Book tells of systemic racism (Fireworks and folly: how we killed Minnie Sutherland, by John Nihmey).

By Paul Barnsley

Windspeaker Staff Writer

Fireworks and Folly

How We Killed

Minnie Sutherland

By John Nihmey

Philip Diamond Books Inc.

$29.95, 192 pages (hc.)

John Nihmey's Fireworks and Folly - How We Killed Minnie Sutherland is only 192 pages long.

That's not a lot of pages when you consider that the author recounts the minute-by-minute details of a Cree woman's 10-day-long fight for life after her skull was fractured when she was hit by a car early New Year's day, 1989. He also covers the subsequent coroner's inquest, includes in-depth interviews with more than a dozen of the victim's family members and friends, and records the findings of an internal review by the Hull, Que. police service and a Quebec Police Commission review.

The scarcity of data isn't Nihmey's fault. He proved he knows how to research an investigative book with Time of Their Lives - The Dionne Tragedy, a book that was made into the $10 million 1994 CBC/CBS miniseries, Million Dollar Babies.

When he visited the Windspeaker newsroom on Sept. 22, during a cross-country tour promoting the newly released book, Nihmey said authorities were not particularly co-operative when he asked for help in researching the book. He spoke of the resistance he encountered when he attempted to unearth details of the investigations into Minnie Sutherland's death, all of which refused to confront the racism that killed her. In the book, he broadly hints that he suspects a cover up.

He emphasized that the system killed Minnie Sutherland and has killed, and will continue to kill, others until someone finds the courage and decency to confront the harmful effects of racial stereotypes and systemic racism.

"It's astounding that the inquiries found there was no racism," he said. "Minnie was stereotyped to death. The system failed her and the system would have worked if just one person had said, `No.' "

Like just about every other person in Ottawa that New Year's Eve, Minnie Sutherland had been drinking. After she was struck by a car while trying to cross a busy street in the area of Hull, Que. where Ottawa residents go after the bars close in Ontario, the police who responded to the call labeled her a "drunken Indian" and dragged her to the side of the road so there wouldn't be a traffic problem.

The officers instructed the nurse who was driving the car that struck Sutherland to move on and threatened to arrest a university student who insisted they shouldn't move the injured woman. A recording of police radio communication during the incident revealed that one of the officers referred to her as a "squaw."

Three hours later, after being refused entry to a detox centre, Sutherland was admitted to hospital. It was only after she died that the autopsy revealed the cause of death. Nihmey believes that racial stereotyping prevented police, social workers and hospital staff from investigating and finding the real cause of her distress.

The wrestler vividly recollects his innumerable fights during his school years. Eventually, it led him to take an interest in wrestling, beginning at age 10 when he was a big fan of then-super hero, Hulk Hogan. Along the way, the young and impressionable Doxtator found support and encouragement from his loving parents who "pushed me on," he says.

Today, the youngster appreciates the fact that people, even those who are his kin, "care that much."

A more serious introduction to wrestling grabbed hold of him when he was about 18. He'd played high school football for about three years, but lost interest because it was "too team-oriented." What he really wanted and needed was a sport where any losses would find nobody at fault but himself. That meant looking at individual sports and his interest in wrestling fit the bill perfectly.

As with so many families, though, tragedy intervened in his young life. He lost his dad to an aneurysm and wound up abusing drugs and alcohol to ease the pain of his terrible loss. Three years later he straightened out and that's when he went into rigorous training aimed at winning the gold in wrestling at the 1997 Indigenous Games in Victoria.

Back home on the Oneida Reserve, just east of London, he sees himself often under the microscope as a role model to other youth.

Shelley Burnham, the general manager for Dinawo, a sports garment company in nearby Hamilton, Ont., was quite taken with this young athlete who she describes as "a very fine individual."

"We brought him on as one of our company role models this year," she said.

"Physical education is important at an early age," Doxtator believes. "That way, one is less likely to fall into drugs or alcohol."

As for wrestling, he insists that "it is not a sport for everybody." And, like so many other proponents of sports activities, he strongly adheres to the philosophy that "dedication" is most definitely one of the more crucial qualities in the pursuit of success and excellence, no matter what the sport.

Although some may consider his goal to achieve Olympic gold to be a lofty objective, this does not discourage him in the least because he recognizes that so many fine athletes do not achieve success without having that dream.

The non-Native author tries to make the point that most racism isn't the conscious, hate-filled type of behavior that is depicted in mass media stories about groups such as the Ku Klux Klan. Most people who act in a racist manner aren't aware they're doing so and would be greatly offended if someone suggested they were behaving in a racist manner. Nihmey said the media coverage of the coroner's inquest was just as racist as the behavior that killed Sutherland and that's what prompted him to start work on the book. Six years of research went into the final product which is a restrained, well-reasoned attempt to make that uncomfortable point.

Nihmey hopes the book will have an effect on the way inquiries are conducted. He hopes he has demonstrated that the inquiries into Minnie Sutherland's death were ineffective and even dishonest.