Policing Black Lives

State Violence in Canada from Slavery to the Present

De: Robyn Maynard

Narrado por: Marcia Johnson

Delving behind Canada’s veneer of multiculturalism and tolerance, Policing Black Lives traces the violent realities of anti-Blackness from the slave ships to prisons, classrooms, and beyond. Robyn Maynard provides listeners with the first comprehensive account of nearly 400 years of state-sanctioned surveillance, criminalization, and punishment of Black lives in Canada.

While highlighting the ubiquity of Black resistance, Policing Black Lives traces the still-living legacy of slavery across multiple institutions, shedding light on the state’s role in perpetuating contemporary Black poverty and unemployment, racial profiling, law enforcement violence, incarceration, immigration detention, deportation, exploitative migrant labor practices, disproportionate child removal, and low graduation rates.

Emerging from a critical race feminist framework that insists that all Black lives matter, Maynard’s intersectional approach to anti-Black racism addresses the unique and understudied impacts of state violence as it is experienced by Black women, Black people with disabilities, as well as queer, trans, and undocumented Black communities.

A call-to-action, Policing Black Lives urges listeners to work toward dismantling structures of racial domination and re-imagining a more just society.

Bespeak Audio Editions brings Canadian voices to the world with audiobook editions of some of the country’s greatest works of literature, performed by Canadian actors.

©2017 Robyn Maynard (P)2019 Bespeak Audio Editions

Reseñas de la Crítica

"Grounded in an impressive and expansive treatment of Black Canadian history, Maynard has written a powerful account of state anti-Black violence in Canada. Empirically rich and theoretically nimble, this work is an outstanding contribution to Black Canadian Studies." (Barrington Walker, Queen’s University)

"Robyn Maynard’s meticulously-researched and compelling analysis of state violence challenges prevailing narratives of Canadian multiculturalism and inclusion by examining how structures of racism and ideologies of gender are complexly anchored in global histories of colonization and slavery. This book should be read not only by those who have a specific interest in Canadian histories and social justice movements but by anyone interested in the abolitionist and revolutionary potential of the Black Lives Matters movement more broadly." (Angela Y. Davis)

"To understand this moment in Canada when Black communities are asserting that Black Lives really do matter, readers need this book." (Sylvia D. Hamilton)

Powerful

Very thorough and well researched history of racism in North America and especially Canada. Difficult to listen to at times because of how painful and continuous the atrocities are in a time where I think many white people want to believe we’ve made progress. So important to keep listening.

Black Lives Matter!

Even as an American, this book was deeply informative. It does well in the work of uncovering the insidious nature of racism. For me, it was a reminder that we still have so much work to do. To all readers be encouraged, we shall overcome someday.