Think about it: If our children don’t know what systemic racism is, they may think that George Floyd’s murder was the result of — as a white adult described it to me — the actions of “one bad officer.” And they might then think that justice is served when that officer — Derek Chauvin — is removed from the force and convicted. But if they are taught about the event through the lens of systemic racism, then they will learn that Chauvin had eighteen complaints against him — that after a half dozen, a dozen, and then still more grievances — someone other than Chauvin, likely multiple people, kept him on the force. They learn that someone looked at Chauvin’s record and decided to give him the responsibility of training other officers. They learn that Floyd was at least the seventh person Chauvin choked or knelt on: Three of them, including Floyd, were Black, two were Latino, one was Native American and the races of the other two are unknown. They learn that Chauvin is only now facing charges for a 2017 incident in which the federal government argues he hit a Black 14-year-old in the head with a flashlight so brutally the boy needed stitches, and then knelt on his neck and back for several minutes — even though the boy, like Floyd, was handcuffed, prone and unresisting. They will learn that other officers failed to treat this as a crime and while police chose not to take action to get Chauvin off the force, let alone keep him out of a position of authority, the police union did step in after all that inaction finally led to a murder — to spend $1 million on his criminal defense.