Yeah, there's a problem with the liberal arts wing of academia. (I'm in the STEM wing so I can see the problem. Those in the LA wing can't see it any more than a fish can see water.)
The problem is falsifiability or refutability*.
In the STEM area, we have the Scientific Method, an established process for verifying whether a proposition is true or false. The Scientific Method allows us to obtain certainty, or at least, the closest we humans can come to this. Thus, we can prove objectively that a hypothesis is false, by means of controlled experiment, supported by peer review and replicability** This allows us to build the reliable structures and technologies we see today. (Aside: this is why I am leery of the COVID vaccines in the works. Developing a medication and proving that it is safe and effective takes time, and rushing the process means that the result may not be safe or effective. Thalidomide is a famous example of this.)
The liberal arts wing does not have a process for falsifiability ; this is why we see many competing theories that stand or fall on rhetorical skills and are eventually resolved in the court of public opinion -- often, over many centuries, if at all. I am aware that the existence of systemic racism cannot be "proven" in the same sense as we can prove, for example, that the velocity of a falling object in a vacuum is v=gt. The latter is proven by controlled experiment; the former is supported by tons of observational data and some experiments which may or may not be controlled, replicable, or -- most importantly -- ethical.
Even so, I support the idea of systemic racism because the observational data *** is overwhelming, and the alternative is to conclude that there's something intrinsically inferior or wrong with Black people. And I find this conclusion to be ethically abhorrent.
* https://www.britannica.com/topic/criterion-of-falsifiability
** the ability of a scientific experiment or trial to be repeated to obtain a consistent result.
*** https://www.businessinsider.com/us-systemic-racism-in-charts-graphs-data-2020-6
