bell hooks shared a story in her speech on Friday night of a lunch date with two white women, during which one of them said, “I’m not a racist but – I don’t think there should be interracial marriage and parenting because people should just stick to their own kind.”
How did hooks react?
She did not become outraged, she said. Instead, she used the opportunity to convert the moment into a educational one, said hooks, who doesn’t capitalize her name because she wants people to focus on her message instead of her name.
Her response to the interracial statement: “But I believe that within our own kinds there is violence and abuse, and I believe our children should be raised with love and that children should be raised by the person that loves them, whoever that may be.”
The speech was part of the ASUO Women’s Center’s 11th annual Women of Color Conference, which ran from Friday through Saturday on campus.
hooks kicked off the Women of Color Conference with a book signing at the Women’s Center, followed by her keynote address in a packed Columbia 150. A diverse array of workshops took place all day on Saturday in the EMU and finished off the weekend with a closing reception in the EMU’s Fir Room.
hooks is a well-respected and renowned scholar in the fields of black activism, education toward diverse viewpoints and feminist theory. She is the author of more than 20 books.
The speech was conducted more like a conversation as audience members were able to ask questions. She read some passages from her newest writings, including pieces about her return to Kentucky, her education and censorship.
One piece of writing focused on the silencing of dissident minority
female voices. She mentioned the passing of Coretta Scott King, widow of Martin Luther King, Jr.
Some have called Coretta Scott King the black Jackie Onassis, which is not acceptable to hooks.
“Jackie O was a ho!” she said, which solicited a big round of cheers and laughter.
She also said that it is inappropriate for the media to compare contemporary female minorities in the news to established white women.
One of the recurring themes in the talk was how men and white people can be effective allies to their black and female friends.
“You can unlearn your dominator/racist language and mannerisms because we cannot engage until then,” hooks said.
She said the discussion on responsibility for racism is often too binary. There is a drive to categorize between right and wrong.
“When you feel like there’s someone to blame – you can think you are the victim and you don’t have to claim any kind of agency,” she said.
Later, she spoke about the idea some white people have that black people need only to “pull themselves up by their bootstraps” to succeed in this country.
“I know how capitalism works, and I know that there aren’t jobs for everyone to have, and to suggest that if one would just pull themselves up by their bootstraps and go get a job is a delusion,” hooks said.
hooks spoke on the daily fight to end oppression and racism, telling the crowd that she asks herself every day: “What are you going to do to end injustice in the world today?”
“We have to start where people are, not where we want them to be,” she said. “We also have to listen. A lot of times in academia we don’t listen but wait for our turn to talk.”
Margarita Smith, a Women’s Center staff member, said she didn’t know what to expect in the talk and that she felt privileged to attend.
“Her idea of small acts really making a difference is sort of revolutionary,” Smith said. “History tends to portray change as only capable through great acts from great people. So it feels so profound that normal people can make significant change in the world through small acts.”