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Eloquent Rage: A Black Feminist Discovers Her Superpower
An Emma Watson "Our Shared Shelf" Selection for November/December 2018 • NAMED A BEST BOOK OF 2018/ MENTIONED BY: The New York Public Library • Mashable • The Atlantic • Bustle • The Root • Politico Magazine ("What the 2020 Candidates Are Reading This Summer") • NPR • Fast Company ("10 Best Books for Battling Your Sexist Workplace") • The Guardian ("Top 10 Books About Angry Women")
Rebecca Solnit, The New Republic: "Funny, wrenching, pithy, and pointed."
Roxane Gay: "I encourage you to check out Eloquent Rage out now."
Joy Reid, Cosmopolitan: "A dissertation on black women’s pain and possibility."
America Ferrera: "Razor sharp and hilarious. There is so much about her analysis that I relate to and grapple with on a daily basis as a Latina feminist."
Damon Young: "Like watching the world’s best Baptist preacher but with sermons about intersectionality and Beyoncé instead of Ecclesiastes."
Melissa Harris Perry: “I was waiting for an author who wouldn’t forget, ignore, or erase us black girls...I was waiting and she has come in Brittney Cooper.”
Michael Eric Dyson: “Cooper may be the boldest young feminist writing today...and she will make you laugh out loud.”
So what if it’s true that Black women are mad as hell? They have the right to be. In the Black feminist tradition of Audre Lorde, Brittney Cooper reminds us that anger is a powerful source of energy that can give us the strength to keep on fighting.
Far too often, Black women’s anger has been caricatured into an ugly and destructive force that threatens the civility and social fabric of American democracy. But Cooper shows us that there is more to the story than that. Black women’s eloquent rage is what makes Serena Williams such a powerful tennis player. It’s what makes Beyoncé’s girl power anthems resonate so hard. It’s what makes Michelle Obama an icon.
Eloquent rage keeps us all honest and accountable. It reminds women that they don’t have to settle for less. When Cooper learned of her grandmother's eloquent rage about love, sex, and marriage in an epic and hilarious front-porch confrontation, her life was changed. And it took another intervention, this time staged by one of her homegirls, to turn Brittney into the fierce feminist she is today. In Brittney Cooper’s world, neither mean girls nor fuckboys ever win. But homegirls emerge as heroes. This book argues that ultimately feminism, friendship, and faith in one's own superpowers are all we really need to turn things right side up again.
275 pages, Kindle Edition
First published February 19, 2018
About the author
Brittney Cooper
17 books664 followersBrittney Cooper is a writer, teacher, and public speaker. She thinks Black feminism can change the world for the better.
Brittney is Associate Professor of Women’s and Gender Studies and Africana Studies at Rutgers University. She is co-founder of the popular Crunk Feminist Collective blog. And she is a contributing writer for Cosmopolitan.com and a former contributor to Salon.com. Her cultural commentary has been featured on MSNBC’s All In With Chris Hayes, Melissa Harris-Perry, Al Jazeera’s Third Rail, the New York Times, the Washington Post, NPR, PBS, Ebony.com, Essence.com, TheRoot.com, and TED.com.
Dr. Cooper is co-editor of The Crunk Feminist Collection (The Feminist Press 2017). She is author of Beyond Respectability: The Intellectual Thought of Race Women (University of Illinois Press, May 2017) and Eloquent Rage: A Black Feminist Discovers Her Superpower (St. Martin’s, February 2018).
Brittney is Associate Professor of Women’s and Gender Studies and Africana Studies at Rutgers University. She is co-founder of the popular Crunk Feminist Collective blog. And she is a contributing writer for Cosmopolitan.com and a former contributor to Salon.com. Her cultural commentary has been featured on MSNBC’s All In With Chris Hayes, Melissa Harris-Perry, Al Jazeera’s Third Rail, the New York Times, the Washington Post, NPR, PBS, Ebony.com, Essence.com, TheRoot.com, and TED.com.
Dr. Cooper is co-editor of The Crunk Feminist Collection (The Feminist Press 2017). She is author of Beyond Respectability: The Intellectual Thought of Race Women (University of Illinois Press, May 2017) and Eloquent Rage: A Black Feminist Discovers Her Superpower (St. Martin’s, February 2018).
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,686 reviews
March 23, 2018
An excellent essay collection that explicitly centers black women and black women's feminism. Lots of provocative, intelligent thinking and engagement with blackness, popular culture, black womanhood, respectability politics, and the uses of, as the title suggests, eloquent rage. I really enjoyed how black womanhood remained the focal point of these essays from beginning to end. At times, some of the essays felt a bit long and circuitous but Cooper is such an interesting writer and thinker that this is easily overlooked. Eloquent Rage is a must-read for anyone who wants to deepen their feminist thinking.
May 29, 2018
4.5 stars
A powerful and moving essay collection that will appeal to fans of Roxane Gay and Audre Lorde. Brittney Cooper writes about an array of cultural, personal, and political topics from the perspective of a black feminist. She addresses respectability politics and rage, friendship between black women, the 2016 collection, neoliberalism and the myth of exceptionalism, and more. One of her most impressive feats in this collection: she wields a writing voice that is intelligent and incisive and academic, that also comes across as real and relatable. A quote from a fantastic section of the book about rage vs. respectability:
"Rage is a fundamentally more reasonable response to America's cultural investment in the disrespect of Black women than being respectable. That's why it's damn near impossible for rage and respectability to reside in the same place. On her last day, Mrs. Obama didn't sublimate the rage over Trump and his wife to the province of the slay. She simply refused. Rage is a kind of refusal. To be made a fool of, to be silenced, or to stand for anybody's bullshit. It is a refusal of the lie that Black women's anger in the face of routine, everyday injustice is not legitimate."
Cooper covers an expansive set of important issues in Eloquent Rage, so I will mention just a few of my favorite points here. I loved the central theme of how we should harness and honor rage and anger as anti-oppression tools that can create change and joy. Cooper weaves herself into these essays too, such as by writing about how toxic masculinity impaired the men in her family as she grew up, as well as how the political implications of marriage rates for black women affected her on a psychological level. I so appreciated her skepticism about individual empowerment from a social justice framework and her constructive criticism about white women's participation in racism. If you feel defensive reading her words, it may be beneficial to unpack that emotion and examine your privileges and biases. Another quote I cherish from this book, about representation:
"Most of my love of Black girl pop icons and Black music lived out of sight of anyone but my mother. That tucking away of my Black-girlness, even as I simultaneously tucked away my awareness of my friends' whiteness, was a survival skill that I honed, in part, by reading and immersing myself in the stories of white girls' lives. Before we fully learn to love ourselves, all people of color in the United States learn that we are supporting characters and spectators in the collective story of white people's lives. The stories we watch and read ask us to put aside their whiteness and relate to their very 'universal' human struggles around conflict with the world, the self, and others. The problem is that only the experiences of white people are treated as universal. Meanwhile, Black movies, shows, and books are typically seen as limited and particular."
Overall, an excellent essay collection I would recommend to anyone interested in feminism, human rights, and social justice. While some sections felt a little circuitous, Cooper's heart and wisdom won me over every time. Cooper is unapologetic in how she centers black women in her analyses and that makes Eloquent Rage an all the more worthwhile and necessary read. I will end this review with one final quote, just because I loved so many passages from this book:
"Because respectability is a rage-management project, those invested in Black respectability are often deeply uncomfortable with Black rage. Respectability tells us that staying alive matters more than protecting one's dignity. Black rage says that living without dignity is no life at all. This rage is dangerous because it can't be reasoned with, can't be forced to accept the daily indignities of racism, and more than likely will fight back, rather than fleeing or submitting. The consequence of all these antirespectable choices range from violence to death."
A powerful and moving essay collection that will appeal to fans of Roxane Gay and Audre Lorde. Brittney Cooper writes about an array of cultural, personal, and political topics from the perspective of a black feminist. She addresses respectability politics and rage, friendship between black women, the 2016 collection, neoliberalism and the myth of exceptionalism, and more. One of her most impressive feats in this collection: she wields a writing voice that is intelligent and incisive and academic, that also comes across as real and relatable. A quote from a fantastic section of the book about rage vs. respectability:
"Rage is a fundamentally more reasonable response to America's cultural investment in the disrespect of Black women than being respectable. That's why it's damn near impossible for rage and respectability to reside in the same place. On her last day, Mrs. Obama didn't sublimate the rage over Trump and his wife to the province of the slay. She simply refused. Rage is a kind of refusal. To be made a fool of, to be silenced, or to stand for anybody's bullshit. It is a refusal of the lie that Black women's anger in the face of routine, everyday injustice is not legitimate."
Cooper covers an expansive set of important issues in Eloquent Rage, so I will mention just a few of my favorite points here. I loved the central theme of how we should harness and honor rage and anger as anti-oppression tools that can create change and joy. Cooper weaves herself into these essays too, such as by writing about how toxic masculinity impaired the men in her family as she grew up, as well as how the political implications of marriage rates for black women affected her on a psychological level. I so appreciated her skepticism about individual empowerment from a social justice framework and her constructive criticism about white women's participation in racism. If you feel defensive reading her words, it may be beneficial to unpack that emotion and examine your privileges and biases. Another quote I cherish from this book, about representation:
"Most of my love of Black girl pop icons and Black music lived out of sight of anyone but my mother. That tucking away of my Black-girlness, even as I simultaneously tucked away my awareness of my friends' whiteness, was a survival skill that I honed, in part, by reading and immersing myself in the stories of white girls' lives. Before we fully learn to love ourselves, all people of color in the United States learn that we are supporting characters and spectators in the collective story of white people's lives. The stories we watch and read ask us to put aside their whiteness and relate to their very 'universal' human struggles around conflict with the world, the self, and others. The problem is that only the experiences of white people are treated as universal. Meanwhile, Black movies, shows, and books are typically seen as limited and particular."
Overall, an excellent essay collection I would recommend to anyone interested in feminism, human rights, and social justice. While some sections felt a little circuitous, Cooper's heart and wisdom won me over every time. Cooper is unapologetic in how she centers black women in her analyses and that makes Eloquent Rage an all the more worthwhile and necessary read. I will end this review with one final quote, just because I loved so many passages from this book:
"Because respectability is a rage-management project, those invested in Black respectability are often deeply uncomfortable with Black rage. Respectability tells us that staying alive matters more than protecting one's dignity. Black rage says that living without dignity is no life at all. This rage is dangerous because it can't be reasoned with, can't be forced to accept the daily indignities of racism, and more than likely will fight back, rather than fleeing or submitting. The consequence of all these antirespectable choices range from violence to death."
February 20, 2018
2/20--this is now out! GO GET IT NOW!!
I received an advanced copy of this through NetGalley. Views are my own.
This is essential reading.
This was a powerful, heartbreaking, hilarious, important read. I can't recommend it enough.
I loved that while Cooper discusses topics both weighty and highly academic, her writing retains a sense of accessibility. I don't mean that it's dumbed down at all--her arguments are full of research and nuance--but rather that she clearly crafted this book with the audience in mind. Cooper even mentions the early difficulties she had with black feminist texts, because they ARE so pedantic. This feels like a solution: all of the knowledge, all of the analysis, but intentionally packaged in a way that is consumable both in and out of academia. Cooper's narrative voice feels like a friend sitting you down, presenting the facts, and demanding that you listen. It feels more conversational than academic, and it's a page-turner because of it.
This book is triumphantly Black. Specifically, Black feminist. Cooper's insight and analysis of the experience of Black women are rooted in her own experiences. I love that she is both radical in her celebration of Black women and Black feminism, and that she simultaneously acknowledges that sometimes you just want to watch a romcom, and that doesn't mean you need to hand in your feminism card.
I suspect that there will be some people--white men and women, black men, perhaps even other black women--wILL read this and take offense at Cooper's call-outs. If you find yourself in this category, I recommend some internal reflection. If a statement about "white feminists" has you foaming at the mouth, it says more about your performance of inclusive, intersectional feminism than it does about Cooper's arguments.
Like I already said--I can't recommend this enough.
I received an advanced copy of this through NetGalley. Views are my own.
This is essential reading.
This was a powerful, heartbreaking, hilarious, important read. I can't recommend it enough.
I loved that while Cooper discusses topics both weighty and highly academic, her writing retains a sense of accessibility. I don't mean that it's dumbed down at all--her arguments are full of research and nuance--but rather that she clearly crafted this book with the audience in mind. Cooper even mentions the early difficulties she had with black feminist texts, because they ARE so pedantic. This feels like a solution: all of the knowledge, all of the analysis, but intentionally packaged in a way that is consumable both in and out of academia. Cooper's narrative voice feels like a friend sitting you down, presenting the facts, and demanding that you listen. It feels more conversational than academic, and it's a page-turner because of it.
This book is triumphantly Black. Specifically, Black feminist. Cooper's insight and analysis of the experience of Black women are rooted in her own experiences. I love that she is both radical in her celebration of Black women and Black feminism, and that she simultaneously acknowledges that sometimes you just want to watch a romcom, and that doesn't mean you need to hand in your feminism card.
I suspect that there will be some people--white men and women, black men, perhaps even other black women--wILL read this and take offense at Cooper's call-outs. If you find yourself in this category, I recommend some internal reflection. If a statement about "white feminists" has you foaming at the mouth, it says more about your performance of inclusive, intersectional feminism than it does about Cooper's arguments.
Like I already said--I can't recommend this enough.
July 2, 2019
🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
“Real radicalism implores us to tell the whole ugly truth, even when it is inconvenient. To own the hurt and the pain. To own our shit, too. To think about it systemically and collectively, but never to diminish the import of the trauma.”
I first picked this book up a few months ago and DNF-ed it. I felt frustrated that the author calls out all white people on racism and kept thinking, "Well, I'm not racist!". How could she write a book saying white people are racist when she doesn't know all of us!? I felt myself getting more and more upset and decided to abandon the book. However, it bothered me that I didn't finish it; I think on some level I knew it was a book I needed to read. At that time though, I wasn't going to get jack-shit out of it because I was in the wrong frame of mind. I was sitting in a big old pile of white fragility.
So, what happened to change this from being a DNF to a 5 star book? Well, I read some other books that changed the way I think. White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism showed me that I couldn't both listen and run a constant "but I'm not racist" soundtrack in my head. It showed me the various ways in which racism rears its ugly head, even in those of us who are well-meaning and think we're not racist. It got me to shut up and listen. (Click here for my review and definitions of prejudice, racism, and discrimination that are helpful if you too are thinking "But I'm not racist".)
Next I read So You Want to Talk About Race and was further blown away by all that I had been missing. These two books really opened my eyes and made me see myself in a whole new light, made me face myself and look at how racism manifests in me. I realised why I had been unable to read Eloquent Rage and knew it was time to pick it up again.
Guess what? It's like a totally different book! Indeed, had I not written why I abandoned it before, I would not have been able to figure out the reason. Reading it, I kept wondering, how the heck was I upset over this?! I felt personally attacked before, and it was an entirely different experience this time. Why? Because my ego got out of the way and I just listened. Really listened. I wasn't sitting there being all defensive, wishing Ms. Cooper could see me and how am not racist. Nope, this time my ego took a back seat and let Ms. Cooper drive. This time I absolutely loved this book and see why it has such high ratings. This woman is brilliant! She writes eloquently and elegantly about racism and sexism. She calls out white people and black men for how we/they oppress Black women. With grace and insight, she discusses everything from intersectional feminism, religion, white (and patriarchal) supremacy, white fragility, systemic racism, and more. There is SO MUCH in this book that a review cannot possibly do it justice. It is a book that demands to be read and re-read. I found myself many times re-reading entire pages because it was so profound that I couldn't absorb it all in one reading. I wanted to memorize these words. Please, please, please, dear white people -- read this book!
“Real radicalism implores us to tell the whole ugly truth, even when it is inconvenient. To own the hurt and the pain. To own our shit, too. To think about it systemically and collectively, but never to diminish the import of the trauma.”
I first picked this book up a few months ago and DNF-ed it. I felt frustrated that the author calls out all white people on racism and kept thinking, "Well, I'm not racist!". How could she write a book saying white people are racist when she doesn't know all of us!? I felt myself getting more and more upset and decided to abandon the book. However, it bothered me that I didn't finish it; I think on some level I knew it was a book I needed to read. At that time though, I wasn't going to get jack-shit out of it because I was in the wrong frame of mind. I was sitting in a big old pile of white fragility.
So, what happened to change this from being a DNF to a 5 star book? Well, I read some other books that changed the way I think. White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism showed me that I couldn't both listen and run a constant "but I'm not racist" soundtrack in my head. It showed me the various ways in which racism rears its ugly head, even in those of us who are well-meaning and think we're not racist. It got me to shut up and listen. (Click here for my review and definitions of prejudice, racism, and discrimination that are helpful if you too are thinking "But I'm not racist".)
Next I read So You Want to Talk About Race and was further blown away by all that I had been missing. These two books really opened my eyes and made me see myself in a whole new light, made me face myself and look at how racism manifests in me. I realised why I had been unable to read Eloquent Rage and knew it was time to pick it up again.
Guess what? It's like a totally different book! Indeed, had I not written why I abandoned it before, I would not have been able to figure out the reason. Reading it, I kept wondering, how the heck was I upset over this?! I felt personally attacked before, and it was an entirely different experience this time. Why? Because my ego got out of the way and I just listened. Really listened. I wasn't sitting there being all defensive, wishing Ms. Cooper could see me and how am not racist. Nope, this time my ego took a back seat and let Ms. Cooper drive. This time I absolutely loved this book and see why it has such high ratings. This woman is brilliant! She writes eloquently and elegantly about racism and sexism. She calls out white people and black men for how we/they oppress Black women. With grace and insight, she discusses everything from intersectional feminism, religion, white (and patriarchal) supremacy, white fragility, systemic racism, and more. There is SO MUCH in this book that a review cannot possibly do it justice. It is a book that demands to be read and re-read. I found myself many times re-reading entire pages because it was so profound that I couldn't absorb it all in one reading. I wanted to memorize these words. Please, please, please, dear white people -- read this book!
June 19, 2019
Update: listened to the audiobook & it was just as good as the first time. But if I had to pick a preference, I prefer the hard copy.
______________________________________________________________
My new Bible. Finally a book that puts definition or structure to the internal rage I’ve been feeling as a black women. Thank you Brittney for writing this.
______________________________________________________________
My new Bible. Finally a book that puts definition or structure to the internal rage I’ve been feeling as a black women. Thank you Brittney for writing this.
June 12, 2022
I am not sure that I’ve related this much to a collection of essays in a very long time. Brittney Cooper’s Eloquent Rage is a indictment of neoliberal society and its myths of exceptionalism, but also a “homegirl hem-up” for those of us struggling to correct both systemic oppression and our personal flaws.
I’ve been a fan of Brittney Cooper’s since my senior year of high school, when I first encountered her website, The Crunk Feminist Collective. As a sixteen year-old in South Carolina, the work of Southern black women in academia (ex: Cooper and Regina Bradley) was the first exposure I had to Africana Studies, and the option to study my own culture in college. I’ve since lost my ill-suited dream of becoming an Africana professor, but many of their lessons have remained important for my personal growth. Cooper’s fearlessness to call bullshit on society and her black intellectual community left me excited to pick up whatever book she came out with.
Given this fandom, I still hadn’t hurried to pick up her memoir. My experience with the more notorious “black feminist memoir” of 2018 left me a bit tired of the form. When I read an excerpt from Cooper’s book in LongReads, I knew I needed to go ahead and get my hands on this one.
For many reasons, this collection spoke to my reality in this crazy insular way. For one, Cooper is proudly country, a very pleasant surprise I’d forgotten would be in her work! She reps small town Louisiana well, and inhabits that endemic need to make (even uber-academic) things plain. I didn’t know she was also a preacher’s child, but I should’ve guessed, as she literally ends this book with a benediction that made the submerged Baptist in me give a quick shout. :) I like to think the unique strength of us PKs is to see the good intentions and false pretenses of the black church, and Cooper succeeds on both fronts.
She connects the grown woman theologists in her life to her feminist ideals, instead of separating the two because of the harmful ideas she learned in the sanctuary. As someone who knows that my (church and biological) mothers have led me to feminism, it was refreshing to see this linkage being made! Too often, coming to know Jesus and coming to know yourself are isolated projects, and thankfully Cooper refuses to make such a distinction. It is this audacity to be grown, woke, and sanctified that makes her work unique and timely.
If you’re looking for one essay that takes the cake, I’d give the prize to “Favor Ain’t Fair”—what a beautiful, churchy title!!! What a beautiful, incriminating essay, that lays bare the “survivor’s guilt” of black folk who have achieved enough education to “beat the statistics” laid out for our people. She grapples with the ideas of jealousy, class privilege, and intellectual posturing in ways we all could learn from.
I do have one small gripe with this book, which is why it’s not a full 5-star read for me—it’s helplessly straight. I say helpless because Cooper does attempt to mention queer and trans black women, but in ways that made me want to pat her back for “at least trying.” These essays’ mentions of non-cishet black women were at best, afterthoughts, and at worst, rather uncomfortable. Cooper’s unassuming “girl crushes” and sexually benevolent, predatory lesbian friends were so cringe-worthy that I was almost glad this book bore no substantive engagement of queer love. It’s not that I don’t expect this straightness from books by non-LGBTQ writers, it’s just that because of Cooper’s great insight elsewhere, I believed she was really close to doing more on this front.
For example, in “White-Girl Tears,” I found it very brave that she spoke about the betrayal black women feel when black men pursue interracial relationships. She extends this hurt to a very real discussion of “political love” and the radical nature of black women choosing to love black men. However, while Cooper encourages white women and black men to unpack harmful ideologies in their relationships, she doesn’t dissect the heteronormativity of her own desire with the same energy. I won’t lie, these omissions did leave her engagement with the black feminist tradition feeling a bit off-center. When I read older black feminists (specifically queer ones), I understand them to be suggesting that the most radical love we can express is to those who are most unloved by society—in many cases, this is other black women.
To her credit, Cooper has an immense amount of platonic and familial love for her black women, and it radiates through the non-romantic parts of this book. In my opinion, this is how you personally engage the black feminist tradition—what I think we all wanted Morgan Jerkins to do in This Will Be My Undoing: Living at the Intersection of Black, Female, and Feminist in (White) America! All shade aside, I am so excited share this book with my own homegirls, and to see y’all’s thoughts on Goodreads. I wish all the best to Cooper with her book tour, and pray she reschedules her cancelled date in Philadelphia! :)
I’ve been a fan of Brittney Cooper’s since my senior year of high school, when I first encountered her website, The Crunk Feminist Collective. As a sixteen year-old in South Carolina, the work of Southern black women in academia (ex: Cooper and Regina Bradley) was the first exposure I had to Africana Studies, and the option to study my own culture in college. I’ve since lost my ill-suited dream of becoming an Africana professor, but many of their lessons have remained important for my personal growth. Cooper’s fearlessness to call bullshit on society and her black intellectual community left me excited to pick up whatever book she came out with.
Given this fandom, I still hadn’t hurried to pick up her memoir. My experience with the more notorious “black feminist memoir” of 2018 left me a bit tired of the form. When I read an excerpt from Cooper’s book in LongReads, I knew I needed to go ahead and get my hands on this one.
For many reasons, this collection spoke to my reality in this crazy insular way. For one, Cooper is proudly country, a very pleasant surprise I’d forgotten would be in her work! She reps small town Louisiana well, and inhabits that endemic need to make (even uber-academic) things plain. I didn’t know she was also a preacher’s child, but I should’ve guessed, as she literally ends this book with a benediction that made the submerged Baptist in me give a quick shout. :) I like to think the unique strength of us PKs is to see the good intentions and false pretenses of the black church, and Cooper succeeds on both fronts.
She connects the grown woman theologists in her life to her feminist ideals, instead of separating the two because of the harmful ideas she learned in the sanctuary. As someone who knows that my (church and biological) mothers have led me to feminism, it was refreshing to see this linkage being made! Too often, coming to know Jesus and coming to know yourself are isolated projects, and thankfully Cooper refuses to make such a distinction. It is this audacity to be grown, woke, and sanctified that makes her work unique and timely.
If you’re looking for one essay that takes the cake, I’d give the prize to “Favor Ain’t Fair”—what a beautiful, churchy title!!! What a beautiful, incriminating essay, that lays bare the “survivor’s guilt” of black folk who have achieved enough education to “beat the statistics” laid out for our people. She grapples with the ideas of jealousy, class privilege, and intellectual posturing in ways we all could learn from.
I do have one small gripe with this book, which is why it’s not a full 5-star read for me—it’s helplessly straight. I say helpless because Cooper does attempt to mention queer and trans black women, but in ways that made me want to pat her back for “at least trying.” These essays’ mentions of non-cishet black women were at best, afterthoughts, and at worst, rather uncomfortable. Cooper’s unassuming “girl crushes” and sexually benevolent, predatory lesbian friends were so cringe-worthy that I was almost glad this book bore no substantive engagement of queer love. It’s not that I don’t expect this straightness from books by non-LGBTQ writers, it’s just that because of Cooper’s great insight elsewhere, I believed she was really close to doing more on this front.
For example, in “White-Girl Tears,” I found it very brave that she spoke about the betrayal black women feel when black men pursue interracial relationships. She extends this hurt to a very real discussion of “political love” and the radical nature of black women choosing to love black men. However, while Cooper encourages white women and black men to unpack harmful ideologies in their relationships, she doesn’t dissect the heteronormativity of her own desire with the same energy. I won’t lie, these omissions did leave her engagement with the black feminist tradition feeling a bit off-center. When I read older black feminists (specifically queer ones), I understand them to be suggesting that the most radical love we can express is to those who are most unloved by society—in many cases, this is other black women.
To her credit, Cooper has an immense amount of platonic and familial love for her black women, and it radiates through the non-romantic parts of this book. In my opinion, this is how you personally engage the black feminist tradition—what I think we all wanted Morgan Jerkins to do in This Will Be My Undoing: Living at the Intersection of Black, Female, and Feminist in (White) America! All shade aside, I am so excited share this book with my own homegirls, and to see y’all’s thoughts on Goodreads. I wish all the best to Cooper with her book tour, and pray she reschedules her cancelled date in Philadelphia! :)
February 4, 2024
★4 stars and a full RTC.
I feel a little weird about giving this a rating, as so much of this book is autobiographical. But wow. I came here to learn, and Brittney TAUGHT ME. Still processing my thoughts.
✎𓂃 “This is a book by a grown-ass woman written for other grown-ass women. This is a book for women who expect to be taken seriously and for men who take grown women seriously. This is a book for women who know shit is fucked up. These women want to change things but don’t know where to begin.”
I feel a little weird about giving this a rating, as so much of this book is autobiographical. But wow. I came here to learn, and Brittney TAUGHT ME. Still processing my thoughts.
✎𓂃 “This is a book by a grown-ass woman written for other grown-ass women. This is a book for women who expect to be taken seriously and for men who take grown women seriously. This is a book for women who know shit is fucked up. These women want to change things but don’t know where to begin.”
April 16, 2018
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This is one of those books where it feels wrong to say that I "enjoyed" the book because it is a book about inequality and oppression, and anger and pain, and I didn't exactly have a grand old time reading it. On the other hand, I found it fascinating and interesting and important, and even though it isn't necessarily something someone would read for fun, it should be read and I'm very glad I received a copy of it to read and review for my blog.
I am a feminist, but I'll be the first to agree that feminism as we know it comes from a predominantly white, cis-het perspective. There are a lot of oversights and holes in the doctrines, and ELOQUENT RAGE sheds some light on those holes, particularly as they apply to women of color. It was so wonderful reading a feminist book from a woman of color's perspective because she brings up so many things feminist books exclude.
Some of my favorite essays were the one about using one's anger productively; the essay on politics of black hair; the essay on BLM; the essay about the Obamas; the essay on sexuality; and the line about "woke" guys who talk the talk but continue acting like misogynistic "not all men" a-holes. This latter especially happens to be a major peeve of mine. Some of her essays were a bit drier than others and I liked the ones that had her personal touch, like the scene with a student in the beginning that ended up providing the inspiration for this essay's title or the one about her grandmother gleefully recounting her sexual prowess. Those were great.
I think some people are going to have difficulty swallowing these essays because they're probably going to make you uncomfortable. I felt a little uncomfortable while reading this, but in a good way, because books like these force you to ask important questions of both yourself and society. A lot of people think that if something makes them uncomfortable, it is "bad" and I'm sure there's going to be a number of reviewers saying, "Oh boy, another book attacking white people, how racist!" But the thing is, this book isn't attacking white people. It is a book that condemns people, some of whom happen to be white, who continue to omit black women from feminist and progressive dialogues. The anger is justified, and, yes, eloquent, and serves as a call to action to change that.
Thanks to Netgalley/the publisher for the review copy!
3 stars
December 23, 2021
2021 has for me become a sort of reckoning with my youthful veneer (with the exception of gray hair) advancing into wisdom and experience (in my mind's eye of course). To speak more plainly, this year I have read several books by folks that are not in my generation and it shows in the writing. Dr Brittany Cooper has a PhD in American Studies and she is an Associate Professor at Rutgers University in Women's Studies. She is also a commentator on MSNBC. Definitely an extremely intelligent and accomplished person…who could be my daughter (if I had gotten pregnant at a very very young age 😉). There is a pattern in younger nonfiction authors that I don't connect with completely. They constantly insert themselves into their writing. Idk, I guess when I picked up the book of essays on the black feminist finding her superpower, I expected something broader. Cooper is by no means the only writer who does this. Last year I read Trick Mirror to similar impressions. Last year I also read Joan Didion's Slouching Towards Bethlehem. It was a book of her musings on life in California written at an age younger than Cooper but in the 1960s. Didion's book did not feel nearly as "youngish" to me which is why it feels like a generational thing. Like being preoccupied with selfies (For the record, I liked Eloquent Rage much more than Slouching Towards Bethlehem or Trick Mirror). There are plenty of reviews by people that love this book because of its intimacies with the author, shared experiences and what not. I know that audience well; it used to be me (young, educated, primarily (but not exclusively) Black female). But as I read more books and try to derive meaning and substance and opinion etc; lately I've had to go to the internet to figure out what "crunk" means . My lack of children has me Google dependent for 21st century colloquialisms. But I do have lots of experiences, so I "get" what she is trying to convey.
About the book... I think Cooper is brilliant, and observant and astute and engaging. She is excellent at articulating concepts and actually does encourage the reader to take a deeper look at the "why" of things. Cooper's background provides her a vantage from several perspectives and she brings them all to bear in her analysis of Black women in modern America. She's definitely worth reading as she works to deprogram systemic racism and sexism present in all of our upbringing for centuries. Some excerpts (keep in mind that this book was published in 2018…IOW prescient!):
Overall, readable, intelligent, thoughtful, interesting, and worthwhile though a few of her essays were too long and contained a youthful, self-centric mode that annoyed me. For my tastes I preferred the writing style of equally smart Thick: And Other Essays by Tressie McMillan Cottom. However, Cooper's more exuberant (aka "crunk") book and writing style was less scathing and more hopeful. I finished the book knowing that a generation other than mine is willing to confront systemic "isms" and is already working towards making things better. And in that spirit I say "Carry on, Dr. Cooper!!"
4 Stars
Read on kindle
About the book... I think Cooper is brilliant, and observant and astute and engaging. She is excellent at articulating concepts and actually does encourage the reader to take a deeper look at the "why" of things. Cooper's background provides her a vantage from several perspectives and she brings them all to bear in her analysis of Black women in modern America. She's definitely worth reading as she works to deprogram systemic racism and sexism present in all of our upbringing for centuries. Some excerpts (keep in mind that this book was published in 2018…IOW prescient!):
Overall, readable, intelligent, thoughtful, interesting, and worthwhile though a few of her essays were too long and contained a youthful, self-centric mode that annoyed me. For my tastes I preferred the writing style of equally smart Thick: And Other Essays by Tressie McMillan Cottom. However, Cooper's more exuberant (aka "crunk") book and writing style was less scathing and more hopeful. I finished the book knowing that a generation other than mine is willing to confront systemic "isms" and is already working towards making things better. And in that spirit I say "Carry on, Dr. Cooper!!"
4 Stars
Read on kindle
March 1, 2019
Dr. Brittney Cooper’s Eloquent Rage is brutally honest and is written with humor and grace. Cooper presents multiple ways race, gender, and class touch in the oppression of Black Women, and how we subsequently navigate in the world. She provides solid research on why we all should own our rage and she does not sugarcoat words or try to make her evidence comfortable for black men and white people who believe themselves to be good. People of all races and genders, should read this book.
March 3, 2019
This books was EVERYTHING!! Do you hear me? Brittney Cooper was raw, comedic, on point and so relatable. She's just brilliant. There's no other way for me to describe it.
I think everything that I've ever thought or wanted to say as it pertains to African Americans and especially women was addressed in her book. In the past, people often liked to place me in a box growing up because I spoke different, played a white sport, listened to different types of music and rocked long hair. It was an extremely tiring thing to hear about yourself over and over again. Glad Brittney talked about the box many of her fellow classmates put her in because I definitely could relate to this part of her book and so many others.
The most valuable take away was that it's ok for me to feel how I feel in certain situations and be me. Own who I am (even if sometimes it seem stereotypical), especially with dating and our general battles with black men. She laid it all on the table and in the most eloquent way. Brittney has given us black women a voice and a strong one at that. I cannot wait to read it all again as I'm sure it will become even more valuable the more chances I let it soak in.
I rated this book ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ and it will be another that I gift to all my sister friends and family. A must read for any black woman and heck, anyone that wants to truly understand black women.
I think everything that I've ever thought or wanted to say as it pertains to African Americans and especially women was addressed in her book. In the past, people often liked to place me in a box growing up because I spoke different, played a white sport, listened to different types of music and rocked long hair. It was an extremely tiring thing to hear about yourself over and over again. Glad Brittney talked about the box many of her fellow classmates put her in because I definitely could relate to this part of her book and so many others.
The most valuable take away was that it's ok for me to feel how I feel in certain situations and be me. Own who I am (even if sometimes it seem stereotypical), especially with dating and our general battles with black men. She laid it all on the table and in the most eloquent way. Brittney has given us black women a voice and a strong one at that. I cannot wait to read it all again as I'm sure it will become even more valuable the more chances I let it soak in.
I rated this book ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ and it will be another that I gift to all my sister friends and family. A must read for any black woman and heck, anyone that wants to truly understand black women.
May 10, 2018
Y'all need to run and get yourself a copy of this book because Dr. Brittney motherfucking Cooper did that! Damn this book is fantastic!
April 1, 2018
OH MY!!! Dr. Cooper EMPTIED THE CLIP IN THIS BRILLIANT PIECE OF LITERATURE!!! This is what we young women need today! There is rage but as the title professes it is eloquent. From beginning to end, top to bottom she leaves no stone unturned and goes about it both methodically and warmly. If I could give it 10 Stars I would— it is the best book of 2018 and it’s just April. I hope to meet this beautiful and brilliant scholar someday, I’d even love to take her class. This is the type of woman I wish to be: straight up, responsible, non conforming, educated despite of what men say and just a bad ass all around!! Read this book, you will not be let down 💚. AND I SAY YES to the slow dances too Dr. C!!!! #Magnifique 💚💚💚
May 31, 2019
It seems to me that after white women handed the election to Trump, the literary world just turned its head over to black women and were like "um, so can you please just fix this?" and thus the renaissance in "eloquent rage." I don't know if I am just reading a lot of these books or if it's actually the case that so many books just like this are being published--essays by black women explaining race and feminism and other cultural problems to the rest of the world. This one was great--I loved especially her essays wrestling with sexism in the black community. A few times I did feel uncomfortable when she made statements like "black women know..." or "black women feel..." I know what she's saying, but I imagine black women are as diverse a group as any other group of people.
May 23, 2018
This book is everything, absolutely exhilarating! Brittney Cooper’s passion for black women and girls radiates throughout this book. It’s hard not to have your blood pressure go up a notch and your heart race a little faster while reading this book. I screamed out loud, laughed, said amen & preach Brittney! She spares the feelings of no one and I fully appreciate her take it or leave it unapologetic gut punching truth telling. THANK YOU #BrittneyCooper for going to the mountaintop to scream some things that I’ve felt or thought in my lifetime! This book is without a doubt a #mustread but first check your feelings at the door!
📚🍷🖤
“Black women know what it means to love ourselves in a world that hates us.”
—
“What Black feminism and my grandmother have taught me is that Black women are experts on their own lives and their own well-being.”
—
“White rage is deeply connected to a fear of losing privilege and status in a browning American empire. When your entire worldview is predicated on being on top, sinking from the top even a little bit can feel like an annihilation.”
📚🍷🖤
“Black women know what it means to love ourselves in a world that hates us.”
—
“What Black feminism and my grandmother have taught me is that Black women are experts on their own lives and their own well-being.”
—
“White rage is deeply connected to a fear of losing privilege and status in a browning American empire. When your entire worldview is predicated on being on top, sinking from the top even a little bit can feel like an annihilation.”
October 5, 2018
What America needs, we know, is not always what America is willing to listen to. But Black women are America, too, even if some are deeply invested in having us forget that. And not just Black women who are mired in struggle, petty jealousies or self-hatred because they can't see themselves, but Black women who love ourselves when we are laughing and when we are broken hearted, who want to know joy and liberation even when we want to twerk and be ratchet, cry outrageous tears, try to be Spiritual in a land of heathens, be heathens ourselves half the time (to hear our elders tell it) and have someone mirror back to us the utter magnificence of these complexities. Eloquent Rage belongs in the Black feminist canon with bell hooks' Sisters of the Yam and Audre Lorde's Sister Outsider and is in the tradition of the likes of June Jordan with its healing honesty while being singular in its piercing political insights. I'll always be grateful that I read it at this moment, as I watched the worlds of middle class and white feminists rise up against what looked inevitable again, reading Brittney's prophetic words that are also in the tradition of the Combahee River Collective, of Sojourner Truth and so many of our Black foremothers. I found myself underlining whole passages with glee and if I weren't out here grinding for my livelihood the way I do, I would dedicate whole hours thematically livetweeting about the holistic Black feminist edification project that is Brittney Cooper's tone of affection and wisdom dedicated just to us. I laughed and was fed by her and her family, reminded of a self that I buried and also tried to make smaller or hide in a time of mourning, grief and wounding again and again. Black women and Black feminists feel like we are always doing battle with somebody over something but in these pages, I could lay my burden down and what beautiful liberation that is. It's only right that this church service ends with a benediction, with a call for joy that rings true and rings out and asks only that you answer it in a way that is true for you, because you got this. We got this.
January 31, 2022
Dr. Brittney Cooper is my shero.
That is all.
!!! https://africanbookaddict.com/2018/08...
That is all.
!!! https://africanbookaddict.com/2018/08...
March 3, 2018
Confession: Just when I thought that I could not love Brittney Cooper more, she published Eloquent Rage. It took me longer than normal to read this book because it was so raw, so personal, and so full of rage. Dr. Cooper's writing is so smooth - she goes in and out of the towers of academia and ends up on her grandmother's porch all within the same sentence. She is clearly an intellectual, but also a homegirl in the best possible way. Cooper uses her own experience as a highly educated Black woman from the South to read America for all of her inconsistencies, injustices, and failures. The books touches upon the subjects of Black feminism (of course!), Black love, the trope of the "strong" Black woman, the Black church and those pesky white girl tears. I have been struggling with deciding on a book to get my niece to begin her Black Feminist war chest and I have definitely found it. I would highly recommend this book to my friends and "associates" alike. Truly excellent.
March 9, 2022
this is a book i already know i will be revisiting time and again.
Dr. Brittney Cooper is SO GOOD at parsing the complex nuances of her Black feminist politics, (in)justice, and the ways in which our personal lives—friendship, intimacy, self-perception—are profoundly shaped by structural violence. there is something so radical, for me, in her articulate honesty.
beyond the depth, breadth, and poignance of her ideas, there is also such power in her delivery. her writing is cogent and accessible at both the intellectual and emotional levels. and Dr. Cooper sticks the landing EVERY single time: the final essay in this collection is but one uplifting example.
Dr. Brittney Cooper is SO GOOD at parsing the complex nuances of her Black feminist politics, (in)justice, and the ways in which our personal lives—friendship, intimacy, self-perception—are profoundly shaped by structural violence. there is something so radical, for me, in her articulate honesty.
beyond the depth, breadth, and poignance of her ideas, there is also such power in her delivery. her writing is cogent and accessible at both the intellectual and emotional levels. and Dr. Cooper sticks the landing EVERY single time: the final essay in this collection is but one uplifting example.
February 28, 2019
A very powerful, astute, raw and brutally honest memoir which professor Brittney Cooper describes in her introduction as a "book for women who expect to be taken seriously and for men who take grown women seriously.This is a book for women who know shit is fucked up. These women want to change things but don't know where to begin."
October 22, 2018
Smart AF. Eloquent is an understatement. Cooper is a force for good and my god she is exciting too. Intersectional and powerful. Centering black womaness and feminism. Check this book out.
April 11, 2020
Update: Even better the second time around....
“Not solely or primarily. Black feminism is about the world Black women and girls can build, if all the haters would raise up and let us get to work. When I talk about owning eloquent rage as your superpower, it comes with the clear caveat that not everyone is worth your time and your rage. Black feminism taught me that. My job as a Black feminist is to love Black women and girls. Period.”
This book is required & immediate reading for everyone. This book gave me so much the language & context to articulate so many feelings. I truly appreciate that the author writes with clarity & compassion. The point was made very early that it is ok to be a ‘black girl in process’ because ‘every feminist origin story matters’. The author bravely illustrates this point using her own life experiences.
Eloquent Rage is a collection of essays centered around the experiences of being a black girl & woman in this world steeped in patriarchy & white supremacy using personal experiences, accessible feminist theory, & facts grounded in history & current events. She tackles the rarely discussed issues of black girl & woman friendships, girlhood & the process of becoming an individual, challenges of partnering & motherhood for black women, & the impact of respectability politics & theology on black girls. This book also does not shy away from the hard topics of state-sanctioned violence against black women, middle-class anxieties, interracial relationships among others.
One of the most reaffirming lessons for me is behind my eye rolls & smirks is a layer of restrained rage because as a black woman, my outright anger is often discredited or undermined, even in the safest spaces. However, the author also conveys with such clarity that not all rage is righteous & that ‘Black women with unchecked rage & emotional work left undone can do real harm.” Brittney Cooper is a brilliant voice championing & centering black women & their experiences. For this, I have much much gratitude for her & her work
“Not solely or primarily. Black feminism is about the world Black women and girls can build, if all the haters would raise up and let us get to work. When I talk about owning eloquent rage as your superpower, it comes with the clear caveat that not everyone is worth your time and your rage. Black feminism taught me that. My job as a Black feminist is to love Black women and girls. Period.”
This book is required & immediate reading for everyone. This book gave me so much the language & context to articulate so many feelings. I truly appreciate that the author writes with clarity & compassion. The point was made very early that it is ok to be a ‘black girl in process’ because ‘every feminist origin story matters’. The author bravely illustrates this point using her own life experiences.
Eloquent Rage is a collection of essays centered around the experiences of being a black girl & woman in this world steeped in patriarchy & white supremacy using personal experiences, accessible feminist theory, & facts grounded in history & current events. She tackles the rarely discussed issues of black girl & woman friendships, girlhood & the process of becoming an individual, challenges of partnering & motherhood for black women, & the impact of respectability politics & theology on black girls. This book also does not shy away from the hard topics of state-sanctioned violence against black women, middle-class anxieties, interracial relationships among others.
One of the most reaffirming lessons for me is behind my eye rolls & smirks is a layer of restrained rage because as a black woman, my outright anger is often discredited or undermined, even in the safest spaces. However, the author also conveys with such clarity that not all rage is righteous & that ‘Black women with unchecked rage & emotional work left undone can do real harm.” Brittney Cooper is a brilliant voice championing & centering black women & their experiences. For this, I have much much gratitude for her & her work
July 8, 2022
I really loved this collection of essays by Dr. Brittney Cooper. I won’t say that I didn’t get uncomfortable when reading these because that would be a lie, but willing to be uncomfortable is part of the growing process. Dr. Cooper is an excellent writer who is passionate and articulate. I did think a couple of the essays could have been a bit shorter and they seemed to be a little circular, but they were still powerful. I definitely recommend to this collection to anyone seeking to better understand feminism and more specifically Black feminism.
July 20, 2020
✊🏿✊🏾✊🏽✊🏼
“Real radicalism implores us to tell the whole ugly truth, even when it is inconvenient. To own the hurt and the pain. To own our shit, too. To think about it systemically and collectively, but never to diminish the import of the trauma.”
This book was amazing, powerful, and at times, humorous. Cooper speaks from the heart.
“If you say fuck the patriarchy but you don’t ride for other women, then it might be more true that the patriarchy has fucked you, seducing you with the belief that men care more about your well-being than women do. It isn’t true.”
“When I talk about owning eloquent rage as your superpower, it comes with the clear caveat that not everyone is worth your time or your rage.”
“Real radicalism implores us to tell the whole ugly truth, even when it is inconvenient. To own the hurt and the pain. To own our shit, too. To think about it systemically and collectively, but never to diminish the import of the trauma.”
This book was amazing, powerful, and at times, humorous. Cooper speaks from the heart.
“If you say fuck the patriarchy but you don’t ride for other women, then it might be more true that the patriarchy has fucked you, seducing you with the belief that men care more about your well-being than women do. It isn’t true.”
“When I talk about owning eloquent rage as your superpower, it comes with the clear caveat that not everyone is worth your time or your rage.”
July 7, 2019
I found this book constructive and educational. The title really says it all - Cooper tells her personal story and brilliantly wields research and statistics to illuminate the obstacles black women face every day in America.
May 27, 2018
There were definitely some points that Brittney made powerfully about rape and power, the politics of interracial dating, and black male masculinity as desegregated patriarchy that I found striking. When she's in her pocket her words are decisive, powerful, and illuminating. Her discussion of interracial dating and rape and their connection to power and freedom were DEEP. When she talked about respectability politics and Black rage I felt that in my spirit. With that said, one of the struggles I had with this book is that she occasionally argues herself into a corner or belabors points in ways that hinder rather than bolster her argument. There are times when she complicates a strong argument by going on tangents that weaken her main points (the White Women's Tears chapter was an example of this). There were also a few times throughout the book that I felt she extrapolated interpersonal hurts to structural issues in ways that took away from the power of her arguments. I was frankly a bit disappointed by the book because I read and watched interviews with her that made me so excited to read this book. It may be that she's stronger as a speaker or essay writer and that books are not her best medium. It's a struggle I see in a few of my favorite writers. For example I love Zadie Smith's essays but her books never quite hit the mark for me. I still look forward to hearing Brittney Cooper on panels and in interviews because her analysis is much needed. Some of my favorite quotes from the book are below:
"I wonder if we've learned how to count the costs of our respectability. It makes us emotionally dishonest. It makes us unable to see each other. It causes us to sympathize with the dignity vampires, come to take everything from us while claiming we brought it on ourselves...because respectability is a rage-management project, those invested in Black respectability are often deeply uncomfortable with Black rage. Respectability tells us that staying alive matters more than protecting one's dignity. Black rage says that living without dignity is no life at all"
"White women and Black men share a kind of narcissism that comes from being viewed as the most vulnerable entities within their respective races...white women frequently don't recognize that though women are oppressed around the world, whiteness elevates the value of their femininity and allows them to get away with shit that women of color pay royally for."
"Rape is tied to questions of power and consent, but interracial dating is tied to questions of power and freedom"
"I'm tired of the lie that relationships and love are not political. The struggle of queer folks to build families in the ways they desire demonstrate the love is political."
"the collective, orchestrated fury of Black women can move the whole world. This is what the Black Lives Matter movement has reminded us. There is something clarifying about Black women's rage, something essential about the way it drills down to the core truth."
"We need to embrace our messiness more. We need to embrace the ways we are in process more. Very often Black girls don't get the opportunity to be in process."
"I wonder if we've learned how to count the costs of our respectability. It makes us emotionally dishonest. It makes us unable to see each other. It causes us to sympathize with the dignity vampires, come to take everything from us while claiming we brought it on ourselves...because respectability is a rage-management project, those invested in Black respectability are often deeply uncomfortable with Black rage. Respectability tells us that staying alive matters more than protecting one's dignity. Black rage says that living without dignity is no life at all"
"White women and Black men share a kind of narcissism that comes from being viewed as the most vulnerable entities within their respective races...white women frequently don't recognize that though women are oppressed around the world, whiteness elevates the value of their femininity and allows them to get away with shit that women of color pay royally for."
"Rape is tied to questions of power and consent, but interracial dating is tied to questions of power and freedom"
"I'm tired of the lie that relationships and love are not political. The struggle of queer folks to build families in the ways they desire demonstrate the love is political."
"the collective, orchestrated fury of Black women can move the whole world. This is what the Black Lives Matter movement has reminded us. There is something clarifying about Black women's rage, something essential about the way it drills down to the core truth."
"We need to embrace our messiness more. We need to embrace the ways we are in process more. Very often Black girls don't get the opportunity to be in process."
September 24, 2018
An all-time fav in the genre- it is the intersectional memoir essay collection I've been waiting for and I absolutely loved it. I loved how she presented her arguments, I loved her use of personal details to paint a larger picture, and I loved her use of pop culture. This is my jam for this type of book
February 25, 2019
I've learned so much!
March 31, 2021
I had this book on my Want to Read list for a long time, but, because of Too Many Books, Too Little Time (and Money), I never actually got around to picking it up. But then, recently, I saw Brittney Cooper doing an interview (I can't recall which show or what the interview was even about, specifically) but I pegged her and I was like "WAIT... I wanna read her book!" So, I scoped it out and the library had an audio copy, and BOOM, I snagged it.
I was a little bit surprised by this book right off the bat though. I guess, considering the title, I didn't really expect it to be so positive and uplifting. I thought that this was going to be more of a rant, a well-justified one, to be sure, but I was not expecting unabashed love and acceptance and support. I expected this to eviscerate the system that treats black women so poorly... and it does - she does not pull punches... but it also felt personal and kind and understanding, on the whole. (An example of this is a story she tells about meeting up with some of her childhood bullies, and having a conversation with them and realizing that her perceptions of why they treated her how they did were wrong. She forgave them, even though another friend who also endured their torment was frustrated by "letting them off the hook"... but Cooper is nothing if not empathetic. She is able to understand their childhood feelings and resentments and understood the outlet for them, but realized that she didn't need to hold on to her anger about it. I just really appreciated and loved this kind of understanding.)
At the same time, I definitely felt her criticism of my demographic (white women), and I had to catch myself getting defensive about it. She made a comment (paraphrasing) like "White women, come get your people." (referring to the women who voted for Trump) and I was like "THOSE ARE NOT MY PEOPLE." But... the whole reason I read books like these are to learn and be better and NOT have kneejerk defensive reactions to stuff like this... because she is NOT wrong.
Whether I claim them or not... or agree with them or not (and I think we all know that I fucking do not.), they are my people. It is not the responsibility of those who are oppressed to counter the oppression - that needs to come from within the house, so to speak. WE have to stand up and work to make society better and less unjust and biased and racist. We have to get our people. She's right.
It's telling to me that this is the first time, in any of the anti-racism books that I've read, including the one on White Fragility, that I have felt that kind of reaction. I did NOT enjoy being lumped in with Trump voting white women. I had a visceral NOPE reaction to that and immediately felt defensive and rejected it outright. But I had to remind myself that... to someone who doesn't know me, why would they assume I WASN'T one of them? When the group I'm in routinely works against the group she is in, I can't blame her for calling us out for not stepping up to bat for the cause we supposedly stand in solidarity with. No matter how much we are already doing, we gotta do more.
I kept thinking of that Key & Peele skit about the meeting of the Tallahassee Black Republicans, and how they are not a monolith. But... From the outside, it sure looks like one. (Here's the skit, if you haven't seen it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2tLy...)
This collection of essays was really great. She covers a lot of different areas, but one of my absolute favorites was her recounting her grandma telling her that she needed to get some. It just cracked me up. She talks about her father's erratic behavior, and how he was estranged, and then was killed, and how she had to learn about the man he was after he was gone, and that just broke my heart, but I completely understand her mother's decision to split with him as well. Cooper's mother is a STRONG woman, and her influence was huge in Cooper's life. She talks about dating and religion and having to reconcile the two, and also having to reconcile her feminism while dating, and that's a struggle I can definitely understand.
All in all, this was a great book, and I definitely recommend reading it. I listened to the audio, and while I enjoyed it, Brittney Cooper read it herself. I usually don't like authors reading their own work, but usually give it a pass when it's a nonfiction/memoir/essay style book like this is - but I just found her reading style distracting at times. That's really my only criticism. Everything else was great.
I was a little bit surprised by this book right off the bat though. I guess, considering the title, I didn't really expect it to be so positive and uplifting. I thought that this was going to be more of a rant, a well-justified one, to be sure, but I was not expecting unabashed love and acceptance and support. I expected this to eviscerate the system that treats black women so poorly... and it does - she does not pull punches... but it also felt personal and kind and understanding, on the whole. (An example of this is a story she tells about meeting up with some of her childhood bullies, and having a conversation with them and realizing that her perceptions of why they treated her how they did were wrong. She forgave them, even though another friend who also endured their torment was frustrated by "letting them off the hook"... but Cooper is nothing if not empathetic. She is able to understand their childhood feelings and resentments and understood the outlet for them, but realized that she didn't need to hold on to her anger about it. I just really appreciated and loved this kind of understanding.)
At the same time, I definitely felt her criticism of my demographic (white women), and I had to catch myself getting defensive about it. She made a comment (paraphrasing) like "White women, come get your people." (referring to the women who voted for Trump) and I was like "THOSE ARE NOT MY PEOPLE." But... the whole reason I read books like these are to learn and be better and NOT have kneejerk defensive reactions to stuff like this... because she is NOT wrong.
Whether I claim them or not... or agree with them or not (and I think we all know that I fucking do not.), they are my people. It is not the responsibility of those who are oppressed to counter the oppression - that needs to come from within the house, so to speak. WE have to stand up and work to make society better and less unjust and biased and racist. We have to get our people. She's right.
It's telling to me that this is the first time, in any of the anti-racism books that I've read, including the one on White Fragility, that I have felt that kind of reaction. I did NOT enjoy being lumped in with Trump voting white women. I had a visceral NOPE reaction to that and immediately felt defensive and rejected it outright. But I had to remind myself that... to someone who doesn't know me, why would they assume I WASN'T one of them? When the group I'm in routinely works against the group she is in, I can't blame her for calling us out for not stepping up to bat for the cause we supposedly stand in solidarity with. No matter how much we are already doing, we gotta do more.
I kept thinking of that Key & Peele skit about the meeting of the Tallahassee Black Republicans, and how they are not a monolith. But... From the outside, it sure looks like one. (Here's the skit, if you haven't seen it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2tLy...)
This collection of essays was really great. She covers a lot of different areas, but one of my absolute favorites was her recounting her grandma telling her that she needed to get some. It just cracked me up. She talks about her father's erratic behavior, and how he was estranged, and then was killed, and how she had to learn about the man he was after he was gone, and that just broke my heart, but I completely understand her mother's decision to split with him as well. Cooper's mother is a STRONG woman, and her influence was huge in Cooper's life. She talks about dating and religion and having to reconcile the two, and also having to reconcile her feminism while dating, and that's a struggle I can definitely understand.
All in all, this was a great book, and I definitely recommend reading it. I listened to the audio, and while I enjoyed it, Brittney Cooper read it herself. I usually don't like authors reading their own work, but usually give it a pass when it's a nonfiction/memoir/essay style book like this is - but I just found her reading style distracting at times. That's really my only criticism. Everything else was great.
March 22, 2018
Yo where do I begin —— this was quite possibly the dopest, most modern and relatable book about Black Feminist rage (capital B, capital F) that I have ever read. It was so clear and hit me on so many levels that it’s clarity just astounded me. I tweeted various lines from the book because they were just so true I had to share them.
Every section / chapter of this book eloquently spoke of all the rage I’ve felt my entire life. Even how eloquently Brittney critiqued her own internal contradictions (contradictions, I no doubt imagine hold massive weight amongst black women everywhere) was deeply relatable and made me overwhelmed at points.
The clarity with which this writing is presented I had to stop at times and call my mom and sister and read them sections and they were like — yoooo, who wrote that, it’s so true!
I gotta thank Brittney Cooper and the league of women coming out with these books, sharing their stories for this Millenial era speaking on black female experiences from this youthful, completely considerate of the times viewpoint. It’s so nice to read something modern, and that’s no shade to the OGs, but it’s something different to find relatable texts set in the current experiences of black 20something and 30something women.
Brittney’s thoughtful segments on Beyoncé and the power and levels to Beyoncé’s activism and the amount of light and understanding shed around why Beyoncé is fiercely targeted and protected by black women really hit me hard too. The commentary around the formation video made me cry.
The segments on black love, white girl tears —chiiiiiiillllddd... my rage just boiled up due to the thorough understanding and the elegant explanations surrounding experiences that I know only too damn well. My neck still hurts from nodding in agreement so damn hard.
I highly recommend this book. It’s completely on point.
Every section / chapter of this book eloquently spoke of all the rage I’ve felt my entire life. Even how eloquently Brittney critiqued her own internal contradictions (contradictions, I no doubt imagine hold massive weight amongst black women everywhere) was deeply relatable and made me overwhelmed at points.
The clarity with which this writing is presented I had to stop at times and call my mom and sister and read them sections and they were like — yoooo, who wrote that, it’s so true!
I gotta thank Brittney Cooper and the league of women coming out with these books, sharing their stories for this Millenial era speaking on black female experiences from this youthful, completely considerate of the times viewpoint. It’s so nice to read something modern, and that’s no shade to the OGs, but it’s something different to find relatable texts set in the current experiences of black 20something and 30something women.
Brittney’s thoughtful segments on Beyoncé and the power and levels to Beyoncé’s activism and the amount of light and understanding shed around why Beyoncé is fiercely targeted and protected by black women really hit me hard too. The commentary around the formation video made me cry.
The segments on black love, white girl tears —chiiiiiiillllddd... my rage just boiled up due to the thorough understanding and the elegant explanations surrounding experiences that I know only too damn well. My neck still hurts from nodding in agreement so damn hard.
I highly recommend this book. It’s completely on point.
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