Sandy Hudson Discusses Defund: Black Lives, Policing, and Safety for All with Brian Jones
BPL Presents welcomes Sandy Hudson, author, activist and co-founder of Black Lives Matter Canada to discuss her new book Defund: Black Lives, Policing, and Safety for All. Hudson will be in conversation with Brian Jones, director of the Center for Educators and Schools at The New York Public Library and author of the forthcoming Black History is For Everyone (Haymarket Books, September 2025).
After the conversation, there will be time for Q&A with the audience. Books will be available for sale by Mil Mundos Books. Registration is required. Please RSVP in advance!
PARTICPANTS
Sandy Hudson is a multidisciplinary creative, writer, and activist. Her work has appeared in The Washington Post, Toronto Star, and HuffPost, among other publications. Hudson holds a JD from the UCLA School of Law and a MA in social justice education from the University of Toronto. She co-hosts the podcast Sandy and Nora Talk Politics and is co-author of the bestselling anthology Until We Are Free: Reflections on Black Lives Matter in Canada. Hudson is a co-founder of Black Lives Matter Canada, as well as the Black Legal Action Centre, a specialty legal aid clinic that services Black communities in Ontario. She is currently based in Los Angeles and is co-executive producer of the eight-part CBC documentary series Black Life: Untold Stories, an official selection of the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival.
Brian Jones is director of the Center for Educators and Schools at The New York Public Library. Brian taught elementary grades in NYC’s public schools for nine years before earning a PhD in Urban Education from the City University of New York Graduate Center. He served as associate director of education at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, where he was also a scholar in residence. Brian is the author of The Tuskegee Student Uprising: A History (NYU Press, 2022) and Black History Is for Everyone (Haymarket Books, September 2025).
