#Eloquent rage how to

There's of course a lot of talk about white supremacy. In owning that analysis, in letting it shape how we think about the world - there's a lot of talk in this moment about capitalism, right, because we've seen folks moving farther to the left after the election of 2016 in some ways. The continuing problem of male violence and male dominance is real. It's a clunky word, but the concept is spot on. PS: As feminists, what do you think that we can do to make the world a better place for ourselves?īC: In this moment, I think we have to not back down from the analysis that says patriarchy is a real problem. We shouldn't be asking other people, 'Why are you so angry?' It should be, 'Why are you not angry?' And so the rest of the world is off in their reactions when they don't feel that way. We recondition ourselves into thinking that it is legitimate, and that other people are being unreasonable when they don't recognize that in the face of the sort of massive forms of sexual violence that we're learning about through the #MeToo movement, or all the injustice that we see through the struggle of Dreamers, or through the movement for Black Lives - all of these sort of big political things happening in this moment. Shout, and see what happens.' I think the thing that happens is that we shout at other people's responses, and then accept other people's response to our enraged reactions. One of the things I'm saying to women is, 'Sometimes you just need to shout. PS: I think that cerebral aspect is key - there are so many things happening and it's just like, 'I know I need to say something but what do I do to explain this to everybody, and how do I get my message across without just shouting it into the void?'īC: That's right. And I think in doing so, it powers the other kinds of work that I want to do in the world in a way that feels deeply both gratifying to me and, I hope, useful for others. Rage is a thing that you have to feel in your body. Because I'm a nerd - both professionally and personally - and it's very easy when you're a nerd to be cerebral, to try to be overly analytic about everything. When I use that feeling of anger and all of the things that surround it - vulnerability and fear and potential powerlessness - when I channel that rage through my writing, through my teaching, through my activist work, it seems to give it a different quality, one that folks can relate to and understand, and it feels like it helps me to sort of be deeply embodied. So part of the reason that I own it as a superpower is because I do think I'm at my best when I tap into the things that I'm angry about. So there were lots of moments of experience for me that were deeply enraging - and I had suppressed all of that rage, rather than learning to have a healthy relationship to it. So this book is about reclamation - in the tradition of Audre Lorde, who also wrote very famously and beautifully about anger and its power - about trying to reclaim this rage in a way that can be expressive and powerful for black women, and not in a way that will not be weaponized against us, or used to delegitimize our call for justice.īC: I grew up encountering lots of modes of injustice as a black girl living in the Deep South, and as a black girl with a father who struggled with addiction and domestic abuse.

#Eloquent rage how to

It feels to me like the most eloquent rage I've ever heard.' That began a moment of reckoning for me, around how to grapple with my own anger as a person - and as a black woman, also battling the angry black woman stereotype and not wanting to succumb to it. So I tell the story in the book of this very mild confrontation that we have where she calls me out for this anger (in a good way) and says, 'I see it. She was a black girl looking for modes of connection in a predominantly white institution, and for her, that rage felt authentic. she felt my anger radiated through the way that I lectured. POPSUGAR: What does the term 'eloquent rage' mean to you?īrittney Cooper: That term comes from one of my students, actually. POPSUGAR caught up with Cooper by phone shortly after Eloquent Rage was released in late February 2018, and a transcript of that wide-ranging conversation (lightly edited and condensed for clarity) is below. Timely, powerful, and an absolute page-turner, Eloquent Rage is destined for a gilded spot in the feminist canon, and further cements Cooper's role as one of the most important voices in America today.

With her book, Eloquent Rage: A Black Feminist Discovers Her Superpower, she traces her own personal journey toward embracing the anger that drives her forward, as well as what she learned about society along the way. As one of the brightest stars in academia - and as a blogger, commentator, and author - Cooper has inspired millions with her words on race, feminism, and culture. Brittney Cooper isn't afraid to speak her mind.