Racism, a controversial word that no white folk would like to be associated with, because of its substance of injustice and oppression.
I don't doubt the sincere uncomfortability the connotation generates among white individuals or communities.
However, rejecting its label alone doesn't negate the impact the negative aspect of the word is having on the ethnic communities facing the realities of it.
What's ironic about this issue is that, whatever dismissive one might be about its presence in society, the word itself isn't an abstract phrase without its physical implications, or thriving in isolation without anyone behind its system operations to make it effective.
The death of George Floyd is a typical example of system operations without anyone claiming responsibility for that controversial name tag-racism.
The American police who killed George Floyd would attribute their operations to the ethos of their duty, in order to deflect any charge of racial insensitivity that must have spurred them on to their murderous act.
So, as we saw it, in the American police culture, as long as the officers exercise their duty, the impugn nature isn't monitored to assess the impact of devastation on the ethnic communities to rate its racial element.
This act of shirking of empathetic responsibility in the line of duty against black race is prevalent in the Western communities where the  racial divide is majority white.
The reason is that racism however subtle is institutionalised in all sector of the society, because when you get a society where class system and ethnic identity determine the progression of social status, there's no doubt that 'the knee on the neck syndrome' would determine how far the 'low class' ethnic blacks would go in career stakes, as well as social acceptability.
Britain, then colonial masters, pride themselves of being more racial diverse with more equal opportunities for everyone irrespective of race, and therefore distance themselves from such brutality witnessed over the killing of George Floyd.
It is true that the British police may not 'compete' with their American counterparts in brutality stakes, however, there have been some instances where they have been accused of maltreatment and other arbitrary stop and search, as well as other infractions against minority groups.
There's no doubt that the set up of the police service generates no confidence for the minority groups to be cooperatives with, because the structure has no top senior officers they can identify with, and therefore to be empathetic to their plight to have faith and trust in the system.
The story of George Floyd and the knee on the neck is a metaphoric experience of the black folks.
In the Corona virus pandemic, statistics showed that blacks and Asian communities were excessively affected than white counterparts, because they were more represented on the front line service delivery than white counterparts, secondary, bad socio- economic structure set against them to affect healthy lifestyle choices.
And even in our religious set up front, the composition is staggeringly divisive with blacks and other ethnic communities totally separated from their white majority worshippers, though not  consciously arranged, however, due to the results of institutionalised white superiority structures that have existed for centuries, creating 'segregated holy ghettos' on Sundays to 'protect' their ethnic identity.

The sad thing is that the senior church leaders who supposed to use their privileged positions to call for change and inclusivity in hierarchical structures and lay membership in the church, to reflect the teachings of scriptures: that all men are created in the image of God, have accommodated this in silence, without any spiritual conscience prickling them into seismic evolutional change that is needed to resolve the divide.
So, even if no one is bold enough to admit the sense of racism permeating the culture of society, because of its undoubted progress since the abolition of its cruel impugn practice, there are still negative aspersions cast on black communities than white counterparts to echo the dream of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. historic phrase: that 'one day his children will live in a nation where they will not be judged by the colour of their skin, but the content of their character.
I believe this would be possible only if the white society all put their hands on the deck, and admit that there's existential problem with racism in society, and there must be total paradigm shift in mindset and institutionalised system operations, to equalise opportunities for the oppressed black folks, without any promises of future commissions of inquiries in a subtle means to brush under institutionalised carpet.