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

Maynard, R. (2017). Policing Black Lives: State Violence in Canada from Slavery to the Present. Black Point, Nova Scotia; Winnipeg, Manitoba: Fernwood Publishing.

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Book Overview:

Canada is a nation that possesses an identity of multiculturalism however, this wasn't always the case. Policing Black Lives by Robyn Maynard dissects the issues that people of African American descent (Black Lives) have faced in Canada. The book looks at the history of Canada and its record of heinous acts on black lives in Canada. Black lives have been hosts to a plethora of unjust actions that have been credited to the actions of the state. The violence of the state aimed towards Black women, Black people with disabilities, as well as queer, and trans are analyzed.

          Black lives in Canada have been subjected to poverty, unemployment, racial profiling, and many other horrendous acts. Maynard’s work develops the picture of anti-blackness within Canada as well as acting as a call for action. By focusing on the past, present, and future of black lives, the book tries to break down any racial barriers that have been built up throughout history and help create a just society. The goal of the book is to truly prove that black lives matter. This book really makes the reader ponder and think about the divide that has been created by the Canadian society between Black lives and all other people of colour. 
    
          To those readers that truly care about anti-racism and providing social-justice to Black lives, it raises touching questions such as: How we, as Canadian citizens have played a role and contributed to anti-black racism? Who benefits from erasing African Canadian History and why? Has Canada been successful in avoiding anti-black racism within its boundaries? (Yuya, 2018). This book makes the reader understand what needs to be done in order to make Canada a truly multicultural country.

Yuya, K. (2018). Policing Black Lives: State Violence in Canada from Slavery to the Present (Book Review). Studies in Social Justice, 12(1), 182-187. doi: 10.256522/ssj.v12i1.1712 

About the Author:

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2019/January_2019/Mount_Allison _to_welcome_
Robyn_Maynard_to_campus,_Jan__24/

Robyn Maynard is the bestselling author of Policing Black Lives: State Violence in Canada from Slavery to the Present. The Toronto-based writer is currently a Ph.D student and Vanier scholar at the University of Toronto within the Women and Gender Studies Institute (WGSI). With the publication of an extensive number of peer-reviewed books, journal articles, and chapters, as well as the recipient of many scholarly and non-scholarly awards, Maynard has become an expert in racial studies. Robyn Maynard has advocated and assisted in the involvement of grassroots movements focused on racial profiling, police violence, and detention and deportation. She has also been requested to provide her expertise for local, national, and international media outlets and organizations 

Reading Guide Questions:

Questions Answered by John Athanasopoulos (JA), Tamia Daniel (TD), Abdul-Rehman Gul (AG), Kandeel Imran (KI)

1. Black lives have been targeted throughout time in Canada, in what ways were black lives attacked and socially alienated?

JA: Canada has developed a global reputation in today's day as being a multicultural, diverse country. This idea, however, is just a common misconception which has been detailed throughout the book Policing Black Lives by Robyn Maynard. Maynard analyzes a timeline that spans over the course of 400 years highlighting heinous acts against black lives in Canada. Black people have been subjected to slavery, segregation, poverty, or racial profiling to name a few. By segregating and discriminating against black lives Canada was socially alienating the black community. The reality of the matter is that Canada was right in the middle of racism towards the black community and possessed its own anti-black agenda. The consequences of actions taken by a “racist nation” is what led to an unjust lifestyle for black lives in Canada. By focusing on the past, present, and future of black lives the social positions that African Americans took in Canada can be better understood

2. Was the decision to allow black people into Canada done so to become more socially diverse or done purely out of economic need? Where are those let into the country taken advantage of?

JA: For a country to operate smoothly a skilled labour force is required, Canada's solution to developing such a thing was to allow racialized immigrants into its borders. In the 1960’s Canada’s economy was faltering, and a quick solution was required. Canada in the 1960’s was made up of predominantly white people, in 1961 95% of the country was white (Maynard, 2017). In order to develop a strong economic infrastructure a nation needs to maintain an effective form of labour production. Canada’s solution to that was to allow for more black’s to come in and help develop a stronger sense of labour production. The need to widen borders and allow for more people to come in regardless of race was done so due to an economic need opposed to a cultural one. As more blacks came into Canada they continued to be oppressed and done wrong by the state. The continuous unjust actions towards blacks coupled with them serving as a form of cheap labour serves as proof, they are taken advantage of.

3. What are the ways in which Canada continuously perpetuates the criminalization of Black people?

TD: To this day, Black people are more likely to be charged, heavily sentenced and incarcerated in jails or prisons, and not as likely to be granted parole (Maynard, 2017). Increased surveillance and an overreaching judicial system date back century prior to slavery. After the slave abolition, many blacks were seen as criminals and thieves that did not deserve the right to freedom. There is still a fear of Black people amongst many Canadians that has allowed itself to seep into the systemic institutions that prevent the participation of social, economic, and political life (Maynard, 2017). As racial disparities increase across the criminal justice system, law enforcement officers have been knowingly taught to associate drug trafficking and criminality with dreadlocks, as well as other mention of ethnic characteristics during training (Maynard, 2017). The same institutions that are supposed to protect and adhere to marginalized communities unfortunately never had this population in mind. For many Black people, this has now become a cyclical problem of how low the floor is instead of how high the ceiling is.

4. What effects do immigrant detention and deportation have on the Black experience?

TD: For many, deportation and imprisonment are traumatizing and unsettling as Africans were dragged out of their homeland with the expectation to adopt and adhere to a culture that was not theirs. Since the slave abolition, this form of policing has manifested and trickled through many generations. As many Blacks have reported dehumanizing treatment in Canada, there is still an urge for a sense of belonging and home, even if that feeling is associated with displacement (Maynard, 2017). Citizenship in Canada at its core is a marker for racial discrimination that perpetuates state-sanctioned fears. Unfortunately, it has transpired into how Blacks are treated in which case they are disproportionately marginalized and subjected to deportation, labor, housing, and social exploitation (Maynard, 2017).

5. How effectively is the Canadian state delivering care to its most vulnerable population including Black youth? (Chapter 7)

AG: Throughout the book Maynard focuses heavily on how African descended children are forced through a tough and unfair time in the childcare system. They end up in the system due to anti-blackness in Canada, where policies run against their families and their mothers are portrayed as abusers of the welfare state (Maynard, 2017). Our Canadian history depicts the difference of care given to the vulnerable population compared to the invulnerable population. Black children taken away from their mothers and families and put into white homes. They endured physical, psychological, and sexual abuse by the orphanages and homes they were put in. These children endured permanent trauma due to what they were forced through (Maynard, 2017). Until this day, the placement of black youth in the childcare system is often devastating and brings a tremendous amount of pain to the youth and their families.

6. Is the Canadian education system fair to the Black Youth? (Chapter 8)

AG: Even now, in this time and age, Black children are often faced with racism and discriminatory treatment in the Canadian education system. In 2016, the case of the first grade black student went viral, officers were called to the school due to her behaviour, they handcuffed the 40 pound first grade student at her hands and legs, and their reason was that she was behaving in a violent manner (Maynard, 2017). Unfortunately, cases like this are not unheard of. The Black youth are often portrayed as stronger and older than they actually are, and this is when cases like this occur. The Canadian education system does not run in favour of the black youth. These children are often segregated from their peers, they face unfair treatment from their peers and teachers. They are often the victims of physical harassment and assault in their classes and that is due to the stigmatization they face (Maynard, 2017). Education is an essential part of the Canadian society, schools are where the youth is encouraged to socialize and are given opportunities to develop their minds and build relationships that would help them nurture their future (Maynard, 2017). However, what the Black youth face in the Canadian education system interferes with the main purpose of gaining an education, and creates a divide within the Canadian society.    

7. How does the Canadian state enact violence against Black women, especially Black Trans women? (Chapter 4)

KI: The assumption that young Black men are the only victims of police violence leads to the erasure of the specific, gendered violence that Black women face at the hands of the state. Robyn Maynard calls for readers to contextualize the violence faced by Black women in the larger historical institutional denigration of Black women’s lives (p. 116). She discusses tropes such as the “Mammy” and “Black Jezebel,” and the construction of Black women existing beyond the meaning of “woman” itself. The “Mammy” is a subservient, celibate, and good Black woman who raises the white children of her master or employer, whereas the “Black Jezebel” is a deviant, hypersexualized, and immoral Black woman (p. 117). When Black women defy their ascribed submissive role in society and are perceived as arrogant, they are punished by way of “humiliation, physical abuse, sexual assault and neglect” (p. 118).

Maynard uses examples of the cases of six Black women who have faced violence at the hands of the Canadian state to illustrate the extent of this violence (p.119). One such case is of Chevranna Abdi, a Black trans woman who was brutally murdered at the hands of police. The media sensationalized her death by painting her as an “HIV-positive transsexual” and “either a prostitute or a drug dealer.” Black transgender women face transmisogyny and anti-blackness that marks them outside the definition of “woman” and “human” and renders their lives disposable (p.124).

8. In what negative ways does the Canadian welfare state interact with Black women, and how do these interactions play out in the development of social policy? (Chapter 5)

KI: There is a unique racial and gendered dehumanization enacted by police, customs officers, welfare agents, and social service workers to criminalize poor Black women’s daily lives. This form of policing and state surveillance occurs largely in the private realm, and does not receive the same attention that violent displays of racism towards Black men do (p. 129). Robyn Maynard identifies this violence as misogynoir, which is a term used to identify the often unseen hatred towards Black women due to the intersection of anti-Blackness and misogyny (p. 130).

Black women are among Canada’s poorest demographics, and those accessing social assistance have been called “welfare cheats” and accused of “welfare fraud” (p. 132). It is in fact this very demonization that occurred alongside the retrenchment of the welfare state and the criminalization of those receiving welfare in the 90s. At the same time, penal institutions expanded significantly to “crack down on welfare fraud (p. 133). These penal practices encouraged landlords and neighbours to police and surveil poor Black and other marginalized women, and led to the racialized criminalization of poverty (p. 134). Raising welfare rates, raising minimum wage, guaranteed basic income, and addressing racial inequalities in the workforce could all address poverty in far more effective ways than cracking down on the largely overblown and insignificant issue of welfare fraud (p. 137). However, rather than addressing the root causes of poverty, Black women have been scapegoated for poor government social policy.

Complementary Reads:

1.     For those interested in a more autobiographical/narrative account of injustices against Black people in Canada - The Skin We're In: A Year of Black Resistance and Power by Desmond Cole provides that personal perspective.

2. For those interested in multiple activist perspectives and movements for Black Lives Matter in Canada - Until We Are Free: Reflections on Black Lives Matter in Canada edited by Rodney Diverlus, Sandy Hudson, and Syrus Marcus Ware

Both books contrast Maynard’s academic voice, providing an alternative reading experience and voice for people wanting to learn more about Black Canadians.

Policing Black Lives Page Written By Abdul-Rehman Gul, Tamia Daniel, John Athanasopoulos, and Kandeel Imran

Overview: Abdul-Rehman Gul and John Athanasopoulos 

About the Author: Tamia Daniel 
Questions Written and Answered By: 1. and 2. John Athanasopoulos (JA); 3. and 4. Tamia Daniel (TD); 5. and 6. Abdul-Rehman Gul (AG); 7. and 8. Kandeel Imran (KI)