Ain't I a Woman and bell hooks

WIKICOMMONS

Listen Up

BY CHERIE BUCKNER-WEBB

In the course of my lifetime, so many wonderful people from a multitude of backgrounds, ages, professions, and relationships have “prophetically” shared their calling on my life – their word of truth for me. Neighborhood soothsayers, pastors, root workers, talent scouts, musicians, business folks, friends, foes, visionaries, mystics, and family have shared the “real purpose” for my life. No big surprise, they differed greatly.

As a “colored” girl from the south side of the tracks, I have realized many of their prophecies. I was fortunate to have the opportunity to earn Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees, work for and with great organizations nationally and internationally, and make beautiful music with talented artists in venues near and far. I serve on local and national boards, and I have built and operate a couple of businesses. I am also blessed to have an amazing extended family. Have mercy. I am very grateful and extremely humbled just writing these words.

In retrospect, “doing these things” has been daunting, exhilarating, exhausting, and made my life purposeful. All that “doing” has been the labor toward becoming the Cherie I am called to be. But I didn’t do this alone. I am ever grateful for those who shared the keys toward achieving a harmonious wholeness of mind, body, and spirit.

In my youth, Idaho just didn’t provide entree to Black professional women; there were few leaders and thinkers who questioned, disagreed, and spoke their truths with power and clarity about the experience of the marginalized. But I did have access to strong role models, fearless individuals who would question, disagree, and speak the truth of the marginalized with power and clarity. Black women writers brought the larger world within reach.

Today, I pay homage to bell hooks, one who honored the past with truth, faced injustice fearlessly, and illuminated the struggles of Black women in not only the white world, but also in the cultural context of the Black community. Ms. hooks, author, visionary, activist, feminist, sister, passed away in late December 2021. Her passing broke my heart. Though I never met her, she was one of my sister-writer-mentors.

I pay homage to bell hooks, one who honored the past with truth, faced injustice fearlessly, and illuminated the struggles of Black women in not only the white world, but also in the cultural context of the Black community.

I often felt as if she walked with me. Her work, “Ain’t I A Woman: Black Women and Feminism,” truly struck a chord with me that continues to ring in my ear. First, because the title refers to Sojourner Truth’s famous speech, “Ain’t I A Woman,” and also because it was one of the first books I read detailing the systematic disrespect and sexual objectification of Black women in America. She chronicled the challenges of Black women from slavery up to the time of publication of the book. She spoke directly about oppression, duality, faux acceptance, and how the interconnectivity of race and gender perpetuates oppression within and across cultures.

bell hooks supported my determination to realize a synergy of mind, body, spirit that I had not known before “meeting” her. Her courageous honesty ignited a fire in me to “come out as feminist” without apology, to strive for congruence and authenticity. Unspoken notions about what constitutes a “good Black girl” were dispelled and replaced with the wholeness of embracing all rights, independence, and uniqueness due to me.

bell hooks, thank you for your indomitable spirit, illuminating words, righteous legacy, and for shedding light on the darkness.