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The Skin We're In

A Year of Black Resistance and Power

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The Skin We're In

Written by: Desmond Cole
Narrated by: Desmond Cole
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About this listen

 NATIONAL BESTSELLER
WINNER OF THE 2020 TORONTO BOOK AWARD

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. Black Creators Freedom & Security Political Science Politicians Politics & Activism Politics & Government Racism & Discrimination Social Sciences Discrimination Social justice Inspiring Thought-Provoking
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If you live in in Canada, this is a must read book. The author covers incredibly important topics ranging from police violence against Black people to immigration and deportation issues that Black people experience here in Canada.

A must read

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Incredibly well written! An eye opening experience. I'm glad I picked up this book to read.

A must read!

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Desmond Cole is and should go down in Canadian history as one of the most affluent, provocative and inspiring journalists and activists of all time. This is an intense read that leads you through just one year of what it's like to have to fight against anti-Black and anti-Indiginous racism in Canada. People assume we don't have a problem with racism like they do in the U.S. but this book pointedly and effectively exposes that myth for what it is. An oppressive and systemic lie that we as white descendants of settlers who stole this land, continue to reap vast benefits from. This book should be a staple in every Canadian anti-oppresion person's library. Thank you to Desmond and to all the Black, Indigenous and people of colour who agreed to allow him to share their stories with us. May we fight alongside and behind you for true equity here in this country.

More Canadian-based Content Needed Like This!

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Heartbreaking and inspiring accounts of the struggles of Black people, as well as Indigenous & POC, on the lands that Canada occupies. Devastating history, both recent and further back to the country’s founding, that all Canadians need to learn if we are going to be part of righting wrongs and creating a safe and just society for Black Canadians. Learning the details of how activists like Black Lives Matter took action to achieve change must inform our anti-racist work. Canadians need to abandon politeness & niceness as a national identity and do some actual work. Hearing the author’s reading adds to the experience.

For Canadians Learning & Unlearning

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It’s well written and tastefully delivered. I’m so sorry all that happened. I would like “Black life’s matter “ to be “All lives matter” because they do.

Very informative

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