bell hooks Speaks Up

The conversation and lecture that filled Bush Auditorium during bell hooks' visit to Rollins was certainly one not to be forgotten. bell hooks, a widely published black feminist, says her pen name honors her mother and her grandmother. Her name is always seen written in lowercase letters because she believes that what is most important is the "substance of books, not who I am." A professor of English at Berea College, Oberlin, USC, and Yale, to name a few, hooks drew much of her conversation and speech from the approximately twenty books she has written. hooks stated she felt lucky to have been born in the 1950's because of the racial apartheid, in addition to the civil rights and feminist movements that occurred. hooks discussed how one of the things she felt most fortunate for is the critical reflection humans hold about what happens around us, touting this to be one of life's great teachers. She also raised the question of what it means to love justice, and told the story of during a time she was in high school how black and white people were in fear of their life, just by being friends with one another.

Giving some very interesting statistics about the different stigmas among blacks and whites in a modern society, she made the listeners in the audience begin to question if much has changed over the past few decades. This debate still stands as we continue to look at the vision of freedom and democracy and in how we articulate each of these in a modern sense. She came to the conclusion that progressive thinkers are still "locked in" to a way of binary thinking, meaning some aspects of racial segregation have changed drastically, while others still have not.

In discussing the dichotomy that still exists between blacks and whites today, she proclaimed real estate to be a bastion of white supremacy. This led into mention of certain parts of the country where it is more normal for educated wealthy blacks to be the predominant land and property owners. Hooks also focused on the politics of the issue of accountability for oneself, in addition to a victimized way of thinking, more specifically when looking at who is the oppressor vs. who is the oppressed. This further questions the way in which the roles of blacks and whites have been further examined and mutated.

After about half an hour of lecture, hooks opened the forum to questions from the audience. Some interesting questions were raised concerning religion and politics, hooks' own novels in relation to the separation of memoir vs. fiction(more specifically in accordance with the recent James Frey scandal), and also the role children can play in changing the face of discrimination in the years to come. hooks expanded upon her experience working in public schools, working with her sister, who is a teacher, and with teaching her own students on the college level. She pronounced her main goal as being able to help students critically think about any issue at hand, and also to change their beliefs about their own capabilities. Hooks told of one example of her sister's students in Flint, MI, and how they believed they could make more money working in a car factory, the dominant occupation of most of their parents, as opposed to being a school teacher. She believes that by helping them to think critically about life outside their realm of familiarity, they will help in furthering a positive progressive way of thinking. hooks' discussion definitely introduced and incited many new ways of thinking, which will hopefully inspire others toward changing the face of discrimination and racial segregation our country still faces today.