Killing Rage by Bell Hooks

Bell Hooks, author of Killing Rage is currently Distinguished Professor of English at the city College of New York. She is the author of several books and articles on race, gender and class. In Killing Rage she discusses "black rage"--the repressed anger of blacks against racism. In the chapters "Militant Resistance" and "Beyond Black Rage" she sets the stage for the discussion using two stories--one about a personal experience with "black rage" and the other about an "angry" black man who shot several passengers on a New York subway.

The chapter "Militant Resistance" was a direct result of the author's rage at several racist encounters in a single day. As she describes the situation and the immense amount of rage boiling inside her, she mentions how she would like to inflict pain and even kill the cause of that rage--to show how "racism hurts" (11). She goes on the explain how Blacks have been conditioned to suppress their rage at and deny the existence of injustice against them. Bell Hooks believes that whites are not the only ones to be held responsible for this suppressed internal pain of Blacks but well off blacks who do not see their fate tied with the condition of the entire race also encourage the denial of cruelty and brutality against blacks (17). Instead of seeing black rage as negative, Hooks believes it is a "potentially healthy, potentially healing response to oppression and exploitation" (12). She also points out that one reason for the encouragement of the suppression of black rage is that its expression signals the existence of an active and responsive "presence" of the Black community (12). Suppression of the rage is thus the silencing of a race.

In the section, "Beyond Black Rage," bell hooks explains the true origins of black rage, and the way in which this rage is perceived by a white supremacist capitalist patriarchal society. Hooks explains how "black rage" is not the threat to racism and violence in society. Hooks believes that the danger of racism lies in the generalization that all violence committed by

blacks on whites is a racial issue. In a specific example given, hooks explains a story of a Jamaican man opening fire on a train and killing numerous white and black passengers. In a newspaper article on the subject, it stated that it was an act of racial violence on white people. In addition, a few white commentators stated that the man's rage was uncontrollable and

that they, themselves, would never commit an act of rage against a black person even if they were prejudiced. Hooks uses this example to prove that white society is so ignorant to their own actions that they see only what they want to - which in this case was black on white violence. Hooks goes even

further to say that their ignorance of not being able to take responsibility for any of that rage is exactly what causes racism.

Another contributing factor of racism, that hooks points out, is the denial of rage by upper class blacks in order to get along with and feel as though they are equals to their white associates and companions. Instead of acknowledging rage as a healthy way of discussing racial issues and changing

white society, this class finds it easier to "swallow" their angers in order to get ahead in the white society. Hooks argues that this is not only unhealthy for the black upper class individuals but also for the oppression that African Americans have to face everyday of their lives. In order to stop the racial violence, it is important to acknowledge race and understand it so

that a positive change can be made for equality in society.

The essay is unique in that it represents an oppressed individual speaking out for herself and her race by herself. Thus the reader gets to experience a barrage of emotions directly from its source. The only point of concern is how black rage can be channeled to produce positive results. Bell Hooks put pen to paper when she felt she had enough, but exactly how can blacks actually put up a "militant resistance" without invoking in the media a one-dimensional image of an angry black man/woman. The expression of anger in a positive and constructive manner is, indeed, a very difficult task.

Shama & Connie