Eloquent Rage

November 6, 2017
Cooper, Cosmopolitan contributor and cofounder of the Crunk Feminist Collective blog, provides incisive commentary in this collection of essays about the issues facing black feminists in what she sees as an increasingly retrograde society. Many of the essays are deeply personal, with Cooper using her own experiences as springboards to larger concerns. In the essay “The Smartest Man I Never Knew,” Cooper uses the story of the attempted murder of Cooper’s mother (while she was pregnant with Cooper) by her mother’s jealous boyfriend as an example of American culture’s toxic masculinity. Elsewhere in the collection, the author explores her own identity as a black, Southern, Christian feminist and the ways in which personal politics can become incongruous, and she openly admits her own privilege. Cooper is at her best and most inflammatory in an essay titled “White Girl Tears,” in which she bulldozes white feminists for cultural appropriation and failing to “come get their people” during the 2016 presidential election. Cooper also cleverly uses Michelle Obama’s hair to craft an artful censure of respectability politics and discusses Beyoncé as a cultural symbol of black female solidarity. In these provocative essays, Cooper is both candid and vulnerable, and unwilling to suffer fools.

December 15, 2017
A professor explores the ways "sexism, and racism, and classism work together to fuck shit up for everybody" and how feminism can begin undoing the damage."We [black women] are told we are irrational, crazy, out of touch, entitled, disruptive and not team players," writes Cooper (Women and Gender Studies, Africana Studies/Rutgers Univ.). But as her feminist foremother Audre Lorde once remarked, this anger was not only legitimate; it was also "a powerful source of energy serving progress and change." Here, Cooper brings together essays tracing her evolution as a feminist while giving voice to the political (out)rage seething within. The author begins by detailing the difficult journey that led her to "disidentify with [the] whiteness" of mainstream feminism and learn to embrace her "particular Black girl magic." Her quest for political authenticity meant fighting with white women over racism and black men over sexism. Participating in these separate battles did not blind her to the need for alliances with both groups, however; they only made her more aware of the need for creating solidarity across communities to topple patriarchy. Cooper's feminist journey also forced her to shed cultural "baggage"--such as the racism of a white society that questioned her movements on American streets and the sexism of black society that sought to control her sexuality through the church--that limited her passage through the world. Once uncovered and focused, however, the rage that inevitably comes from such injustices is of tremendous benefit to all. Cooper points to tennis star Serena Williams, former first lady Michelle Obama, and singer Beyonce as contemporary black feminist role models. By learning how to channel their rage in their areas of endeavor, they have earned game-changing respect that has transcended race and gender. Sharp and always humane, Cooper's book suggests important ways in which feminism needs to evolve for the betterment not just of black women, but society as a whole.A timely and provocative book that shows "what you build is infinitely more important than what you tear down."

COPYRIGHT(2017) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

July 1, 2018

In her debut, Cooper, cofounder of the Crunk Feminist Collective, reflects on the role that racism and sexism have played in her life-and the lives of black women in the United States. "To be black is to grow up in a world where white feelings can become dangerous weapons." Being a black woman, she adds, is to be both visible and invisible. As a child in rural Louisiana, Cooper was often the lone black girl in her class and within her circle of friends; she considers whether that experience led her to have an affinity for fictional white characters, from those in "The Baby-Sitters Club" to Gilmore Girls. Later, she recounts the outpouring of white guilt after the 2016 election, in addition to her complicated relationship with the black church. Growing up in the church, Cooper began to question her faith as a Southern Baptist and whether there was a place for her in evangelicalism. In sharing her evolution into a self-professed black feminist grateful for Beyoncé as a feminist icon, Cooper deftly examines friendships between black women. In her case, this often meant not being considered black enough. VERDICT An insightful read for teens questioning politics or faith and those looking to learn more about black feminism and social justice.-Stephanie Sendaula, Library Journal

Copyright 2018 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 1, 2018

In her debut, Cooper, cofounder of the Crunk Feminist Collective, reflects on the role that racism and sexism have played in her life-and the lives of black women in the United States. "To be black is to grow up in a world where white feelings can become dangerous weapons." Being a black woman, she adds, is to be both visible and invisible. As a child in rural Louisiana, Cooper was often the lone black girl in her class and within her circle of friends; she considers whether that experience led her to have an affinity for fictional white characters, from those in "The Baby-Sitters Club" to Gilmore Girls. Later, she recounts the outpouring of white guilt after the 2016 election, in addition to her complicated relationship with the black church. Growing up in the church, Cooper began to question her faith as a Southern Baptist and whether there was a place for her in evangelicalism. In sharing her evolution into a self-professed black feminist grateful for Beyonc� as a feminist icon, Cooper deftly examines friendships between black women. In her case, this often meant not being considered black enough. VERDICT An insightful read for teens questioning politics or faith and those looking to learn more about black feminism and social justice.-Stephanie Sendaula, Library Journal

Copyright 2018 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from December 1, 2017

American history and pop culture are put under a keen lens in this astute memoir. Cooper, cofounder of the Crunk Feminist Collective, traces her relationship with the concept of feminism, from a young skeptic to an outspoken advocate. This journey is not easy; the scholar documents her rural Louisiana upbringing in which the vibrancy of black womanhood at home jockeyed with the experiences of racism, sexism, and classism in school, with friends, and at church; the misogynist leanings of mainstream Christianity are a steady undercurrent through her grapplings with feminism. Deftly blending the conversational tone of a memoir with pointed critique, Cooper offers a comprehensive and accessible analysis of topics from the Bible to pop music to U.S. politics past and present. Searing insights regarding toxic neoliberal connotations of "empowerment" and the complicity of white feminism in oppression fall alongside vulnerable discussions of sexuality, growing up around domestic abuse, and increasing anxiety over black motherhood. Throughout, rage serves as a motif of black women; though often ignored, dismissed, or violently quelled, rage in its nuanced forms can act as a means of survival and a basis for change. VERDICT An ambitious, electrifying memoir. Recommended for readers seeking contemporary social commentary that's unrelenting yet humorous.--Ashleigh Williams, School Library Journal

Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.