"Il Fallait se Défendre" tells the story of the Bélangers, the first Haitian gang in Montreal. It is the testimony of Maxime Aurélien, the first Haitian gang leader, about the 1980s in Montreal and the emergence of criminal gangs. Written with academic and activist Ted Rutland, Il fallait se défendre challenges the general public's understanding and responses to racialized youth. Rather than a band of violent delinquents, the gang was a response to the violence of others: normalised anti-Black racism in the city and police brutality.