Journal #5

 An obvious and common theme across the two readings is the exploitation of Native Americans. Both condemn Americans as the blood of the Indians is on their hands. William Apess points out how America stands for a nation of principle and honor, a nation of good Christians who follow the teachings of the lord. But the teachings of the lord say to love your neighbor as you love yourself, so how can you justify the actions taken against Native Americans. Apess makes the point that their principle is only skin deep but how can principle be applied on the basis of one's own skin, furthering the idea of hypocrisy in America. Lydia Sigourney, another American poet, condemns the actions taken against the Indians. In her poem "Indian Names" she says "But their name is on your waters, Ye may not wash it out".  She is saying that this evil brought upon the Indians is a scar that America's past will forever have to embrace. The readings casted a light on a dark subject and brought forth a new perspective I have not seen. We are a nation of all talk, but we don’t lead by example. Our country is built on immigrants escaping tyranny and unethical rule of the people, and now we escape to create our just society by crumbling the one before. It’s a vicious cycle like a parent who neglected and abused their child, that child doesn’t know another way to raise their own child. So they act in the way they only know how. All they wanted was to live in peace and all we did was bring hell to their doorstep.