Killing Rage: Ending Racism

One of hooks’s key claims in the text is that part of overcoming white supremacy is overcoming sexism. hooks argues that “[j]ust as we have needed to reconceptualize blackness so that we throw off the internalized racism that would have us see it solely as a negative sign, we must rethink our understanding of masculinity and manhood” (67). hooks argues that ideas of masculinity are formed by, and tied into, capitalism and patriarchy. These systems perpetuate the idea that “[m]anhood was not providing and protecting; it was proved by one’s capacity to coerce, control, dominate” (66). Patriarchal structures—hierarchies that descend from a male figure at the top—are created and sustained by domination. It is this system, not individual men, that hooks challenges.

As with the previous theme, where hooks asserted individual white people aren’t the target in her condemnation of white supremacy, hooks argues here that revolutionary feminism—feminism that is opposed to systems, at work and at home, where men hold more power than women—“is not anti-male” (63). These systems include academia and the media, both of which privilege the voices of men over women. Not only does higher education privilege men, but education for Black children also privileges boys. At school and home, patriarchy “privileges the self-esteem of black male children over that of girls” (90). This sexist privilege extends to public discussions of racism among adults, hooks argues. She writes that “when the issue is race there is still a tendency to defer to the words and writings of black men” (140). hooks observes how discussions of racism can be moments where Black men and white men bond, noting that “[n]o one wants to interrupt those moments of interracial homo-social patriarchal bonding to hear women speak” (2). Furthermore, discussions of racism are given priority over discussions of sexism. According to hooks’s intersectional perspective, they should be discussed in conjunction with one another.

To overcome sexism, she argues, women must not be treated or depicted as subordinate. Women’s voices, and self-esteem, must be given the same amount of attention as men’s. hooks argues that “[w]e must vigilantly challenge negative representations of black women” (85), noting that Black women are often blamed for a variety of societal issues. hooks argues that making this shift requires changing ideas about responsibility and pleasure concerning gender roles, combating homophobia, and generally having feminists “make [their] voices heard” (104). Moreover, in education, “militaristic patriarchal pedagogy” must be rejected in favor of problem-posing pedagogy (91). In other words, methods of teaching must be collaborative rather than hierarchical. Overcoming sexism is an absolutely necessary aspect of overcoming systemic white supremacy.

In the text, hooks also discusses how another necessary aspect of overcoming white supremacy is overcoming class differences. hooks frequently emphasizes the fact that upper-class Black people encounter different kinds of racism than lower-class Black people. Moreover, Black people often adopt the values of the bourgeois in order to rise in socioeconomic class, including denial and shame about racial trauma. Hating their own Blackness is part of assimilating to rise in class, for instance, when a Black person “wanted a job and found it easier to get it if he or she did not wear a natural hairstyle” (122). Labor issues, like hiring practices, are connected with white supremacist standards of beauty, with employers preferring Eurocentric features.

However, to complicate matters, hooks adds that some upper-middle-class Black people started to capitalize on lower-class depictions of Blackness in the 1980s and 1990s. This includes movie directors focusing on popular images of urban, poor Black people, of which they had no personal experience. hooks similarly notes how lower-class Black people and upper-class Black people are enraged by different things: “The rage of the oppressed is never the same as the rage of the privileged” (30). Class is therefore a form of privilege that needs to be discussed alongside race and gender.

hooks furthermore draws links between white supremacy and capitalism. Black people’s “dreams of success are often dominated by longings to be rich, to live in a constant state of material luxury” (255). They want the goods and services that rich white people have, ultimately valuing consumerism over community. hooks argues that “[w]hite supremacy is strengthened by the breakdown in political solidarity among black folks that cuts across class” (171). Some rich Black people, she argues, care more about white people in their tax bracket than poor Black people. An example of this is how “[m]onied black folks have not organized to create progressive black educational institutions” (165). Instead, they have purchased houses, cars, vacations, and more to show off their financial success. In addition to helping to increase access to quality education for lower-class Black people, upper-class Black people can admit their differences. hooks argues that it is important to “deconstruct the notion of an essential binding blackness” (175). For Black people to acknowledge their class privilege and recognize their differences is just as essential as overcoming sexism.