I saw [this](https://www.reddit.com/r/FragileWhiteRedditor/comments/kyo25g/fwr_says_theres_no_such_thing_as_systemic_racism/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share) Reddit post today and it sparked a few questions.
For context, I consider my self sort of knowledgeable of social justice issues, but I don’t understand this one that much.
The responding Redditor says that if you remove all the racists from a systemically racist system, the system still favors a certain ethnicity. I am in no way trying to argue this, and I don’t not think it’s true, I just don’t understand what systems are in place that are racist by design. I acknowledge that if it weren’t for my white privilege, I would probably know. I definitely think that the system is racist, but I always thought it was the people applying it unjustly, not the system itself.
Thanks
Edit: I understand this is a pretty common question and I should’ve better explained my question specifically as something like:
“I understand that many modern social systems are based on unjust, racist treatment of certain groups, be it slavery, Residential Schools, or otherwise. I understand that this has lasting impacts on our society, and these policies and practices continue to negatively impact minority communities to this day. It is evident to me that, for only one example, a racist judge, would apply harsher sentencing to a individual, due to their ethnicity.
My question specifically is, like the Redditor stated: How is it that, even once the racist individuals within the system are removed, the system still favors one ethnicity, and oppresses the other?”
Thanks to some very helpful, and precise replies I much better understand systemic racism as a whole, and my question is answered. Thanks to everyone who put in the time to explain.
In: Other
Let’s take schools as an example.
In a lot of places in the US, they’re funded at least partially by local property taxes. Which are based on local property values. For the longest time, discriminatory policies in lending, employment and similar meant that predominately black areas had housing that was generally worth much less than predominately white areas.
So predominately black schools got less money, which meant worse education outcomes, which meant worse employment results, which helped keep the local area less economically powerful and less desirable to live in… which meant less money for education and around the circle we go. Even if everybody involved stopped being racist immediately that wouldn’t fix the issue, because you’ve still got the results of all those racist policies feeding into the current system.
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