Scan barcode
Reviews tagging 'Racism'
The Skin We're In: A Year of Black Resistance and Power by Desmond Cole, Desmond Cole
25 reviews
angelinazahajko's review against another edition
4.0
the skin we’re in by Desmond Cole serves a very important purpose: to dismantle the widespread illusion that Canada is post-racial and does not support white supremacist structures and ideals like our Southern neighbours. It’s bold and punchy; it’s a wake-up call for Canadians and a love letter to Canada’s Black activists.
It is undeniable that Cole succeeded in his goal of dismantling Canadian illusions about anti-black racism. While I was aware of many of the cases within this book, I was also unaware of the details — gory details that Cole does not shy away from and add power to his narrative. for this, I give Cole massive credit; however, where this book fell flat for me was it’s structure. it looks genius on paper: each chapter dedicated to a month of black resistance in Toronto? so creative! but, besides months June-October, I felt that this structure actually hindered the book’s flow because often there either a) wasn’t enough to talk about in a month, resulting in a couple unrelated stories put into a chapter or b) the event that did occur required a lot of context that took you out of the action in order to explain. I wanted to be enamoured by this book but, by the time I finished it, I was okay with my reading experience being over.
I still would argue that this book is essential reading for GTA residents who buy into the delusion outlined earlier, especially because there are so little books that exist on anti-black racism in Canada compared to the American literature. for me, this might just be a classic case of unjustifiably high expectations and that’s okay!
Graphic: Racism and Sexual assault
caelinsullivan's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Racism, Racial slurs, Sexual assault, Police brutality, Ableism, Mental illness, and Gun violence
whatcassiedid's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Police brutality, Racism, and Racial slurs
Moderate: Sexual assault
ferretspies's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Police brutality, Racism, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, and Physical abuse
Moderate: Murder, Child death, and Sexual assault
Minor: Racial slurs, Suicide, Slavery, Torture, and Mental illness
readsandrants's review against another edition
4.0
Graphic: Death, Violence, Xenophobia, Torture, Sexual harassment, Sexism, Racism, Racial slurs, Police brutality, Murder, Islamophobia, Hate crime, and Genocide
tachyondecay's review against another edition
5.0
White supremacy is always keeping score. The math is simple, as is the assumption of cause and effect: Black people get caught by the police so often because we break the law so often. Dominator culture tells Black folks that we not only bring this pain upon ourselves, but that we’re so irresponsible we blame our suffering on someone else, jealously landing on white people.
This chapter is about the fallout around a Peel Regional Police officer handcuffing a 6-year-old Black girl at a Peel District School Board school in September 2016. Cole explores how the media covers the investigation and the girl’s mother. He shows us (white people) how our desire to see the police as forces of good often means we need to justify their actions as a matter of course. If the officer handcuffed this girl, she must have done something wrong. He wouldn’t have handcuffed her otherwise. (This whole situation reminds me of how, last year, Vancouver Police responded to a call from Bank of Montreal and handcuffed a Heiltsuk man and his granddaughter because the bank was suspicious about their desire to open a bank account.) And if we do eventually admit that the victim didn’t do anything to deserve this mistreatment, we write it off as a single “bad apple” of a cop.
Graphic: Death, Police brutality, Racism, and Racial slurs
Moderate: Grief, Mental illness, Murder, and Violence
Minor: Genocide
amberinbookland's review against another edition
3.0
Graphic: Blood, Death, Hate crime, Murder, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Violence
jmbz38's review against another edition
4.5
Moderate: Racism
sunsetcity's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mass/school shootings, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Slavery, Terminal illness, Trafficking, Transphobia, and Violence
readalongwithnat's review against another edition
4.5
Moderate: Cancer, Blood, Death, Mental illness, Murder, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Racism, and Sexual assault