(Part of a series singing through the hymnbook I grew up with: Great Hymns of the Faith) 1 Love divine, all loves excelling, Joy of heav’n, to earth come down; Fix in us Thy humble dwelling, all Thy faithful mercies crown. Jesus, Thou art all compassion, Pure unbounded love thou art; Visit us with Thy … Continue reading #2: Love Divine
Crossing Class Boundaries
In chapter 13 of Class Matters Hook discusses moving back and forth between classes. She started in a working class family, and moved through college into a middle-class educated environment. Her fear was losing who she was as a daughter of the working class. But she learned through practice that she could maintain who she … Continue reading Crossing Class Boundaries
Class Claims: Real Estate Racism
Chapter 12 of Class Matters is about racism in real estate, and how class is used to reinforce race. She discusses her experiences trying to buy property in California, Florida and New York. NYC, one of the most ethnically diverse city in the world, and yet is still so ethnically and racially segregated. And class … Continue reading Class Claims: Real Estate Racism
Solidarity with the poor
In the opening of Chapter 11 of Class Matters, Hook makes one of those common, but also logically flawed uses of words. Poor and poverty are not the same thing. To go from “the poor will always be with us” as the words of Jesus, to talking about poverty is to cloud an issue that … Continue reading Solidarity with the poor
Old Folks at Home
A Stephen Foster song, earned him a lot of money – but his name never appeared on it during his lifetime. The Swanee river is acutally the Suwannee river of Florida. I never realized where it was until seeing it accidentally on a map one time. But the river comes to represent the stereotypical Southern … Continue reading Old Folks at Home
White Poverty: The Politics of Invisibility
“In the southern world of racial apartheid” is how Hook begins chapter 10 of Class Matters. Again she chooses the most charged terms possible to radicalize her conversations. This chapter focuses on poor whites vs. blacks. Poor whites, some of which are known as “white trash,” had an advantage in being able to lord it … Continue reading White Poverty: The Politics of Invisibility
Feminism and Class Power
Hooks opens up chapter nine of Class Matters by discussing the two forms of Feminism. The reformist model of liberation demands equal rights for women without changing the current class struggle. Revolutionary feminism seeks fundamental change in the existing structures. And just as the “militant black liberation” struggle lost its appeal to ending classism once … Continue reading Feminism and Class Power
#1: O Worship the King
(Part of a series singing through the hymnbook I grew up with: Great Hymns of the Faith) 1 O worship the King, all glorious above, And gratefully sing His pow'r and His love; Our Shield and Defender, the Ancient of Days, Pavilioned in splendor and girded with praise. 2 O tell of His might, O … Continue reading #1: O Worship the King
Class and Race: The New Black Elite
Bell starts Chapter 8 of Class Matters talking about the suppression of historical scholarship on the contributions of African explorers, and the fact that most blacks trace their history in American to slavery while whites trace themselves to journeys of the privileged. Apparently the quintessential example of American colonizers – the pilgrims fleeing religious oppression … Continue reading Class and Race: The New Black Elite
The Me-Me Class: The Young and the Ruthless
I have finally figured out what has been nagging me about Bell Hooks. I am reading her book for a master’s level class on Intercultural and International communications. I was expecting this to be another well-researched book by an expert in the field. But it isn’t. Hooks isn’t an expert. She is a writer and … Continue reading The Me-Me Class: The Young and the Ruthless
At The Rainbow 