Assigned Readings: Hooks, Bell- Salvation: Black People and Love.
Chapter Three: “T he Issue of Self- Love”
Chapter Four: “Valuing Ourselves Flightly”
In your first paragraph, Hooks discusses the role of Black women in the act of creating
loving relationships for Black Americans. How are poor Black families portrayed in
mass media according to Hooks? Provide a quote to affirm your analysis. Provide a
quote in your analysis. In your second paragraph, according to Hooks, what is the role
that colorism plays in choosing mates in the life of Black Americans? Provide a quote
to affinn your answer-
Imagining Black Love in the 21st Century
Lecture Notes
The question of the images of Black love produced in mass media is mixed. Bell Hooks, cultural critic and feminist, asserts that Black loving relationships on the silver screen are too far
and between. I do not always agree with Hooks, but the scholar helps starts a conversation about Black Americans as they continue to develop in the twenty-first century. As this course is about
examining the emotional development of Africans Americans throughout history and the effects of racism and discrimination on their relationships with themselves and other ethnic communities. More
importantly, as Black America continues to strive in all fields and become more intertwined in the American mainstream, it is important that we examine some of the issues they have faced and why
they react socially and politically in today’s social climate.
Hooks starts her chapter “The Issue of Self-Love” with a critical statement and evaluation of Black families. Although black families struggle to present two-house hold families, children
in single household families are rarely without male influence whether it is coming from uncles, grandfathers, cousins and friends. But Hooks mainly focuses in on the early part of her chapter on
the struggles of Black mothers. In Jim Crow, many Black women were forced to work in white family homes, but this has changed in the twenty-first century. Yet, she is right to celebrate these women
and use their experiences as a start to a discussion of Black families. Black mothers, especially in Jim Crow, carried a great weight, especially single Black mothers today. Black mothers were the
center piece to healthy homes as most Black families refer to their homes as mother’s house even when the father is there paying most of the bills! This is true of grandparents’ homes especially.
Hooks is correct that our traditional Black families did not discuss racism in the home until something happens and you will find that Black Americans today try to leave it at the family’s
doorstep. Thus, in the discussion of race and relationships, Black families do not discuss racism as much as people think.
Yet, Hooks does some critical work here in examining how media representations of Black families create an unfair and negative image. Focusing on the representations of women, the scholar
examines early movies such as Imitation of Life and television sitcoms, such as the Cosby Show to show the extremes of Black Family representations. She argues that Black women were originally
presented as long suffering and sacrificing objects. However, Hooks does falls into the success envy trap that too many scholars highlight as the issue of the Cosby Show. In this case, the scholar
does not critique it at all for its positive images and only comments on the arguments that other Black scholars argue as unrealistic since most people cannot image a two parent highly educated
Black family, which is more common as many of you will marry educated Black Americans such as yourself. Media usually shows Black people and families in the extreme which is very good and very bad
which leaves viewers within the race or outside it with little contemplation of Black people as normal human beings. Even today, shows like Empire and Blackish continue the extremes and Scandal and
How to Get Away with Murder is worse.
Hooks does highlight the critical issue of love. Black Americans are highly functional and their talents comes from both their middle class and poor communities. It is the trauma of being
Black in a hostile country is where Black Americans struggle and it usually manifest itself in intimate relationships. Especially when we discuss interracial relationships later in the semester, it
is important for people who choose to love Black Americans to know that racial trauma manifest itself in myriad ways and that Black Americans are not as talkative about it creating emotional issues
unbeknownst to their emotional partners.
This is where Bell Hook’s chapter “Valuing Ourselves Rightly” shines. She discusses the microaggressions Black Americans are exposed to daily. Hooks writes, “Whether the issue is a painful color
caste system in black life or violent actions used by whites against blacks (denigrating speech, physical aggression, or dehumanizing representation), every day all black people encounter (as does
everyone else) some expression of hatred toward blackness, whether we recognize it or not (55).” Black people are bombarded with these sounds and subtle expressions, especially the word
“articulate,” meaning you are smarter than we thought you was. For those who are committed to understanding Black Americans, this is an important step in understanding the emotional trail of living
Black lives.
Perhaps more pertinent to the development of Black race and relationships is the term white supremacy that Hooks invokes. This is a strong word and is mostly misconstrued as it usually connotes
hateful white people, but its true meaning is that American society uses white people, their culture, and actions as the norm and expects nonwhite Americans to conform to it in speech, actions, and
cleansing of their cultures. Thus, white supremacy or whiteness is the unconscious acceptance that white culture is American culture, which it clearly is not if one watches the way Americans
consumes music, dance, sports, and popular culture then one should admit that Black America and our other people of color have had profound influence.
Yet, Hooks argues that what has mostly affected Black Americans has been the skin color issue called colorism. That is, lighter skin has been accorded a more better disposition of beauty, action,
and reward in American society. Most of our ethnic Americans has some form of this and Hooks argues Black Americans have struggled accordingly. She argues that that this self-internal issue has
created social hierarchies within Black America. It is evident in popular commercials of late and discussed when Beyoncé and Halle Berry get elevated as more talented Black women seem to not get
the public accolades deserved. Hooks asserts that this is a self-imposed issue of Black people’s struggle to value their own bodies. In the study of race and relationships, one will encounter Black
Americans who can speak to this within their own families and their own experiences. Thus, your bonus question for week three is to discuss a personal experience where you heard someone speaking
about skin color and relegating lighter skin people as more desirable (whether Black, Asian, Latino, or White). Provide a quote from Hooks’ chapter 4 to affirm your experience.
Hooks end her chapter 4 discussing how colorism affected the behavior of Black children. The scholar notes that lighter skinned children either received or meted out ridicule based on skin color.
Hooks also discusses the negative side of school integration where Black children were exposed to uncaring teachers who saw differences instead of promise. Moreover, she argues that the labeling of
acting white divides Black academic striving into two camps that equated smart kids to acting outside their race. Hooks explains that media only heightens this with its negative portrayals of Black
characters and Black complicity in accepting these images. Thus, loving Black Americans can be for some a challenge in comprehending the trauma the legacy of racism has infiltrated Black
consciousness, but as Hooks notes, it can also be a political act as well. Perhaps, loving Black Americans is also a lifetime act that all loving relationships will endure in order to endure.