Thank you, Bob. I always appreciate your thoughtful responses which cause me to reconsider my position sometimes as well. Systemic racism might be a concept harder to grasp outside the United States, to my mind the best substitute word for systemic is built-in.
The United States designed racism into its Constitution which in many ways was a set of compromises to assure slave-owning states they need never fear that the more populous states (given how slaves counted as 3/5ths of a person for determining Congressional representation and not at all when it came to votes) would someday take away their right to own slaves. It's why our Electoral College determines Presidential elections instead of the popular vote.
Our 13th Amendment which theoretically ended slavery left a big loophole that excepted prisoners. Many (some say all) states ended up passing laws (initially the Black Codes and eventually Jim Crow) which made a lot of behavior of black people illegal, leading to incarceration therefore duplicating slavery as best as possible. The 1994 Crime Bill has had much the same effect. Mass incarceration is part of the systemic racism that curses America.
Voter suppression has always been a big part of the problem. While our 14th Amendment allegedly solved that problem. Literacy tests and poll taxes were initially designed to prevent black people from participating in the voting process. They have been replaced by Gerrymandering, redistricting, eliminating polling locations, reducing available voting days and times, and new forms of poll taxes including one approved by the Supreme Court last week which will prevent over a million ex-felons in Florida from voting despite Florida voters passing a Constitutional Amendment by an overwhelming margin to allow those who have completed their sentences to regain voting rights.
Our education system is much the same way. Despite the Supreme Court decision in 1954 which was to end segregation. The wording allowed for implementation, "With All Deliberate Speed," which translated to take all the time you want. Some Southern schools are still de-facto segregated and the current movement is to fund charter schools, providing less funding to public schools which mean the system is providing an inferior education to minority children.
The racism I'm discussing is not simply one persons ill will towards another but when the system is designed to advance the prospects of one racial group at the expense of others. Those in America that cannot or will not see what is clearly there are being willfully obtuse.
