"Reckoning with Racism’s strength is its humanistic focus on the people caught up in what was a routine case that spun out of control as it was framed by the media and others to focus on possible racial bias of the judge – as opposed to the tactics used by the police in their interactions with young Black people in Halifax. It is particularly impressive that Professor Backhouse gives us all the voices involved—those of the police and prosecutors as well as Mr. Small and his counsel.”

Philip Girard, York University

“In Reckoging with Racism, Constance Backhouse shares voices of African Nova Scotians and other people involved in and impacted by the RDS case—and encourages the reader to reflect upon the ongoing tensions in how the law is used to resist or reinscribe racial hierarchies.”

Michelle Williams, Dalhousie University