Killing Rage: Ending Racism

A term that comes up frequently in Killing Rage is denial. This is a psychological, or psychoanalytical, term that refers to a defense mechanism. Sigmund Freud popularized the term, which refers to ignoring facts that are difficult to process. By avoiding reality, denial is a way of avoiding discomfort. hooks uses this term in a variety of ways to discuss privilege and/or racism. In one example, she discusses how white people deny the fact that they have never seen a Black person be violent in order to justify stereotypes that Black people are dangerous. In another example, she discusses how Black people deny their rage against white supremacy. Additionally, she discusses how some of her white Jewish college students deny that they have “any allegiance or participation in constructions of whiteness” (205). hooks also discusses how people are in denial about the relationships between Black and white women. In the final essay of the collection, hooks writes that “the first stage of anti-racist struggle has to be breaking that denial” (267), that is, white people’s denial that they are racist.