Fear of a Black Nation: Race, Sex, and Security in Sixties Montreal

In the 1960s, Montreal was a hub of Black and Caribbean radical politics, influenced by fear of a Black nation. Fear of a Black Nation explores this fear and its connection to policing and surveillance of Black lives today, drawing on historical events and Black self-organization. It offers insights into the struggle for freedom and is updated with new interviews and a preface.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 270 pages
Publication date: 29 July 2023
Publisher: Between the Lines

During the 1960s, a period of global upheaval and heightened Canadian and Quebec nationalism, Montreal emerged as a focal point of Black and Caribbean radical politics. Fear of a Black Nation, a comprehensive history of Montreal and the Black activists who lived, sojourned in, or visited the city and agitated for change, delves into the intricate tapestry of the city's past. Drawing upon Saidiya Hartman's notion of slavery's afterlife and David Austin's description of biosexuality—a deeply ingrained fear of Black self-organization and interracial solidarity—Fear of a Black Nation argues that the policing and surveillance of Black lives today are intricately linked to the racial, including sexual, codes and practices, and the discipline and punishment associated with slavery.

In reflecting on Black self-organization and historical events such as the Congress of Black Writers and the Sir George Williams Protest, the book poses a profound question: what can past freedom struggles teach us about the struggle for freedom today? This expanded second edition enriches the political and theoretical conversation on Black organizing and movement building in Canada and internationally. As the Black Lives Matter and abolition movements today popularize calls to disarm and defund the police and to abolish prisons, Fear of a Black Nation provides an invaluable reflection on the policing of Black activism and a compelling political analysis of social movements and freedom struggles that is more relevant now than ever.

Dimension: 234 x 156 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781771136334
Edition number: 2 ed