Eloquent Rage: A Black Feminist Discovers Her Superpower

“This is a book by a grown-ass woman written for other grown-ass women. This is a book for women who expect to be taken seriously and for men who take grown women seriously. This is a book for women who know shit is fucked up. These women want to change things, but don’t know where to begin. To be clear, I’m not really into self-help books, so I don’t have one of those catchy three step plans for changing the world. What I have is anger. Rage actually.”

In the opening lines to the book, Dr. Brittney Cooper explains the rhetorical context of the book by announcing her purpose and identifying her primary audience. The diction and her palpably angry tone reinforce her message about the importance of recognizing Black women’s anger as legitimate.

“America needs a homegirl intervention in the worst way. So in this book, I’m doing what Black women do best. I’m calling America out on her bullshit about racism, sexism, classicism, homophobia, and a bunch of other stuff.”

Cooper enhances her authority with an audience of Black female readers by relying on the persona of a “homegirl” who is intervening to address serious flaws in the culture and politics of the United States. The casual “bunch of other stuff” is an example of the informal diction she uses to make her writing accessible to the general reader.

“If Black women don’t figure out how to love other Black women (cis and trans, queer and straight, and everything in between), it will be the death of us.”

Cooper frequently addresses women who are trans and queer, choices that reinforce her attention to the diversity within the social identity of the Black woman. These gestures of inclusion reflect the influence of intersectional feminism on her work.