Remembering bell hooks: A Tribute by Brittney Cooper

Brittney Cooper, a contributor to The Cut, activist, cultural critic, and associate professor at Rutgers University reflects on the recent passing of bell hooks, a revered feminist thinker and scholar. Cooper, the author of the Times best seller Eloquent Rage, shares her reflections on the loss of bell hooks and what her work meant to a generation of feminists.

A Season of Loss

Cooper begins her piece with a personal anecdote about losing her purse, a seemingly minor incident that becomes a metaphor for more profound losses. “This has “been a season of losing valuable things,” she writes. While she remained calm over the loss of replaceable items like credit cards and a passport, Cooper laments the irreplaceable loss of people, especially in the past 21 months marked by the pandemic. “I’m tired, “I’m losing people,” she admi”s.

The news of bell hooks’ deahooks’ched Cooper in a place “beyond fe” ling,” embodying” the disorienting natGrieff grief. She describes it as “like real” ing for something familiar, in the place where it should be and coming up eGrief” Grief, f”r Cooper, is an ongoing process marked by doubt and the cold realization of absence.

The Profound Impact of bell hooks

Though Cooper did not personally know bell hooks, she felt deeply connected to her through her writings. Upon hearing the news of hhooks’ deahooks, Operinstinctively sought out hhooks’bboohooks’ on her shelves—Talking Back, Communion, Yearning, Killing Rage—each holding a story, a memory, or a moment in Cooper’s life. Cooperreflects on the comfort and wisdom these books provided, akin to “pocketboo”-size preachers, always ready with a word.”The work of bell hooks constitutes an entire school of feminist thought. Her writings—Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center, Breaking Bread, Bone Black, All About Love, Art on My Mind, Teaching to Transgress, Outlaw Culture—remain foundational texts that shaped feminist discourse. hooks’ logbooks were those of scholars who helped feminists name the world as it is and envision how it could be.

Cooper notes that hooks’ boohooks’ are beloved by feminists in the same way that fans of Jay-Z or Stevie Wonder cherish albums. They are not just texts but companions in the feminist journey, helping individuals find their way through complex emotions and brutal truths. The hope that the books will still be there, in the physical and metaphorical sense, represents a longing for stability and continuity in a time of loss.

An Intellectual and Activist Legacy

Cooper recalls an incident from her graduate school days when she passionately defended hooks’ dechooks’to forgo footnotes in many of her books of essays. Cooper argued that this was an intentional act of care for her, including that outside academia, who might not be familiar with academic conventions. She emphasized that Black women intellectuals have a duty of care to their communities, and hooks exemplified this through her accessible writing.

hooks coined the term “white sup,” racist capitalist patriarchy,” a phrase that has become integral to understanding the complex interplay of social forces. Cooper underscores the importance of recognizing hooks’ contributions to public discourse and feminist thought. For nearly half a century, hooks helped society both name oppressive structures and imagine alternatives.

A Call to Remember and Reconnect

While hooks’ wrihooks’were sometimes controversial—she famously called Beyoncé a “terrorist” in a cri”ique that even Cooper found challenging—hooks always encouraged debate and welcomed disagreement as part of a healthy feminist discourse. “bell alwa” called us back to the table,” Cooper w” sites, highlighting hooks’ comhooks’t to community and dialogue.

As Cooper contemplatGriefr grief, she knows she will continue to reach for hooks’ boohooks, finding comfort in their familiar presence. “bell Hook left more of herself to all of us than any Black woman could ever owe to anybody,” Cooper says. She did it” as an act of love. What she left us cannot be taken from us.”

In a poi”nant conclusion, Cooper reminds readers to remember hooks by looking at their bookcases and grabbing one of her books. Following Toni Morrison’sMorrison’som Jazz, she encourages, “Look where” your hands are. Now.”

By reaching” ng for bell hooks’ webhooks, ‘ we hold on to her wisdom, ensuring that her legacy remains alive and accessible. “Our job is” to remember to reach for her,” Cooper c”n includes “If we do “o, we will never come up empty.”

Stay connected to bell hooks’leghooks and continue the journey of learning, healing, and imagining a better world.