Content Warning: This section of the book includes depictions of and references to racialized violence, violence against women and girls, and sexual assault. It also includes pejorative terms for Black people and women. 

Cooper writes, “You have to be twice as good to get half as far, and Never let ’em catch you slippin’” (154), distillations of Black respectability as a formula for success. The Obamas exemplified Black respectability and still got pilloried in the media, which cast them as threatening, angry Black people; Donald and Melania Trump violated every respectable norm and still gained the White House. In the United States, Black rage is viewed as threatening, while white rage is labeled patriotic. Respectable Black people express disgust with the double standard through subtle gestures such as Michelle Obama’s casual hairdo and dress on the Obamas’ last day at the White House. Hair, clothing, and style aren’t frivolous. Cooper learned this at her mother’s knees during nightly hair-braiding and grooming sessions that communicated the love and care Cooper’s mother had for her daughter.

Meticulous grooming and style have political implications, but Black “respectability is a rage-management project” (165), not an answer to systemic causes of inequality.