Did God Pick You as Superior?

**(Journal #5- comment didn't post, re-writing blog)**

Between William Apess' "An Indian's Looking-Glass for the White Man" and Lydia Sigourney's "Indian Names" there is a common theme of discrimination and possession. In "An Indian's Looking-Glass for the White Man" Apess discusses how the white men feel they are superior to the Indians and that they should be able to own all of the land they want, even though the Indians had been living there for hundreds of years before them. Apess says that the white men, who claim to be solid Christian men are not following what God has said in the Bible and what His teachings are. He said that "God who is the maker and preserver both of the white man and the Indian, whose abilities are the same and who are to be judged by one God, who will show no favor to outward appearance but will judge righteousness" (640). In Sigourney's "Indian Names" she discusses also how the white men feel they have ownership over the land while the Indians were there first. All of the mountains, plains, lakes and rivers have been named and discovered by the Indians. Yet, in knowing this, the white men still want to kick them out because the Indians are considered to them uneducated and of lower class. Sigourney says "But their name is on your waters,/Ye may not wash it out" (1202). Even if the white men completely wipe out the Native Americans and try to erase their vast history- their name still lives on in all the land that they discovered and named. Something I thought was a great quote from Apess that unfortunately was not listen to was "If black or red skins or any other skin of color is disgraceful to God, it appears that he has disgraces himself a great deal- for he has made fifteen colored people to one white and placed them here upon this earth" (642). This not only can apply to the discrimination and removal of the Indians, but also to slavery of African Americans in the United States. Sigourney says "Ye say, they all have passed away/That noble race and brave" (1202) discussing the removal of the Indians from their native lands. I thought it was interesting she used the word "passed away" as if the white men removed them from their land and forgot about them as if they had died, which in actuality many did. She said that white men said their race had just "vanished"which makes the forced removal of them sound so much less barbaric. The themes of possession and discrimination are extremely prevalent through these two works. Apess tries to stand up for his people by saying how they are not following the Bible or God's teachings, and that all men are created equal. Sigourney stands up for her people by discussing how even though the white men tried to remove the Indians and discredit that the land was originally theirs, the Indian names continue to keep their legacy and remembrance alive.