Cole, a leading Black activist and critic of systemic racial injustices, sits down with Sarmishta Subramanian to discuss his new book The Skin We’re In
Desmond Cole first emerged on the public stage with his dogged challenges to the practice of police carding in Toronto. He spoke out at community rallies and at Police Services board meetings. He wrote articles, including one for Toronto Life magazine in 2015, about his own experience: “I’ve been stopped by cops on the streets 50 times. I’m not a criminal,” read the arresting cover.
Q: You write in the book about a six-year-old who was handcuffed inside her school by police. A: I call her Symone but that’s not her real name. Let’s remember that Symone had already been suspended four times by the age of six. How do you suspend a six-year-old girl from school? Who told educators that that kind of discipline for a little child is going to positively affect their behaviour?
That’s where I come to my conclusion—and it’s not mine alone. If you set up a system of punishment—in the workplace, in a school, the prison system itself—and Black people are in the mix, they will be disproportionately punished. My father is retired, but he was a mental health nurse. When I see Black men with mental health issues [like Abdirahman Abdi, in Ottawa] being killed, I think about the fact that my father served people like that every day and he didn’t have a baton, taser or Glock. My mom’s still working in a nursing home. Nurses get assaulted every day. And there’s no nurse in this country that is allowed to use force against the patients that they’re meant to serve.
It’s the violence of bureaucracy. It’s the use of paperwork, of government processes, to turn the tables on a person who is just trying to live their life, to say, You can’t continue. We’ve found some hitch in your personhood here. We must inspect you further.
Canada Latest News, Canada Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
How much privacy Harry and Meghan can expect in Canada - Macleans.caThe Sussexes could end up having less privacy outside the palace:
Read more »
Centennial College's answer to Canada's pilot shortage - Macleans.caThe college’s Centre for Aerospace and Aviation at Downsview Park is an ambitious bet on Canada’s aerospace sector:
Read more »
Dear Mike Sloan: 'You were a teacher offering a great gift' - Macleans.caScott Simmie tells Mike Sloan, a friend who wrote about his medically assisted death on Twitter as mikelondoncan, that he changed people’s lives
Read more »
What made Nancy Pelosi go on a tear - Macleans.caImage of the Week: Nancy Pelosi’s much-discussed gesture achieved what she seemed to intend, eclipsing the speech itself:
Read more »
Amazon Prime Video in February 2020: What's new - Macleans.caA roundup of February new releases from Amazon Prime Video
Read more »
Psychiatrist who spoke with Lionel Desmond testifies at fatality inquiry in Nova ScotiaDr. Faisal Rahman says Desmond showed no signs he was thinking about hurting anyone when he showed up at the hospital in Antigonish on Jan. 1, 2017
Read more »