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The skin we're in : a year of Black resistance and power / by Cole, Desmond,1982-author.;
Includes bibliographical references."In May 2015, the cover story of Toronto Life magazine shook Canada's largest city to its core. Desmond Cole's "The Skin I'm In" exposed the racist practices of the Toronto police force, detailing the dozens of times Cole had been stopped and interrogated under the controversial practice of carding. The story quickly came to national prominence, went on to win a number of National Magazine Awards and catapulted 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: the devastating effects of racist policing; the hopelessness produced by an education system that expects little of its black students and withholds from them the resources they need to succeed more fully; the heartbreak of those vulnerable before the child welfare system and those separated from their families by discriminatory immigration laws. Both Cole's activism and journalism find vibrant expression in his first book, The Skin We're In. Puncturing once and for all the bubble of Canadian smugness and naïve 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 African refugees braved frigid temperatures to cross into Manitoba from the States, racial epithets used by a school board trustee, a six-year-old girl handcuffed at school. 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 was 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 TPS meeting, Cole challenged the board publicly, addressing rumours of a police cover-up of 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, handcuffed and flanked by officers, out of the meeting fortified the distrust between the city's Black community and its police force. In a month-by-month chronicle, Cole locates the deep cultural, historical and political roots of each event so that what emerges is a personal, painful and 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."-- Provided by publisher.
Subjects: Black Canadians; Discrimination in criminal justice administration; Discrimination in law enforcement; Minorities; Police brutality; Police misconduct; Police-community relations; Race discrimination;
Available copies: 2 / Total copies: 2
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Incorrigible [videorecording] : a film about Velma Demerson / by Lee, Karin,1960-film director.; McIntyre Media,film distributor.;
Gemini award winning filmmaker Karin Lee tells the heartbreaking and poignant story of Velma Demerson who was arrested under the Ontario Female Refuges Act (1897-1964) and incarcerated for falling in love with a Chinese man in 1938 at the age of 18 in Toronto, Canada. Pregnant and without legal counsel, Velma was sentenced to one year in prison where she was tortured by the prison's eugenicist doctor who attempted to abort her child. 60 years later Velma attempted to sue the Ontario provincial government for wrongful incarceration. She and paralegal activist Harry Kopyto worked to solve the puzzle of how to sue the government for a case which was past the limitation period. Velma was finally vindicated and won her case in 2003 at the age of 83. This is the story of an ordinary young woman who did nothing wrong, except to fall in love with a man of a different race. It is a story of how institutional racism ruined the lives of two young people in love and destroyed the possibility of their having a happy and healthy family. Most important, it is the inspirational story of a woman who fought back for decades to get justice and won. Velma never stopped trying to get justice for all the women arrested under the Female Refuges Act, and actively lobbied the government, until her death in 2019, to apologize to all women who were wrongly incarcerated. The message in this film to these women and their families is that "they did nothing wrong and it's not their fault."E.DVD.
Subjects: Biographical films.; Documentary films.; Historical films.; Demerson, Velma, 1920-2019.; Interracial dating; Race discrimination; Racism; Women prisoners;
For private home use only.
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Now let me fly [graphic novel] : a portrait of Eugene Bullard / by Wimberly, Ronald,author.; Revel, Brahm,artist.;
Includes bibliographical references."On the eve of World War I, Eugene Bullard was a refugee of the Jim Crow South who was determined to find a place where a Black man would be treated as a fellow human being. His search took him from rural Georgia to the streets of Paris, from the vaudeville stage to the boxing ring, and finally, from the muddy trenches to the open skies. In 1914, Bullard joined the fight to defend France--and made history as the world's first African American fighter pilot."--Publisher.
Subjects: Biographical comics.; Nonfiction comics.; Graphic novels.; Historical comics.; Personal narratives.; Bullard, Eugene Jacques, 1895-1961; African American fighter pilots; African Americans; Race discrimination;
Available copies: 0 / Total copies: 1
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Time's undoing : a novel / by Head, Cheryl A.,author.;
"A searing and tender novel about a young Black journalist's search for answers in the unsolved murder of her great-grandfather in segregated Birmingham, Alabama, decades ago-inspired by the author's own family history. Birmingham, 1929: Robert Lee Harrington, a master carpenter, has just moved to Alabama to pursue a job opportunity, bringing along his pregnant wife and young daughter. Birmingham is in its heyday, known as the "Magic City" for its booming steel industry, and while Robert and his family find much to enjoy in the city's busy markets and vibrant nightlife, it's also a stronghold for the Klan. And with his beautiful, light-skinned wife and snazzy car, Robert begins to worry that he might be drawing the wrong kind of attention. 2019: Meghan McKenzie, the youngest reporter at the Detroit Free Press, has grown up hearing family lore about her great-grandfather's murder-but no one knows the full story of what really happened back then, and his body was never found. Determined to find answers to her family's long-buried tragedy and spurred by the urgency of the Black Lives Matter movement, Meghan travels to Birmingham. But as her investigation begins to uncover dark secrets that spider across both the city and time, her life may be in danger. Inspired by true events, Time's Undoing is both a passionate tale of one woman's quest for the truth behind the racially motivated trauma that has haunted her family for generations and, as newfound friends and supporters in Birmingham rally around Meghan's search, the uplifting story of a community coming together to fight for change"--
Subjects: Historical fiction.; Novels.; Ku Klux Klan (1915- ); African American journalists; Cold cases (Criminal investigation); Murder; Race discrimination; Secrecy;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Rest in power : the enduring life of Trayvon Martin / by Fulton, Sybrina,1966-; Martin, Tracy(Activist);
An intimate portrait of Trayvon Martin shares previously untold insights into the movement he inspired from the perspectives of his parents, who also describe their efforts to bring meaning to his short life through the movement's pursuit of redemption and justice.LSC
Subjects: Martin, Trayvon, 1995-2012.; African American men; African American teenagers; Racial profiling in law enforcement; Race discrimination; Racism;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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King [videorecording] : a filmed record-- Montgomery to Memphis / by Dee, Ruby.; Jones, James Earl.; Landau, Ely.; Woodward, Joanne,1930-; Commonwealth United Corporation (Firm); Kino Classics (Firm); Kino Lorber, Inc.;
Editors, John Carter, Lora Hays; associate producer, Ricahard Kaplan.Readings by Harry Belafonte, Ruby Dee, Ben Gazzara, Charlton Heston, James Earl Jones, Burt Lancaster, Paul Newman, Anthony Quinn, Clarence Williams III, Joanne Woodward.The life and work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., from the beginnings of the Civil Rights movement in Montgomery, Alabama, and culminating with his assassination in Memphis in 1968. Originally screened in theaters for only a single night in 1970. King: a filmed record is an indispensable primary resource of a pivotal moment in American and world history.E.DVD, full screen (1.33:1) presentation.
Subjects: King, Martin Luther, Jr., 1929-1968.; African Americans; African Americans; African Americans; Civil rights; Documentary films.; Race discrimination;
© c2013., Kino Classics,
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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The Chinese head tax and anti-Chinese immigration policies in the twentieth century / by Chan, Arlene.;
Includes bibliographical references, Internet addresses and index.An in-depth examination of Canada's treatment of Chinese immigrants during the 20th century.LSC
Subjects: Chinese; Chinese; Emigration and immigration law; Race discrimination; Chinese Canadians;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Be a revolution : how everyday people are fighting oppression and changing the world-and how you can, too / by Oluo, Ijeoma,author.;
Includes bibliographical references."With [this book], ... Oluo aims to show how people across America are working to create real positive change in our structures. Looking at many of our most powerful systems-like education, media, labor, health, housing, policing, and more-she highlights what people are doing to create change for intersectional racial equity. She also illustrates various ways in which the reader can find entryways into change in these same areas, or can bring some of this important work being done elsewhere to where they live"--
Subjects: Anti-racism; Intercultural communication.; Minorities; Organizational change.; Race discrimination; Racism; Social action; Social change; Racism;
Available copies: 0 / Total copies: 1
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Africville : an African Nova Scotian community is demolished--and fights back / by Wesley, Gloria.;
Includes bibliographical references, filmography, Internet addresses and index.A look at the community of Africville in Halifax, which was founded in the 1800s by African Nova Scotians and grew to become a tight-knit community of about 400 people, until the City of Halifax decided to demolish the community in the 1960s. Also discussed is the city's eventual apology and offer of some compensation after years of pressure, as well as how the spirit of the community lives on. Includes links to video clips.LSC
Subjects: Black Canadians; Black Canadians; Relocation (Housing); Race discrimination;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Our long struggle for home : the Ipperwash story /
Includes bibliographical references and index."Most Canadians know only a tiny apart of the Ipperwash story--the 1995 police shooting of Dudley George. In Our Long Struggle for Home, George's sister, cousins, and others from the Stoney Point Reserve tell of broken promises and thwarted hopes in the decades-long battle to reclaim their ancestral homeland, both before and after the police action culminating in George's death. Offering insights into Nishnaabeg lifeways and historical treaties, this compelling account conveys how government decisions have affected lives, livelihoods, and identity. We hear of the devastation wrought by forcible eviction when the government re-purposed Nishnaabeg ancestral territory as an army training camp in 1942, promising to return it after the war. By May 1993, the elders had waited long enough. They entered the still-functioning training camp, under cover of a picnic outing, and constituted themselves as the interim government of the reclaimed Stoney Point Reserve. The next two years brought cultural and social revival, though it was ultimately quashed as an illegal occupation. Our Long Struggle for Home also shows what can be accomplished through perseverance and undiminished belief in a better future. This is a necessary lesson on colonialism, the power of resistance, persistence, and the possibilities inherent in recognizing treaty rights."--
Subjects: George, Dudley, 1957-1995.; Race discrimination; First Nations; First Nations; First Nations; First Nations; Ipperwash Incident, Ont., 1993-; First Nations;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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