Desmond Cole's story about the devastating bullying he endured by his elementary-school principal serves as a milestone moment in his own understanding of insidious, unwanted attention and powerlessness. He also re-visits a story he shared with Wordfesters on his last visit to Calgary in February, 2020, about the violence against, and false arrest of, a Black Halifax mother named Santina Rao (who wrote about her ordeal with more grace than we deserve). Cole encouraged us to sign petition asking the Crown clear her name; it garnered 70, 000 signatures and last fall, that mobilization resulted charges against Rao being dropped. “That’s what we can do together,” Cole says. “That’s the power of collective action.”
Pick up a copy of The Skin We're in here: https://wordfest.com/2021/imagineonair-featured-books/desmond-cole/
When his book The Black Friend: How to Be a Better White Person made the New York Times bestseller list, Frederick Joseph broke down in tears thinking of his With sincerity and encouragement, Joseph — founder of The Black Panther Challenge that enabled 75,000 low-income kids to see the Marvel mov...
