Robyn Maynard - Policing Black Lives: State Violence in Canada from Slavery to the Present

POLICING

BLACK

LIVES

PRAISE FOR POLICING BLACK LIVES:

Robyn Maynards 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, Distinguished Professor Emerita in the History of Consciousness and Feminist Studies, University of California, Santa Cruz

In this eye-opening and timely book, Robyn Maynard deftly and conclusively pulls back the veil on anti-Black racism in Canada, exploding the myth of multiculturalism through an emphatically and unapologetically intersectional lens. In compelling and accessible prose, Maynard provides a sweeping overview of Canadian state violence from colonial times to the present, seamlessly articulating the relationship - and distinctions - between settler colonialism and anti-Blackness, and centering Black women, trans and gender nonconforming people within the broader narrative. Through an analysis squarely situated in the global socioeconomic context, Policing Black Lives explores parallels between state violence in Canada and its neighbor to the South, as well as the unique legal, social and historical forces informing criminalization through segregation, surveillance, stop and frisk/carding/street checks, the war on drugs, gang policing, the school to prison pipeline, welfare fraud and child welfare enforcement, and the conflation of immigration and criminality. The result is both eye-opening and chilling, firmly pointing to shared fronts of struggle across borders. Policing Black Lives is a critical read for all in Canada and the United States who #SayHerName and assert that #BlackLivesMatter, and essential to movements for Black liberation on Turtle Island.

Andrea J. Ritchie, author Invisible No More: Police Violence Against Black Women and Women of Color

A crucial work in chronicling Black experiences in Canada. If you only read one book this year, make it this one. Policing Black Lives is a comprehensive and necessary book for anyone who cares about the past, present and future of Black life in this country. Brilliant work!

Black Lives Matter Toronto

We are all taught that Canada is a racial haven. Literally given permission to believe that racism doesnt exist in the other America. But Robyn Maynards Policing Black Lives tells us a very different story. One that is hidden and forgotten by a country that prides itself on being progressive, tolerant, and inclusive. If you ever believed Canada would be the country you fled to, Maynards work will have you think otherwise. Anti-Black racism is a global phenomenon and we must understand its impact in places outside of the U.S. context. Thanks Maynard for opening all of our eyes to a scary history and frightening present for Black Canada.

Patrisse Cullors-Khan, co-founder of the Black Lives Matter Global Network

Robyn Maynard has given us a singular, well-researched book on the lived experiences of African Canadians with the police and justice systems throughout Canada. It is an essential primer for Canadians to fully understand why Black people across Canada are asserting that Black Lives really do matter, and why anti-Black racism continues to destroy lives and families.

Sylvia D. Hamilton, filmmaker, writer and professor of journalism at the University of Kings College.

Black Canadians are over-represented in arrest and incarceration statistics, have a 60% drop-out/push-out rate in high schools in places like Halifax, Toronto, and Montreal; Black children are more likely to be seized by child welfare agencies, and twice as likely than White children to be living below the poverty line. Black Canadians have poorer health outcomes, experience higher rates of diabetes, hypertension, and AIDS/HIV . Disproportionate rates of incarceration (especially for Black men) have been flagged as the causes of several diseases such as AIDS/HIV , Hepatitis B, and numerous mental health issues. Researchers have now named racial violence and trauma as being a leading factor affecting the health and well-being of African Canadians.

The fact of the matter is that in Canada, and the rest of the world, a stringent anti-Blackness is the norm. Robyn Maynards book is thus timely, urgent, and cogent as it brilliantly elucidates the grotesque anti-Black racist practices coming from the state, and other institutions imbued with power over Black peoples lives.

In naming this great offence, and in speaking truth to power, Maynards work has the power to mobilize Black people and all persons of conscience to resist, rebel, and revolt against the forces that rob Black people of their dignity, humanity, and their lives.

Afua Cooper is the James R. Johnston Chair of Black Canadian Studies in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Dalhousie University.

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, associate professor, history, Queens University

Robyn Maynard brilliantly and eloquently shows the multiple ways state violence has targeted, marginalized, and oppressed African-descended men, women, and children in Canada from slavery to the present. She offers powerful lessons for making anti-blackness in Canada legible to activists, scholars, policy makers, and community members committed to building a future nation and world free of racism, heteropatriarchy, xenophobia, and exploitation.

Erik S. McDuffie, author of Sojourning for Freedom: Black Women, American Communism, and the Making of Black Left Feminism

POLICING

BLACK

LIVES

STATE VIOLENCE IN CANADA FROM SLAVERY TO THE PRESENT

ROBYN MAYNARD

FERNWOOD PUBLISHING
HALIFAX & WINNIPEG

Copyright 2017 Robyn Maynard

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form by any means without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer, who may quote brief passages in a review.

Editing: Fazeela Jiwa

Cover design: Tania Craan

Printed and bound in Canada

eBook: tikaebooks.com

Published by Fernwood Publishing

32 Oceanvista Lane, Black Point, Nova Scotia, B0J 1B0

and 748 Broadway Avenue, Winnipeg, Manitoba, R3G 0X3

www.fernwoodpublishing.ca

Fernwood Publishing Company Limited gratefully acknowledges the financial support of the Government of Canada, the Manitoba Department of Culture, Heritage and Tourism under the Manitoba Publishers Marketing Assistance Program and the Province of Manitoba, through the Book Publishing Tax Credit, for our publishing program. We are pleased to work in partnership with the Province of Nova Scotia to develop and promote our creative industries for the benefit of all Nova Scotians. We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts, which last year invested $153 million to bring the arts to Canadians throughout the country.

Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

Maynard, Robyn, 1987, author