used for both cultures. Besides the obvious language barrier, whites and Indians use completely different words and phrases to express concepts..
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