Are we hook's audience?

In Liberation Scenes bell hooks critiques the way the discipline of cultural studies is practiced on several levels. Basically cultural studies should be radical, linked to political struggle and voiced by the “cultural subjects (African-Americans, for example) that are written about.” (9) I wonder in how far she links the identity of a person to a capability or authority to speak concerning certain issues. On the one hand she points out, that it is important not to hold back with critiques for literature or media produced by blacks, just because they are black. To me this shows, that she does not believe that being part of a collective identity in itself makes you an expert on issues concerning that group. On the other hand she clearly voices that she feels pressured by white academics to write in a certain style and that “[a]t times, even the most progressive and well-meaning white folks, who are friends and allies, may not understand why a black writer has to say something in a certain way, or why we may not want to explain what has been said as though the first people we must always be addressing are privileged white readers.” (11) This quote raises the question whether for her there is a kind of language barrier between black and white progressive academics. hooks does not want to have to change her language or explain herself, which is fair enough. She does not write for a white audience first, as she points out, but wants her readers to ‘decolonize’ their minds. However our seminar reads her texts and is part of the academic institutions she criticizes. So – are we part of hook' s audience and can we 'truly' understand hooks?