Thread by @akurjata

I want to talk about how bizarre it is that there is even a debate about whether systemic racism exists in Canada when there are observable outcomes that make it self-evidently true. (thread)

First, because I think this is maybe where some of the confusion lies: What is systemic racism. It is *not* the belief that members of a society or organization are all secret Ku Klux Klan sympathesizers or overt white supremacists

It is instead the observation that the systems we operate in has racist outcomes. The individuals within it do not have to deliberately think or act in racist ways for this to work. Either by accident or design, it will still have racist outcomes.

So let's talk about those outcomes in Canada.

Here's an example: From 2000 to 2017, Black and Indigenous people in Canada were disproportionately victims of police violence newsinteractives.cbc.ca/longform-custo…

Here's another example from Stats Canada. Indigenous people are far, far more likely to be sentenced and jailed than the general population justice.gc.ca/eng/rp-pr/jr/g…

You can pull up any number of other stats: Carding in individual cities; The underrepresentation of racialized people in media, politics, boardrooms, etc. Health outcomes.

So why is this?

As far as I can tell there are three primary options.

1. Canadians are actually individual racists and this is a deliberate campaign.

2. White people are superior and this is a natural outcome (if you choose this, congratulations, you are a racist).

3. Something else

Thinking it might be something else? Surprise! You've arrived at systemic racism!

You recognize that our society is arranged in such a way that as a group, racialized people are more likely to experience bad outcomes (incarceration, death by police, diabetes, addiction)

No one has to *want* this to happen today. But a very cursory reading of history helps us see how it happened. Residential schools. White supremacist immigration policies. Segregation (yes, it happened in Canada). Unconscious biases from being raised in this culture

This isn't to let anyone off the hook. Classic, bigoted racism still exists, in big and small ways. But simply saying "I'm not racist and I don't know anyone who is" doesn't serve as proof that systemic racism exists- especially when we have the (many, many) numbers to prove it

I understand why people are resistant to hearing "systemic racism exists in Canada". Racism is bad and we want to believe we are not bad. But the fact is you can clearly see many, many ways in which we are, as a collective, failing to prevent racist outcomes

I do think it's possible there might be better ways to talk about this. Maybe rather than asking people in leadership positions "does systemic racism exist" as if it's up for debate, we'd be better off pointing to factual examples and asking "how will you fix this"

Right now we're treating it like a thing that may or may not be there. It reminds me of climate change. You've got all the data points, why are we both-sidesing this thing? Explain what it is, talk about its outcomes and look for solutions. /thread

I should really proofread these threads before throwing them out there

I'm throwing this in after a long exchange with someone who insisted on no systemic racism b/c there are no longer explicitly racist laws: The consequences of past racism, and past racist laws, are part of the overall system we operate in.