“I
think we can’t overstate her influence.”
That’s
a statement from Imani Perry, distinguished professor of Black
Studies at Princeton University, who deftly and accurately summed up
the impact of cultural critic Gloria Jean Watkins, better known to
most of the world as bell hooks.
hooks,
a revolutionary feminist voice, departed this Earth on December 15th
at the age of 69. Predictably, the tributes were plentiful and
largely laudatory for one of the most important voices in the field
of women studies.
It’s
virtually impossible to wholly detail the indescribable impact that
hooks had on both the modern feminist movement and the larger
literary world in general. As a professor who was introduced to her
as an undergraduate student during my senior year, and became an avid
fan, I can personally attest to this fact.
The
author of more than 30 books and works of poetry, hooks’ work
is required reading in many gender studies and humanities courses,
and is a routine topic at academic conferences and feminist
symposiums. She possessed razor sharp intellect, boundless passion
and formidable intellectual acumen.
In
contrast to many academics, she didn’t speak in didactic,
convoluted language. Rather, she spoke in a manner that was powerful,
competent, yet accessible
“Her
writing is so powerful and so important, but it’s also so
clear.” said Kikihana Miraya Ross, a professor of Black
American studies at Northwestern University. “She has always
been a role model for me in that way: no shade to people who don’t
write like that, but I think that when you can say things clearly it
means you understand what you’re saying.”
hooks
was born on September 25, 1952 in Hopkinsville, Kentucky to a working
class Black family. Her father, Veodis, was a janitor, and her
mother, Rosa Bell, was a maid who worked in the homes of wealthy
white families. Perhaps due to her hardscrabble life experience
growing up in rural Kentucky during the era of Jim Crow segregation,
hooks did not shy away from engaging in deeply controversial subjects
some cultural critics (including some Black feminist writers) were
apprehensive of venturing into.
Her
critique of superstar Beyonce Knowles in 2016 - “Let’s
take the image of this super rich, very powerful black female, and
let’s use it in the service of imperialist, white supremacist,
capitalist patriarchy, because she probably had very little control
over that cover, that image” - sent ripples through the
blogosphere and within feminist circles.
Frank,
fearless, forceful and without apology, Hooks deftly and eloquently
detailed the injustices still being perpetrated upon marginalized
women of color due to sexism and misogyny. She eloquently told Black
women that despite abject levels of societal marginalization due to
centuries of disenfranchisement, they were beautiful, intelligent,
and resilient, and worthy of love. She stressed the importance of
self care.
“When
we choose to love, we choose to move against fear, against alienation
and separation. The choice to love is a choice to connect, to find
ourselves in the other,” she wrote. “Love is a
combination of care, commitment, knowledge, responsibility, respect
and trust.”
Through
it all, she expressed herself with formidable candor. Her bluntness
garnered the ire of a number of critics, including Michelle Wallace
and Adolph Reed. Detractors aside, even her most ardent critics could
not deny her raw intellect and frequently innovative examination of
intersectionality.
hooks
was fearless discussing the internal conflicts that plague the Black
community itself, which include class issues, religious preferences,
sexism, and homophobia. Her occasional biting and humorous wit caused
segments of the Black community to engage in some reflection and
serious soul searching.
“Dominator
culture has tried to keep us all afraid, to make us choose safety
instead of risk, sameness instead of diversity,” hooks wrote in
“Teaching Community: A Pedagogy of Hope.” “Moving
through that fear, finding out what connects us, reveling in our
differences; this is the process that brings us closer, that gives us
a world of shared values, of meaningful community.”
bell
hooks was a tremendous intellectual force. The ample outpouring of
admiration and respect she has received is well deserved. Her work
will undoubtedly be studied for decades, if not centuries to come.
May she rest in peace.
