Remembering Bell Hooks: A Revolutionary Feminist Thinker and Activist

Bell Hooks, the feminist thinker, radical activist, scholar, teacher, and poet, passed away on December 15, 2021, at 69. Best known for her influential works such as Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center (1984) and All About Love: New Visions (2000), Hooks delved deeply into the intersections of white supremacy, patriarchy, and class domination. She argued that these concepts must be understood through their interconnected capacity to produce and sustain domination and privilege.

Understanding Oppression Through “Imperialist-White Supremacist-Capitalist-Patriarchy”

Rather than using the term “intersectionality,” Hooks insisted on the phrase “imperialist-white supremacist-capitalist-patriarchy,” believing in the power of directly naming the enemy. For Hooks, writing was a form of activism: “My writing is a form of activism.” Like the Black feminist scholars before her—Audre Lorde, Alice Walker, and Toni Morrison—Hooks fought against structural and institutional oppression. However, her legacy is unique in how she centered this fight on the importance of community and unity.

The Power of Community: Building Resistance and Unity

Hooks strongly advocated fostering unity among Black Americans, creating a community of those sharing a common struggle. “One of the most vital ways we sustain ourselves is by building communities of resistance, where we know we are not alone,” she once said. In her short story “Homeplace: A Site of Resistance” (1989), she described her mother’s ability to create a “homeplace,” a crucial space where she felt safe and accepted despite growing up in a predominantly white world.

Homeplace as a Political Act

Hooks’ concept of a homeplace carried a radical political dimension because it was primarily where “resistance was built out of recovery.” She emphasized the female contribution in building the homeplace as a focal point for critiquing the exclusionary nature of the 1960s Civil Rights Movement. Women’s roles and achievements were largely unrecognized, which she saw as indicative of the broader devaluation of Black women. From this critique, Hooks advocated for a new movement based on unity within Black communities to address issues the Civil Rights Movement had failed to confront.

Redefining Sisterhood: A Revolutionary Political Commitment

“Do we have to call every woman sister?” Hooks’ idea of community permeated her feminist framework. She believed a sense of sisterhood was crucial for creating an inclusive feminist movement. She criticized second-wave feminism for promoting sisterhood while failing to include the voices of Black and working-class women, reinforcing racial and classist hierarchies in its practices.

The Radical Solidarity of Women

In her text Sisterhood: Political Solidarity Between Women, Hooks redefined sisterhood, arguing that women’s solidarity was radical. For her, sisterhood meant that women had to unlearn all they had previously accepted while living in a society that devalued meaningful relationships between women and taught them to see other women as adversaries. Thus, sisterhood was not a choice but a revolutionary political commitment.

The Transformative Power of Love

“The moment we begin to love, we move against domination.” Hooks’ concept of community revolved around the transformative power of love. She believed that choosing love was a direct challenge to the prevailing ideology of domination, which required violence to sustain itself. This systemic violence was internalized by individuals who eventually became incapable of loving themselves and others because they were never taught what love truly is.

Love as the Practice of Freedom

Love, or the lack thereof, played a critical role in the successes and failures of the Civil Rights Movement. Martin Luther King Jr.’s discourse on Black self-love and loving one’s enemies was healing and a catalyst for change. However, the Black Power Movement, with its “new militancy of masculinist Black power,” deviated from that ethic of love, which Hooks interpreted as the beginning of the end of the movement. Patriarchal manhood became the norm among Black political leaders, and coercion and violence became synonymous with freedom. For Hooks, love was crucial for shifting from a “self-centered longing for change” to a collective liberation struggle. She viewed love as “the practice of freedom.”

Affirming Differences in the Beloved Community

“Beloved community is formed not by eradicating difference but by its affirmation.” As we remember Bell Hooks today, we must recognize that solidarity is political, unity is essential, and love is revolutionary. Her legacy teaches us that true liberation comes from fostering inclusive communities, embracing radical solidarity, and centering love in our struggle against domination.