hooked
December 15th, 2021 saw the passing, at age 69, of the author, feminist, and activist, bell hooks.
To say I was saddened is an understatement.
Between the years 1997 and 2001, I was privileged to attend Goldsmiths, University of London. It was there that my real education began. Influencing my world outlook like never before, were lecturers and professors who allowed me to access the world of academia where I learned, really learned about the world; but most importantly, I learned about myself.
Through the recommended reading lists, I was introduced to a writer who subsequently had a seismic impact on my life. Along with many other women around the world, I read ‘Ain’t I A Woman’, and my mindset towards myself, my children, to the world, shifted.
I was hooked on hooks!
Further exploration of her writing, brought me to a book that not only directed my thinking of what was considered beautiful but changed the way I thought and spoke about myself as well as my children. I sought to educate my mother also because at that time she was part of my village: helping with the childcare of my two daughters. Seared into my memory is a conversation I had with her regarding the language that she used when combing my daughters’ hair. Thereafter, she would ever seek to speak positively as she passed the comb through their lustrous locks.
Moreover, Waterstones summarises the book this way on their website.
‘In Sisters of the Yam, bell hooks reflects on the ways in which the emotional health of black women has been and continues to be impacted by sexism and racism. Desiring to create a context where black females could both work on their individual efforts for self-actualization while remaining connected to a larger world of collective struggle, hooks articulates the link between self-recovery and political resistance. Both an expression of the joy of self-healing and the need to be ever vigilant in the struggle for equality, Sisters of the Yam continues to speak to the experience of black womanhood.’
To lose such a thinker and a writer at such a time as this is even more dispiriting.
hooks, who at the start of her writing career chose to use the lower case spelling of her name to differentiate herself from her ancestor who had the same name, stated, ‘The one person who will never leave us, whom we will never lose, is ourself. Learning to love our female selves is where our search for love must begin.’ – Communion: The Search for Female Love, 2002
In a world where there is increasing hostility and indifference, let us not lose our sense of self or love. She stated in Outlaw Culture: Resisting Representations (1994), ‘The moment we choose to love we begin to move against domination, against oppression. The moment we choose to love we begin to move towards freedom, to act in ways that liberate ourselves and others.’
Furthermore, let us love ourselves as we are encouraged to do by our Creator. Scripture reminds us in Mark 12:30-31, ‘And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment. And the second, like it, is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”
In remembering hooks, she may be now at rest after an illness, but we remain. We who remain, let us continue to love ourselves because when we love ourselves, we free ourselves to authentically love others. Love of God, love of self, and love for others. That is the way to live and love in this life.
May we honour bell hooks’ memory by creating a legacy of love.
Until next time.
Love & Blessings
