On the very specific topic of 'systemic' racism

On the very specific topic of 'systemic' injustice and racism, and in particular what the word 'systemic' means in that context, I've found some recent clarity that I feel compelled to share. I say that to underscore the fact that there are literally tens of millions of people who have a deeper mental, emotional, spiritual physical connection to the systemic racism and injustice faced by black people in this country. But, on this very specific topic, I feel I have some clarity that I'd like to share -- especially with the white and non-black POC people in my life. 

First, I think the word 'systemic' is too often used to imply (or infer) a specific quantification of a problem's cause. It shouldn't be. For example, saying police brutality against black people is a systemic problem is NOT saying (necessarily) that ~50% of police are racist or individually brutalize black citizens. In other words, one can believe that the majority of police in America are indeed not racist, not brutal, and doing just, good law enforcement -- and yet still believe that there is a systemic problem of racial bias and brutality in America's police force. In fact, you could believe that the problem is indeed "just a few bad apples" and yet still also admit that the problem is systemic and institutional nonetheless. 

Here is what I mean.

There are ~700k police officers in America nationwide. If indeed we are dealing with just a few bad apples, then maybe just 1% of them are racist, abusive, etc. That's 7k. Sure, doesn't seem like a lot. But now let's remember how broad police authority is in this country, let's remember how dense urban areas where black, brown and other minorities often live are, and let's remember how armed our police forces can be. It's not a far stretch of the imagination to assume that each of those 7k racist, abusive, motivated bad apples could target and harass an average of 10 black Americans a day.  

That's 10 people they falsely arrested, fabricated evidence on, abused (physically, verbally), unnecessarily chased/scared, called the 'N' word -- or yes even murdered. All of a sudden, that's 70,000 black Americans who have been unfairly targeted and attacked by the same people who are supposed to protect them on any given day. Per year, that's over 25 million, which is ~2/3 of the country's entire black population. If that's not systemic, then I don't know what is -- especially considering how hearing how the police treated everyone in your life -- your dad, your brother, your friends -- would condition you regardless of your own individual experience. And I believe that to be the bear case, that's if we're dealing with a few bad apples. 

Now let's go a step further to understand how we keep regenerating these bad apples -- why they don't just fall off the tree and never come back. 

The numbers proposed above are hypotheticals, but one thing we know to be true, is that the vast, vast, vast, vast majority (I mean damn year the entirety of the time), police officers who commit racist acts of brutality, even the fatal ones, go unpunished. And that's the ultimate systemic flaw in the system. If bad apples are not treated as bad, they regrow, they spread, and they grow stronger -- as they get armed with more powerful weaponry, as they're emboldened by anti-media, anti-immigrant, anti-urban rhetoric from the president, and as they remain un-policed and undeterred by even their otherwise well-serving, innocuous peers. 

I say this all to say that the next time you hear about there being a problem of systemic bias, systemic racism, or systemic brutality anywhere (but especially in the American police force), take a minute to remember that it's not systemic bc of how many people are committing the bad acts, but bc of how many people it negatively affects. And bc that the solutions for such evils must be at the foundational, institutional level. We must stop the growth of bad apples by depriving them of any water at the root, and not pluck them one by one as we find them.

Although that would be a good start.