Yes, there absolutely are several reasons other than racism why black people are disproportionately killed by police...
...And in case you didnt know, it is, without any doubt or question, absolutely and GROSSLY disproportionate. Police kill twice as many white people as black people, but to be proportionate it would have to be between FOUR and SIX times as many (depending on how you define and count white, black, and hispanic... which can be kind of arbitrary and which makes the numbers messy and hard to be precise about).
...But even controlling for all those factors, as much as anyone possibly can... it's still about 40% more than would be proportionate... better than 300% yes, but still a whole hell of a lot.
...And guess what... the individual officers doing the killing, or their leadership, don't have to individually express or feel racial bias or animus, for that 40% disparity to be because of racism... that is the definition of structural or systemic or institutional racism.
It doesnt mean everyone in the institution or the system is racist... it means there are structural and systemic and institutional racial biases and disparities built into the systems and institutions... for many and varied reasons, NONE of which may be actual explicit racism (at least not by the definitions of racism most people use and accept).
...Though remember, some of that 40% absolutely is explicit racism... Dont dismiss that...
Thats what makes most people not only not understand the problem, but refuse to accept it may even BE a problem... because theyre not personally racist, and nobody they know in those institutions is personally racist... so how can it possibly be racism?
This is why I believe using the terms institutional racism, structural racism, and systemic racism, are counterproductive. The word racism itself creates a backlash reaction, because of how emotionally loaded it is.
Using the terms institutional, systemic, and structural racial bias, and racial disparity doesn't have the POWER of the word racism... And certainly, many understandably want to use that power to effect change...
...But in part, that is what can make words other than "racism", more effective in helping people who simply believe that they are not racists or bad people, to understand the problem... and to want to help fix the problem, rather than resisting even acknowledging that the problem exists.
So... do you want to use POWERFUL words, as a hammer against the hard rock wall that people throw up against them... or do you actually want to be effective in changing the minds and behaviors of those people?
