Bell Hooks

She is proud to c both herself as disgraceful woman intellectual, revolutionary activist. Not a firebrand revolutionary, who wields the gun, notwithstanding an individual who sits crossways the table with paper and pen to kindle intellectual revolution chime hooks belongs to the later category and she has proved how indeed the pen is mightier than the sword. She has thrown thinly on many forms of racialism, open and with a hidden agenda. For the prevailing, pathetic conditions of the Black Women, she does not blame the snow-covered supremacist capitalist patriarchy alone.She takes the cudgels against the Black liberation press and the mainstream Feminist movement. She is aware of the strength of her opinions and has succeeded in creating the impact by using the electronic mediashe has appeared on televisions, participated in the radio programs. She is interested in interacting with the intellectual class, but she is highly concerned to reach the common man. Therefore she sa ys, We are looking at a shade where millions of peck dont read or write. She has thankfully used the mass media for propagating what she believed to be the truth, at the same time she has not spared it, for the dubious roles they play in many situations to promote racism and sexism. Growth-the socio-spiritual Bell Hook She imbibed the poets idealism by extensively reading poets like William Wordsworth, Langston Hughes, and Elizabeth Barrett Browning, and Gwendolyn Brooks, right from childhood. The fervor and emotions in her talks and writing may be ascribable to the benevolent influence of the literature of such poets.Each and every molecule of her body and spirit seems to have been surcharged with idealism. This apart, the practical, hard experiences of her life have made her a dominate realist. She wrote in Sisters of the Yam that life in her community involved an ever-present and deep engagement with the mystical dimensions of Christian faith and that, despite the sexism of t hat segregated Black world, the world of spirituality was one where Black women teachers, preachers, and healers worked with as much skill, power, and second sight as their Black male comrades. (Article, Black. )Bell hooks is an original creative thinker and she is willing to challenge any set-up that gives the secondary status to the Black Women. She doesnt wish the nasty women to be followers, howsoever bright may be their ideas for emancipation of the women. She wishes raw women to be first among the equals. She is ever ready to fight false representations. She emphasizes how race and class play as big as a role as genderand vividly draws picture of the subordination of poor and non-white women. To argue her points, she takes the case-studies from the most unexpected place-her own personal experiences and examples.She knows how bitter the bark is, because she has been compelled to chew its juice Her main grouse and concern is ab bulge the fear of the black people. The psychol ogical suffering of the black people is more important for her than their economic plight. Are the Blacks inferiors to the white people? Such a dangerous and humiliating thinking regarding the Blacks, profoundly worries her to the core. She wishes for a social response from the whites, where one evict feel the genuine changes in their intellection process.Only when their thoughts are changed, their minds will change. When the minds change, the men will change. When men change, the society also changes. When society changes for the better, one can expect the genuine, humane changes in America, as for family between Whites and Blacks. Black women have often turned to drugs and alcohol rather than acknowledge their need for viable support systems. . When wounded individuals come together in groups to make change, our collective struggle is often undermined by all that has not been dealt with emotionally.(Article, Black) Here, Bell Hooks speaks as if she has donned the mantle of a r evolutionary trade in union leader But again she defends her line of action a novel way. She is not happy with the word struggle. She terms it caring, loving, and flourishing. With such fine exalt expressions, Bell appeals to the head and heart of the Black populace. She proclaims that participation in action with cheer is better than withdrawal and renunciation of action for self-development. My idea of a delicious time is to read a book that is wonderful.And then I have the usual passions romance, fashionIm a big fashion girl. And Im really into art and deeply into culture. I am passionate about living my life with a certain quality of elegance and grace. But the ruling passion of my life is being a seeker after truth and the divine. That tempers everything else. (Article, Black) She speaks with the authority of a genuine spiritual leader. Only those individuals, who are internally strong and morally correct, can be that philosophical and practical.She is on the threshold of the mind-barrier and she will experience the divine once she transcends it. She has the makings of an international socio-spiritual leader. Bell Hooks and gangsta roast As for her programs, Bell Hooks is intensely liked or bitterly hated. Having once invited for any lecture assignment/interview, she doesnt get repeat invitations. It is the reward for her bitter criticism of white supremacist capitalist patriarchy. She says, To white dominated mass media, the controversy over gangsta rap makes great spectacle.Besides the exploitation of these issues to attract audiences, a central motivation for highlighting gangsta rap continues to be the sensationalist drama of demonizing black youth culture in general and the contributions of young black men in particular When I takings this deionization of black males by insisting that gangsta rap does not appear in a cultural vacuum, but, rather, is expressive of the cultural crossing, mixings, and engagement of black youth culture with the va lues, attitudes, and concerns of the white majority, some folks stop listening. (McGee, 1994) Conclusion Bell Hooks speaks with lots of conviction, and says in clear terms what is the mission of her life. She cautions the Black Women and warns about the dangers ahead. She hits out at the black males as well, for their betrayal for the genuine cause of welfare of the black race. She doesnt spare anyone including the Clinton administration, when she says, Feminist critiques of the sexism and misogyny in gangsta rap, and in all aspects of popular culture, must continue to be bold and fierce.Black females must not be duped into supporting shit that hurts us under the guise of standing beside our men. If black men are betraying us through acts of male violence, we save ourselves and the race by resisting. Yet, our feminist critiques of black male sexism fail as meaningful political intervention if they seek to demonize black males, and do not recognize that our revolutionary work is to t ransform white supremacist capitalist patriarchy in the quintuple areas of our lives where it is made manifest, whether in gangsta rap, the black church, or the Clinton administration. (Article, 1994) ========= References Cited Article Black woman, Intellectual, Revolutionary Activist-Bell Hooks www. allaboutbell. com 7k McGee, Arthur R. Article Race & Ethnicity hooks Misogyny, Gangsta (March 9, 1994). .. race. eserver. org/misogyny. html 28k Article Bell Hooks Misogyny, gangsta rap, and The Piano. Z Magazine, February 1994 www. allaboutbell. com/Misogyny. htm 22k