But you don’t just see black women in the street protesting. The public narrative is about black women and girls continuing to express their collective outrage about the killing of black men. In light of the past month, how are you thinking about the future of black women and girls? The interview has been shortened and edited for clarity.

Cooper, an associate professor of women’s and gender studies and Africana studies at Rutgers University, about the shared anger of black women and why that power needs to be harnessed right now. Cooper’s writing - how anger can be a rational, revolutionary principle - has proved resonant in recent weeks amid nationwide protests against police brutality, discussions of systemic inequality and black Americans dying from Covid-19 at alarming rates.Ī few days before Juneteenth, I spoke with Dr. Cooper writes in “Eloquent Rage: A Black Feminist Discovers Her Superpower.” “The clarity that comes from rage should also tell us what kind of world we want to see, not just what kind of things we want to get rid of,” Dr. When Serena Williams was penalized for “verbal abuse” of an umpire in 2018, there was repudiation of the stereotype again.īut Brittney Cooper, a scholar and activist, has urged black women to reclaim the label rather than reject it entirely. Shonda Rhimes, the Hollywood showrunner, has fought back against the label too. Michelle Obama has spoken about distancing herself from the trope.

The “angry black woman” stereotype has been picked apart and widely condemned in recent years. “The critical mass we’ve seen suggests something is shifting in the ether.” Brittney Cooper, author of “Eloquent Rage.”

Eloquent Rage by Brittney Cooper