Discussion Post--Sept. 11th: Monika, Eugene, Hak, Danny, Benjamin

"Without the framework of an organized civil rights or black resistance struggle, individual and collective efforts at black liberation that focus on the primacy of self-definition and self-determination often go unrecognized. It is crucial that those among us who resist and rebel, who survive and succeed, speak openly and honestly about our lives and the nature of our personal struggles, the means by which we resolve and reconcile contradictions. This is no easy task. Within the educational institutions where we learn to develop and strengthen our writing and analytical skills, we also learn to think, write, and talk in a manner that shifts attention away from personal experience" (hooks, 77).

The very long quote above from the bell hooks piece is a thought concerning the apparent inability for oppressed peoples--specifically young, Black people in academia--to be recognized for their efforts at asserting their personhood and acknowledging their poor or working-class connections. hooks seems to point out that since many of these individuals are coaxed to assimilate into the dominant culture, that by being candid about their lives and struggles, these individuals can push back against educational institutions that shift "attention away from personal experience." To share these stories to the widest audience possible (i.e. the people), hooks suggests we use "simple language" (77).

Here are some questions to consider:

• How is storytelling a form of resistance, if at all? What stories should we tell? Why?
• What is "simple language"? Is it learned through education or personal experience?
• When referencing Richard Rodriguez's autobiography, hooks mentions that in order for Rodriguez to assimilate at Stanford he had to discard his "family language," (81) which she labels as Spanish. How would you define "family language"? Does it differ from "simple language"?
• Finally, hooks states that "it is important for us to have as many languages on hand as we can know or learn" (80). What languages do you think hooks suggest we know? Where do we learn these languages?