So I’m reading bell hooks in anticipation of ~possibly~ writing about the very specific anti-Blackness aimed at Blue Ivy, Megan Thee Stallion, Ari Lennox, Teyana Taylor, and Jay Z for their looks. And I came across some shit I wanted to share:

“The course I teach on black women writers is a consistent favorite among students. The last semester that I taught this course we had the usual passionate discussion of Nella Larson's novel ‘Passing’.”

“When I suggested to the class (which had been more eager to discuss the desire of black folks to be white) that Clare, the black woman who has passed for white all her adult life and married a wealthy white businessman with whom she has a child, is the only character....”

“....in the novel who truly desires ‘blackness’ and that it is this desire that leads to her murder, no one responded. Clare boldly declares that she would rather live for the rest of her life as a poor black woman in Harlem than as a rich white matron downtown.”

“I asked the class to consider the possibility that to love blackness is dangerous in a white supremacist culture—so threatening, so serious a breach in the fabric of the social order, that death is the punishment.”

“It became painfully obvious by the lack of response that this group of diverse students (many of them black people) were more interested in discussing the desire of black folks to be white, indeed were fixated on this issue.”

“So much so, that they could not even take seriously a critical discussion about ‘loving blackness’.”

“They wanted to talk about black self-hatred, to hear one another confess (especially students of color) in eloquent narratives about the myriad ways they had tried to attain whiteness, if only symbolically. They gave graphic details...”

“...about the ways they attempted to appear ‘white’ by talking a certain way, wearing certain clothing, and even choosing specific groups of white friends. Blonde white students seized the opportunity to testify that they had never realized racism had this impact...”

“....upon the psyches of people of color until they started hanging out with black friends, taking courses in Black Studies, or reading Toni Morrison's ‘The Bluest Eye’.”

“And better yet, they never realized there was such a thing as "white privilege" until they developed non-white connections.”

“I left this class of more than forty students, most of whom see themselves as radical and progressive, feeling as though I had witnessed a ritualistic demonstration of the impact white supremacy has on our collective psyches, shaping the nature of everyday life, how we talk...”

“...walk, eat, dream, and look at one another.”

“The most frightening aspect of this ritual was the extent to which their fascination with the topic of black self-hatred was so intense that it silenced any constructive discussion abut loving blackness.”

- bell hooks, ‘Black Looks’ (page 9 - 10)

What bell hooks suggests here and even further in this same chapter is that there is a vested interest in and grotesque fascination w/ Black self-hatred and lack of self-esteem in Black folx from White folx (particularly women).

The physical manifestations of internalized anti-Blackness are pleasing to White supremacy.

“Normal” even.

But what she also suggests is that in order to maintain this sense of normalcy, colonization and exploitation where our minds are concerned require something parallel. Which is our obsession with Whiteness.

“Few black scholars have explored extensively black obsession with whiteness.” - is what she adds before launching into an exploration of the few to do it: Black theologian James Cone.

I posted all of these to say that I couldn’t stop thinking of writers K. Austin Collins (a Black man) and Violet Lucca (a White woman) linking hands to spew vile words about a little Black girl. And then I read these pages and they contextualized everything.

Both of those distinct groups—Black men and White women—have vested interests in, particularly, the self-hatred of Black women and Black girls.

On one hand because it makes them feel better about themselves and on the other hand because we’re the only group (& I’m tacking queer Black folx onto this too) that they can oppress and vent their supremacist frustrations without facing greater societal punishment for doing so.

And this is something that CANNOT be left out of discussions on [internalized] anti-Blackness, colorism, shadeism, and whatever else is pertinent to this ongoing discussion.

Dassit. That’s all.

@threadreaderapp unroll please!

In case anyone was interested in reading more from ‘Black Looks’, I finally found a PDF!

https://aboutabicycle.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/bell-hooks-black-looks-race-and-representation.pdf