The Man and Woman of the Crowd

A Comparative Essay of Mahatma Gandhi and Sojourner Truth

Men are not the same with regard to color, gender, culture, and reasoning. But, equality needs to be distinguished from identity and similarity. Man is created by God, although not with similar features, but with equal functions: To love, to respect, and to treat each other fairly.

Indian Nationalist Mahatma Gandhi and American Abolitionist Sojourner Truth both spoke for equality. –The reality of equality amidst diversity.

Gandhi used the principle “turn the other cheek” in showing his opponent the reality of equality among men. Although this principle was just borrowed from Lao Tzu and Jesus Christ, Gandhi made it possible for man to understand his Satyagraha philosophy.

"If anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also."  Why the right cheek? In the lexis of New Testament Scholar Walter Wink, “The only way one could naturally strike the right cheek with the right hand would be with the back of the hand.  We are dealing here with insult, not a fistfight.  The intention is clearly not to injure but to humiliate, to put someone in his or her place.” From the words of Marcus Borg in explaining Walter Wink’s argument, “. . . in that world, people did not use the left hand to strike people. It was reserved for "unseemly" uses. . . Given the social customs of the day, a backhand blow was the way a superior hit an inferior, whereas one fought social equals with fists. This means the saying presupposes a setting in which a superior is beating a peasant. What should the peasant do? "Turn the other cheek." What would be the effect? The only way the superior could continue the beating would be with an overhand blow with the fist--which would have meant treating the peasant as an equal.” Lao Tzu stated, “I treat those who are good with goodness, And I also treat those who are not good with goodness, Thus goodness is attained.”

Gandhi, in his practice of non- violent resistance, accepted the pain given by his superior but the latter in fact, beaten Gandhi as an equal and humiliated himself. Only those who receive harm from the opponent are brave. Gandhi’s way of showing the equality among men reflects his philosophy of Satyagraha which is “Action through inaction.” (HJPFerolino)

Truth’s remarkable line, “Man has nothing to do with him (Christ)!” , during her famous speech at a convention  on women’s rights in 1851 in Akron, Ohio, brought the women’s rights to rise. Equality between men and women was one of her main theme as she speaks against the argument that men should have greater privileges than women because of their “superior intellect” and that Jesus took the form of a man. Truth answered the argument by stating that Jesus came from God who created him and a woman who bore him.

“Sojourner Truth lived at a time when the society's dominant values dictated that African-Americans were, by definition, inferior: morally, physically, and intellectually. Some justified human slavery on these grounds. "Inferiority" meant that one was, because of their color, ethnicity, or gender, less capable all around and therefore less deserving of equal rights. . . Sojourner Truth battled race and gender inequalities for most of her life because they were incompatible with a democratic society. The democracy she believed in respected and guaranteed the "inalienable rights" of all citizens, regardless of their race, gender, color, or religious beliefs. More importantly, to Truth's mind, inequality was wrong in the eyes of God. All of Truth's beliefs were ultimately rooted in and guided by her great and seemingly limitless religious faith.” Courage in Words, Ideas, and Spirit.  {http://www.kansasheritage.org/crossingboundaries/page6b2.html}

Truth, as an illiterate African-American woman, fought for equality through his powerful phrasing and witty extemporaneous speaking based on her experiences as a slave and as a mother. Because she was born into a world turned up side down, Truth lived and fought to turn the world right side up again. She can do men’s work and what is the difference? Nothing but the gender. Men and women are equal. (HJPFerolino)

The two speakers of the truth showed how equality can be achieved using the heart, mind and spirit. Gandhi’s and Truth’s knowledge about the bible lead them to attain equality as cordial as they want to exhibit it.

Mahatma Gandhi and Sojourner Truth are the man and woman of the crowd – fighting not only for him or herself, but for all who seek nothing but rights.