State violence and the criminalization of race: Epistemic injustice and epistemic resistance as social work practice implications

In this article we use the theoretical framework of epistemic injustice to examine different forms of state violence against racially marginalized people. We use the two-decade public debate on the Toronto police practice of "carding," recent examples of the police use of lethal force, and economic disparity and structural inequity, as entry points to discuss exclusion and the criminalization of race. Finally we discuss how racialized people in Canada resist practices of epistemic injustice, which erode their civil right to safety and justice, by using different forms of epistemic resistance, to claim their knowledge/power/human dignity, while actively working to construct a democratic society.