Bell Hooks An Appreciation
Bell Hooks has passed on. She lived for thoughts and wrote them in many books for you and I, because our brain is like that wedding dress in the box. We don’t use it.
What does passed on mean? It’s one of the announcements that fascinated me as a student in the U.S. It is very stressful, but some African Americans have two strands of English, one for work and the outside world in general, and a different one for home.
I found the home one fascinating because it reminded me of where I was born, somewhere south, in a continent called Africa. Parents taught us not to say someone is dead, because they are not dogs, that sleep outside the house and die outside.
Human beings pass on to the next world to meet grandparents and other relatives who now live there. They are called ancestors. That’s why we drop some beer, whisky or wine on the ground first, before we drink. Ancestors are still with us and they are also thirsty.
Passed on. In fact, the Zulu language says ‘usedlulile emhlabeni’ meaning she has passed on to another world. Continuity, a natural progression. She was in this world temporarily.
Bell Hooks has entered the next world and it will be familiar, because her people are there. She might even have lemonade with Maya Angelou and Steve Biko, the South African revolutionary thinker murdered by apartheid police.
This concept of continuity, of passing on is in the language. You are in big trouble when someone says he will send you kwa-goqa nyawo, the land where your feet are bent from half-sitting. It’s not crouching as such.
Once upon a time, ama-Zulu were buried in that position for a purpose. They had to be ready to rise up and meet ancestors on the other side. They were also buried in animals skins because cattle were life, like the bison for American and Canadians ‘Indians.’
Bell Hooks is not dead. She has passed on to the next world. We mourn her, but ancestors are beating the drum to welcome their daughter home.
By: Nonqaba waka Msimang.
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