Desmond Cole
Author of The Skin We're In: A Year of Black Resistance and Power
About the Author
Image credit: Cole in 2017
Works by Desmond Cole
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Canonical name
- Cole, Desmond
- Birthdate
- 1982-04-09
- Gender
- male
- Short biography
- Cole was born in Red Deer, Alberta, grew up in Oshawa, Ontario and went to secondary school in Whitby.[9] He attended Queen's University for two years, before dropping out, stating that "“University is now job training, and I think that’s nonsense.”[9] After teaching French in the Durham region for two years, he moved to Toronto at age 22,[10] where he began working with at-risk youths.[9] In the spring of 2006, Cole competed in Toronto's City Idol competition and was the winner for Toronto-East York.[9] The winners of the competition were assisted in running for city council in the fall of 2006, and Cole placed third in Ward 20 Trinity-Spadina in the 2006 Toronto municipal election, at age 24.[Canadian journalist, activist, author, and broadcaster who lives in Toronto, Ontario.[1] Cole hosts a weekly radio program on Newstalk 1010. He was previously a columnist for theToronto Star and has written for The Walrus, NOW Magazine, Torontoist, The Tyee, Ethnic Aisle, Toronto Life and BuzzFeed. Cole's activism has received national attention, specifically on the issues of police carding, racial discrimination, and dismantling systemic racism.[2][3][4][5] Cole was the subject of a 2017 CBC Television documentary, The Skin We're In.[6][7] His first book, The Skin We're In: A Year of Black Resistance and Power, was released in January, 2020.[8]
- Nationality
- Canada
- Birthplace
- Red Deer, Alberta, Canada
- Places of residence
- Red Deer, Alberta, Canada
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Oshawa, Ontario, Canada - Map Location
- Canada
Members
Reviews
'Canada insists on being surprised by its own racism'
The Skin We're In, by activist Desmond Cole should be mandatory reading for all non-BIPOC Canadians. Like many Canadians, especially generation X and older, I wasn't fully aware of the pervasiveness of racism in our country. Cole's accounting, month by month of one year of his life, of his own and others' experiences with racism and injustice across the country will begin to open your eyes to the reality that is Canada. This and other show more books in the genre help give me the tools to guide my own children towards allyship and anti-racism. show less
The Skin We're In, by activist Desmond Cole should be mandatory reading for all non-BIPOC Canadians. Like many Canadians, especially generation X and older, I wasn't fully aware of the pervasiveness of racism in our country. Cole's accounting, month by month of one year of his life, of his own and others' experiences with racism and injustice across the country will begin to open your eyes to the reality that is Canada. This and other show more books in the genre help give me the tools to guide my own children towards allyship and anti-racism. show less
This was a short but impactful read. I don’t remember what put this book on my radar, but I was drawn to the promise of a Canadian perspective on systemic racism. We often hear about these issues in the U.S., it’s easy to assume parallels or downplay the severity here. This book shatters that illusion. I didn’t realize until I started that Desmond and I grew up in the same place. That connection made the anecdotes hit even harder, so much of what he recounts is disturbingly familiar. show more It’s enraging to realize how normalized casual racism is, from schools to sidewalks, woven into daily life. The book spans one year, but each month ties to a much deeper historical context that stretches back centuries. I was especially furious reading about Dafonte Miller’s case, the absolute failure of every system meant to protect, and how even the “justice” that came later still feels so deeply inadequate. This is one of those books I couldn’t read quietly. I was constantly interrupting my partner to rage-read passages out loud. It forces you to confront Canada’s ongoing legacy of racism and oppression and challenges the dangerous comfort of willful ignorance. We must keep asking hard questions and pushing toward the society we want to live in. show less
We can’t be in denial anymore. Canada is not the welcoming place we like to think we are. Desmond Cole lays out the full story behind the whitewashed headlines of police assaults on Black Canadians. The conviction this week of the officer who assaulted Dafonte Miller in suburban Toronto 3 years ago gives some hope, but that was not without considerable advocacy work, and patience, by his family and friends. Black people like Desmond Cole are taking huge risks in exposing the violence they show more experience, the least we can do is listen, learn, and act on that knowledge. Lost jobs, arrest, and threats of more violence should not be the price of being heard. show less
A flash 50% off sale by the estimable King's Co-op Bookstore here in Halifax, Nova Scotia came into my view the weekend that 2020's surge of #blacklivesmatter protest and activism, and this was one of the three books that the store offered up, just to get them into more hands at this crucial time. I really wanted to know more and now I really had no excuse not to read.
I've followed Cole's journalism off and on for the past few years—he came to my attention via the Canadaland podcast, and show more has said and written so many insightful things since. But this book is the polished summa that pulls it all together.
It covers a year and a month in his life as an activism (Jan 2017-Jan 2018) and the breadth of significant events in Canada, and his activist responses to those events for this period, says so much about Canada's racist present.
Cole lives and works in Toronto but his own life story and activist connections give him insight into Nova Scotia as well. I really appreciate that Nova Scotia and its historic Black community is part of his story of Black life in Canada—living in a country that is in denial about its culture and structures of white supremacy. (As well, he briefly relates some significant moments from Black history in NS that illuminate the present.)
The movement that has been rekindled and broadened as a result of the killing of George Floyd is a crucial movement in Canada too—and I can't imagine a better, more compelling book to help people understand that. show less
I've followed Cole's journalism off and on for the past few years—he came to my attention via the Canadaland podcast, and show more has said and written so many insightful things since. But this book is the polished summa that pulls it all together.
It covers a year and a month in his life as an activism (Jan 2017-Jan 2018) and the breadth of significant events in Canada, and his activist responses to those events for this period, says so much about Canada's racist present.
Cole lives and works in Toronto but his own life story and activist connections give him insight into Nova Scotia as well. I really appreciate that Nova Scotia and its historic Black community is part of his story of Black life in Canada—living in a country that is in denial about its culture and structures of white supremacy. (As well, he briefly relates some significant moments from Black history in NS that illuminate the present.)
The movement that has been rekindled and broadened as a result of the killing of George Floyd is a crucial movement in Canada too—and I can't imagine a better, more compelling book to help people understand that. show less
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Statistics
- Works
- 1
- Members
- 312
- Popularity
- #75,594
- Rating
- 4.4
- Reviews
- 10
- ISBNs
- 6