At the same time hooks concedes that violence played a pivotal role in the advocacy of Stokely Carmichael and other black advocates. The problems with black violence, as she sees it, are that it echoes patriarchal, sexist messages of masculinity, it is often experienced within the family and between members of the same race, and that it is often the expression of a more insidious rage. "To end our cultural fascination with violence, and our imposition onto men in general and black men in particular ... we must choose a partnership model that posits interbeing as the principle around which to organize family and community."
Meanwhile, hooks agrees that aggression was a key factor in the advocacy of Stokely Carmichael and other black advocates. However, she argues that this type of aggression has several drawbacks, including its alignment with traditional notions of masculinity, its tendency to occur within families and among people of similar backgrounds, and its often subtle manifestation of anger. "To break free from our cultural obsession with violence and the way we impose it on men in general and black men in particular ... we need to adopt a partnership model that emphasizes interconnectedness as the foundation for organizing family and community."