The deaths of George Floyd and countless other Black people in the U.S. and Canada at the hands of the police have sparked protests across the globe decrying anti-Black racism. Maclean’s Live caps a two-week series on systemic racism, diversity and the Black Lives Matter movement with guest host Desmond Cole, author of The Skin We’re In: A Year of Black Resistance and Power, and an extraordinary group of writers, commentators and artists on Wednesday, June 17 at 7 p.m. EDT.

• Esi Edugyan, author of the Giller Prize-winning novels Half-Blood Blues and Washington Black.


• Robyn Maynard, Vanier Scholar and award-winning author of Policing Black Lives: State violence in Canada from slavery to the present.


• Syrus Marcus Ware, Vanier Scholar, a visual artist, community activist, researcher, youth-advocate and educator


• Ian Williams, poet and novelist, professor of creative writing at the University of British Columbia, author of the Giller Prize-winning novel Reproduction.