The Skin We're In: A Year of Black Resistance and Power

Canadians often compare ourselves to the US and sometimes, we can get a little high and mighty about how we think we have it better than our neighbours to the south. We have it better in some ways, but in regard to racism? Canadians may want to think again.

This is a book that all Canadians should read - particularly those Canadians who think 'racism isn't an issue here in Canada' with an attitude of 'thank-god-we're-better-than-the-Americans'. In this collection of essays, one for each month in 2017, Cole confronts long-held beliefs that Canada opens its arms wide for one and all. That we're a place of inclusion, a country that celebrates diversity and was a place of solace for thousands of Black slaves as the end of the Underground Railroad.

Unfortunately, Canada's truth is far from glowing.

Desmond Cole, a Canadian journalist clearly documents numerous examples of racism, white privilege and puts a face to the issues using the specific cases of Defonte Miller, Abdouhl Abdi and Abdirahman Abdi. He shows how our systems in Canada were built with white supremacy in mind to the on-going detriment and subjugation of Black and Indigenous Canadians and how there is a general feeling of complacency by white Canadians to change a system that has benefited them for generations. Cole focuses on how racism is perpetuated at a systemic level in Canada - from its immigration policies, police brutality, corruption, intimidation and school policies. It is eye-opening, shocking and emotional.

I listened to the eAudiobook which is narrated by the author. His knowledge and passion for the issues is evident and my only beef is that the pacing is very slow (I increased my speed to 1.4x). I also attended an online event last night hosted by Kitchener Public Library, in conversation with Ruth Cameron, the Executive Director of ACCKWA and advisory committee member for the ACB Network, which was powerful, enlightening with specifics to my own region of Ontario. The following quotes are from that discussion:

"Black lives are constantly in a state of emergency."

"Our [Black Canadians] deaths aren't a teaching experience for white people."

Our system is functioning to "negotiate the level of harm as opposed to end it." (Ruth Cameron)

This is a powerful read that illustrates the importance of resistance, Canada's desperate need for change and will give white Canadians a chance to look at Canada through the lens of a Black Canadian. But ultimately, it is Cole's call to action for systemic reform that all Canadians must acknowledge and vow to act upon. We have a long road before all Canadians can feel equal.

My Rating: 4.5 stars

Author: Desmond Cole
Genre: Nonfiction
Type: unabridged eAudiobook
Source: Personal copy from Audible.ca
Run Time: 8 hours, 14 minutes
Narrator: Desmond Cole (author)
Publisher: DoubleDay Canada
First Published: January 28, 2020

Opening Lines: I remember wanting to escape the year 2016 

like a kid in a haunted house, dashing from whatever 

real or imagined demon was chasing me.

  

Book Description from GoodReads: A bracing, provocative, and perspective-shifting book from one of Canada's most celebrated and uncompromising writers, Desmond Cole. The Skin We're In will spark a national conversation, influence policy, and inspire activists.

In his 2015 cover story for Toronto Life magazine, Desmond Cole exposed the racist actions of the Toronto police force, detailing the dozens of times he had been stopped and interrogated under the controversial practice of carding. The story quickly came to national prominence, shaking the country to its core and catapulting its author into the public sphere. Cole used his newfound profile to draw insistent, unyielding attention to the injustices faced by Black Canadians on a daily basis.

Both Cole’s activism and journalism find vibrant expression in his first book, The Skin We’re In. Puncturing the bubble of Canadian smugness and naive assumptions of a post-racial nation, Cole chronicles just one year—2017—in the struggle against racism in this country. It was a year that saw calls for tighter borders when Black refugees braved frigid temperatures to cross into Manitoba from the States, Indigenous land and water protectors resisting the celebration of Canada’s 150th birthday, police across the country rallying around an officer accused of murder, and more.

The year also witnessed the profound personal and professional ramifications of Desmond Cole’s unwavering determination to combat injustice. In April, Cole disrupted a Toronto police board meeting by calling for the destruction of all data collected through carding. Following the protest, Cole, a columnist with the Toronto Star, was summoned to a meeting with the paper’s opinions editor and informed that his activism violated company policy. Rather than limit his efforts defending Black lives, Cole chose to sever his relationship with the publication. Then in July, at another police board meeting, Cole challenged the board to respond to accusations of a police cover-up in the brutal beating of Dafonte Miller by an off-duty police officer and his brother. When Cole refused to leave the meeting until the question was publicly addressed, he was arrested. The image of Cole walking out of the meeting, handcuffed and flanked by officers, fortified the distrust between the city’s Black community and its police force.

Month-by-month, Cole creates a comprehensive picture of entrenched, systemic inequality. Urgent, controversial, and unsparingly honest, The Skin We’re In is destined to become a vital text for anti-racist and social justice movements in Canada, as well as a potent antidote to the all-too-present complacency of many white Canadians.