Word Definitions - Systemic Racism

The head of the RCMP got herself into trouble when she fumbled the question as to whether or not there was systemic racism within her organization. She should not have answered the way that she did. It is clear to most people that in all parts of our society, and in fact, in all societies racism exists and it exists at a systemic level. But the commissioner was quite right in suggesting that she was unclear as to what the phrase meant; that she had heard a number of different definitions of the phrase. Her suggestion that we needed clarity as to what we were talking about is what we should expect from the leaders of our various public institutions. To blame everything on the system - will not fix the problems that exist.

  The phrase systemic racism suggests that the actions of the individual are shaped, manipulated or controlled by the system that they work in; that the entire system around that officer is structured in such a way that treating people differently because of the colour of their skin is okay. The phrase also suggests that any racist action is beyond any one individual's control.  For example - if a police officer is more likely to confront an indigenous individual or a person of colour and is more willing to escalate that confrontation into aggressive physical restraint - it is because his training has taught him to do that and the entire command structure (including any disciplinary review process) supports such actions or is it because the officer believes (and has always believed) that some individuals are inherently guilty of some crime and less likely to be a good citizen and that there is no point trying to be "nice". The officer acts as a racist because he is a racist.

 We can fix the former. We can review training, who and how people are supervised and work on creating a culture where such attitudes are not allowed. It will not be easy and unfortunately, it will not be nearly as quick as people would like but it is very doable. However, if the main problem is that the officer's core values suggest that some people deserve less than others and that some people are more likely to offend - then all of the training in the world will not change that officer's mind. Just get rid of him/her. Pay them off and get them out of the force. The longer they stay - the more they will pollute the minds of younger officers.

 So many of the reports that I read in the press labelling actions as systemic racism strike me not as the fault of the system but the fault of the individual who committed the act or at worst the actions of a few managers. There is much that needs to be done. There are, within Canada, numerous examples of how various systems have slowly evolved over the decades to be restrictive and punitive to people who can be identified by the colour of their skin. Those individuals will experience more barriers to education, jobs, housing, social mobility and will face higher rates of incarceration or mistreatment by police. Those barriers can be identified and taken down. We can not as easily change the deeply held values, supported by their faith, their family and their chosen community, of those officers who are racist.

 When we allow people to confuse systemic racism (which puts the blame on something else) with individuals who are racists - we make far too easy for those individuals to spew their filth onto our streets. It is time we start to assign responsibility to the act upon the individual who did the crime - not on some rather nebulous system.