Why Whooping Is Our Most Sacred Act Of Resistance

Whooping is that gravelly, breathy musical segue Black Pentecostal pastors do after delivering a powerful sermon. Rev. C. L. Franklin, Aretha’s father, was one of the best at whooping. 

In his book “Blackpentecostal Breath: The Aesthetics of Possibility,” Ashon T. Crawley describes the sheer physicality that whooping demands.  

Crawley argues that whooping, like any vocal practice, requires an awareness of our breath. Awareness of breath invites awareness of body. 

Crawley believes having an embodied awareness of ourselves asks us to reflect on how we move, and our ability to move freely through the world. Black mobility has always been a direct threat to anti-Blackness because it creates what Crawley calls an “otherwise possibility.” In Black liberation, otherwise possibilities are when we move, think, and exist outside of anti-Blackness. 

Crawley’s argument is that before we can move towards our otherwise possibilities, we must have an awareness of what we’re actually moving: our bodies. This awareness starts with our breath. 

Take a deep breath. While exhaling, release an audible sound. How does that sound feel traveling through you? 

Visualize where you’d like that sound to travel to. Did you feel yourself traveling with it?

Black spiritual breath practices like whooping teach us that otherwise possibilities are possible when we remember our sacred resistance begins in our bodies.