Bell Hooks Quotes

I've written 18 books, mostly dealing with issues of social justice, ending racism, feminism, and cultural criticism.

It is important to me to keep fighting for the rights of those who cannot.

Being a black woman, I've often felt I've been judged by my sex and my race, and I have always known that it shouldn't hamper me.

American Muslims - young American Muslims in particular - are starting to understand that unless they are willing to stand up for all the other oppressed communities in this country, including those discriminated against for their gender or sexuality, then no one will stand up for them.

Facing sexism and racism and classism and transphobia, there are ways to choose to act in those situations, and there shouldn't be a prescriptive list of things that you have to say.

The work does not end with the abolition of slavery but only begins.

To ignore race and sex is racist and sexist.

To avoid being mistaken for a sellout, I chose my friends carefully. The more politically active black students. The foreign students. The Chicanos. The Marxist professors and structural feminists and punk-rock performance poets.

We must make sure #MeToo breaks the race, class, gender, and faith lines that make it so hard for marginalized people to be heard.

We need someone who is going to stand up, speak up, and speak out for the people who need help, for the people who have been discriminated against.

I'm someone who is inspired by people who've spoken out about different racial and gender issues.

I don't believe that the fight for trans rights or African American rights is different from the fight against war, or the fight for refugees.

We'd better not speak against misogyny if, in the same breath, we're not also speaking against transphobia and homophobia and racism and classism and poverty. This is one fight. It always has been.

I'm just about social justice. Amen to women like me!

I want to thank the fans across the country who have supported me in this effort to fight for equality and justice. I want to thank those that have dedicated their lives to this fight, as I know that it is not easy. And I want to challenge those who stay silent to be courageous and use your platforms to become part of the solution. God Bless.

Every white liberal straight man needs to take action and work at unifying all peoples of our sides and stop making women and people of color and the LGBT community fight it out themselves and just pat them on the back. We have to take active roles in supporting them, defending them, and hiring them.

It is paramount that we take control of the story behind our movement, which is that we seek equality for all Americans, no matter their race or gender.

We must use words to uplift and include. We can use our words to fight back against oppression and hate. But we must also channel our words into action.

It's not enough to just not be racist. You've got to be anti-racist. You've got to hold everybody accountable.

Intersectionality has given many advocates a way to frame their circumstances and to fight for their visibility and inclusion.

If we aren’t intersectional, some of us, the most vulnerable, are going to fall through the cracks.

Feminism is to sexism what black nationalism is to racism; the most rational response to the problem.

There's been a sort of mini-revolution, an uprising, as was long overdue, about these subject matters: ethnicity and gender equality.

No change can come if those who are impacted the most by discrimination are not willing to stand up for themselves.

We cannot reform institutional racism or systemic policies if we are not actively engaged. It's not enough to simply complain about injustice; the only way to prevent future injustice is to create the society we would like to see, one where we are all equal under the law.