This writing is not meant to berate Mr. Stanley in a personal way. Mr. Stanley was acquitted of shooting and killing an unarmed Colton Bushie in Saskatchewan on February 09, 2018. Instead, it is meant to demonstrate how four hundred years of deeply embedded white colonial racism has persisted and has always consistently been our Indigenous Wiindigo or monster causing intergenerational fear.
Let's roll the clock back to August 19, 2016, when Mr. Stanly is standing at the driver's side window, pointing his gun. These "What if" scenarios will bleed differing realities into the drama in real-time.
What if; When Mr. Stanley was pointing his gun at Colton, he noticed a custom, cool hairstyle of a "Beiber bob?"
What if; When Mr. Stanley was about to reach into the driver's side window, he heard the religious music of an artist singing "Kumbaya?"
What if; When Mr. Stanley instantly recognized the cologne of "Old Spice?"
What if; When Mr. Stanly was reaching across the young Colton Bushie to turn his radio off, he noticed Colton was wearing a thousand dollar pair of Gucci loafers complete with Prime Minister style argyle socks?
What if; Colton used one of the cool moves by our Hollywood heroes and was able to turn the tables and fire that misfired bullet?
The big question is, would Colton be acquitted by a jury of his peers? Would or could the jury forgive the part of re-cocking the gun on a miss-fired bullet? Would Colton have a remote possibility of ascertaining a jury of his peers? Juries are typically selected from white persons that are homeowners without criminal records.
In the "What if's" department of this story, a tiny bit of glam dressing up, a Bieber bob, or even some peace-loving music does not cover -up the fact, there are 400 years of deep-seated racism in the form of an undying monster, and the Indigenous peoples call the Wiindigo. Racism is incredibly intimate and looks into the brown or black skin as an absolute barrier to any relationship.