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A review by angelinazahajko
The Skin We're in: A Year of Black Resistance and Power by Desmond Cole
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
3.75 stars
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!
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!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism and Sexual assault