Apess, in his strong argument against racial prejudice, asks his audience, "What is love or its effects?" He uses a long list of biblical quotes to remind his reader that the Christian faith preaches love and that those important lessons are not being acted out across the country. He argues that if people are to follow Jesus's example, they must love each other without prejudice. He contrasts biblical definitions of love with the reality of white Christians' actions in order to highlight the hypocrisy of white Christians during his time, but also throughout history. In preparing for our presentation, Sarah May and I discussed this question together. We plan to ask it during our presentation as well, because it's a question that deserves attention.
Love is a concept that has the potential to fix a lot of problems in the world. Love's effects are wide-reaching. Love inspires trust and respect. Love fosters acceptance. It prompts us to see the best in people and gives us the desire to help them in their worst. Love can be painful when those that we love disappoint us, but it generally produces good things. If we all shared a sense of love for one another, we would be inclined to do a lot more good in the world. To treat others with love would be the best way for society to function.
I know that this post sounds entirely too optimistic and unrealistic, but try to imagine a world in which we all loved each other. We would be compelled to act kindly and with the utmost respect for others. I imagine that we would act fairly towards others. For example, rather than trying to make deals that most benefit ourselves, we would make deals that are mutually and equally beneficial. We would not try to hurt each other or act with complete disregard. Human rights would be equal around the world because we would honestly believe that every human being deserves to be treated in the best possible way. We would want to achieve things in cooperation with one another, rather than attempting to always prove one side to be right and the other side to be wrong. Society would be full of people who would be inclined to improve the world.
I think that Apess's use of the Bible is strong in this text because he focuses on texts about love and because it is a text that his audience would recognize as being authoritative These appeals to religion would have been particularly relevant for people in America in the 1800s; his audience would have most likely been familiar with several of these verses and several would have been Christians. However, I think even some one who is not Christian could find these quotes relevant. These quotes are appealing because they present the best side of humanity-- one that is full of compassion and deep friendship. If we were all to evaluate our actions, we could probably find plenty of actions that were not committed with love in mind. If we were to consciously choose to act with love in all future endeavors, we could become our best possible selves.
I like your post, and it looks at the essay in a very positive, perky light. However, I think Apess is calling out the American public. He isn't looking for them to agree. He is holding a mirror to society and pointing out the blatant hypocrisy in their prejudice. The bible verses are included to shown the American people that they do not practice what they preach. Apess talks about how they impose their religion on the natives and those natives who embrace the white man's philosophy are not embraced by the society that brought them those beliefs. The white man makes the natives live on barren reservations, trades them liquor and calls them drunks, and does not educate the natives. Apress is shedding light on the systematic oppression of non-whites in America and letting the American people know of their crimes.
ReplyDeleteLibby,
ReplyDeleteI agree with the comment above. Although your opinion of the essay makes my heart feel all warm and fuzzy, I felt while reading his words that he was going for a different idea. I found Apess was using so many biblical references to challenge Americans who used the Bible as a means to justify their horrible actions against the natives. He uses a warm and fuzzy effect to draw the readers in and then essentially picks on the Americans and their injustices in society. That goes along with your point that many of the actions by Americans were not committed with love in mind and Apess felt the need to remind them of that. But on the other hand, I have hope that there is much more room for good in the world and that maybe love is the answer for problems going on in the world at the moment.