The practice of love offers no place of safety. We risk loss, hurt, pain. We risk being acted upon by forces outside our control.
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The moment we choose to love we begin to move against domination, against oppression. The moment we choose to love we begin to move towards freedom, to act in ways that liberate ourselves and others.
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Wisely, Baldwin insisted that we are always more than our pain. Not only did he believe in our capacity to love, he felt black people were uniquely situated to risk loving because we had suffered.
~ bell hooks
i can't summarize what bell hooks means to me. how her work ushered me through every stage of my being. how she awakened me to systems of domination and oppression, how her reflections on love expanded my experience of what it means to be in relationship with others in ways that are freeing. she was always so frank, humorous, keen - pure spring water, a lantern, the moon. i'm heartbroken. her absence is intergalactic, cavernous. so much gratitude and love for mama bell. may she rest in peace, in power.
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