![]() I love your points about Cooper's tone here-she is clearly whip-smart and hyper reflective on these topics, but writes in an engaging manner that invites you into her intellect, instead of wielding it over you. Hey Thomas, once again, such an insightful/honest/lovely review!! The consequence of all these antirespectable choices range from violence to death." This rage is dangerous because it can't be reasoned with, can't be forced to accept the daily indignities of racism, and more than likely will fight back, rather than fleeing or submitting. Black rage says that living without dignity is no life at all. Respectability tells us that staying alive matters more than protecting one's dignity. "Because respectability is a rage-management project, those invested in Black respectability are often deeply uncomfortable with Black rage. I will end this review with one final quote, just because I loved so many passages from this book: Cooper is unapologetic in how she centers black women in her analyses and that makes Eloquent Rage an all the more worthwhile and necessary read. While some sections felt a little circuitous, Cooper's heart and wisdom won me over every time. Overall, an excellent essay collection I would recommend to anyone interested in feminism, human rights, and social justice. Meanwhile, Black movies, shows, and books are typically seen as limited and particular." The problem is that only the experiences of white people are treated as universal. The stories we watch and read ask us to put aside their whiteness and relate to their very 'universal' human struggles around conflict with the world, the self, and others. Before we fully learn to love ourselves, all people of color in the United States learn that we are supporting characters and spectators in the collective story of white people's lives. That tucking away of my Black-girlness, even as I simultaneously tucked away my awareness of my friends' whiteness, was a survival skill that I honed, in part, by reading and immersing myself in the stories of white girls' lives. "Most of my love of Black girl pop icons and Black music lived out of sight of anyone but my mother. Another quote I cherish from this book, about representation: If you feel defensive reading her words, it may be beneficial to unpack that emotion and examine your privileges and biases. I so appreciated her skepticism about individual empowerment from a social justice framework and her constructive criticism about white women's participation in racism. Cooper weaves herself into these essays too, such as by writing about how toxic masculinity impaired the men in her family as she grew up, as well as how the political implications of marriage rates for black women affected her on a psychological level. I loved the central theme of how we should harness and honor rage and anger as anti-oppression tools that can create change and joy. It is a refusal of the lie that Black women's anger in the face of routine, everyday injustice is not legitimate."Ĭooper covers an expansive set of important issues in Eloquent Rage, so I will mention just a few of my favorite points here. To be made a fool of, to be silenced, or to stand for anybody's bullshit. ![]() Obama didn't sublimate the rage over Trump and his wife to the province of the slay. That's why it's damn near impossible for rage and respectability to reside in the same place. "Rage is a fundamentally more reasonable response to America's cultural investment in the disrespect of Black women than being respectable. A quote from a fantastic section of the book about rage vs. One of her most impressive feats in this collection: she wields a writing voice that is intelligent and incisive and academic, that also comes across as real and relatable. She addresses respectability politics and rage, friendship between black women, the 2016 collection, neoliberalism and the myth of exceptionalism, and more. Brittney Cooper writes about an array of cultural, personal, and political topics from the perspective of a black feminist. ![]() A powerful and moving essay collection that will appeal to fans of Roxane Gay and Audre Lorde. ![]()
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