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Racists zoom-bombed memorial for bell hooks. But they can’t stop outflow of love for author.

All our silences in the face of racist assault are acts of complicity.– “bell hooks, Killing Rage: Ending Racism,” 1995

The Carnegie Center for Literacy and Learning has contacted police after a group of racists tried to derail a Zoom memorial to bell hooks, the famed Berea author who died last month.

The invective started about 20 minutes into the Tuesday night Zoom program, which about 180 people were attending remotely, said Carnegie director Neil Chethik. Staff quickly shut it down and directed people to another, more secure site where they could continue to see authors such as Silas House and DaMaris Hill reminisce about hooks and read from her work.

About half the attendees returned, he said.

“It’s kind of pathetic,” Chethik said. “All they can do is scream anonymously from their bedrooms ... it would be sad to be them.”

Even more sad is that the people who attended —who were buoyed by hooks’ groundbreaking and transformative work about racism and sexism and love and were looking for solace from this gathering — had to be reminded yet again of how much hatred people feel and of the twisted ways they must express it.

They are no match for bell hooks, of course. In the month since her death, there’s been such an extraordinary outpouring of love and admiration from around the world. People who wrote about how her work led them to academia, or opened their eyes or literally saved their lives, as writer Saeed Jones proclaimed.

“It was annoying to me but I have such low expectations for people in today’s society,” said poet DaMaris Hill, who was one of the participants. “I wish that everybody there would have left and told everybody what happened. White culture is a culture of silence about suffering or things that are embarrassing or negative, as if silence can dispense with the event and that’s just not true. Your trauma will manifest other ways. So I wish that everyone who experienced this last night would go tell 50 people so people can know this stuff really does occur. In these polarizing times, people are very committed to disrupting events that celebrate our shared humanity.”

Claudia Love Mair, who works at the Carnegie Center, wrote in a Facebook post that it was difficult to reroute the celebration, but they did it. “As the Coordinator of the Kentucky Black Writers Collaborative, I can say with absolute certainty that our mission to elevate, amplify, and celebrate the voices Black Kentucky writers at every level will go on. We can’t stopped.”

Chethik said he wrote an email to his staff Wednesday morning that said: “We came together to celebrate bell hooks and to remind ourselves of her main message, which is our world needs love more than anything, and the racists who interrupted us showed us how right bell hooks was.”

Meanwhile, a day-long online symposium for hooks is planned at the University of Kentucky next month. “bell hooks: A Legacy Rooted in Love” will be held on Saturday, Feb. 12 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. The event is free and open to the public but registration is required.