Systemic racism in USA and Canada

I had a recent conversation with someone I shall name JW, who hinted that his  opinion was that many police incidents in the US are over-hyped by the media (e.g. the shooting of the knife-wielding woman in Columbus, Ohio) and that police have some good excuses (e.g. very poor and inadequate training). While there might some hype and the police is definitely underprepared, I don't think the news coverage even scratches the surface of the depth of racism in USA (and to some extent even Canada). He has hinted in the past that aboriginals in Canada often squander their govt-given opportunities (e.g. reparations monetary compensation) on frivolous stuff such as booze (from first hand encounters and acquaintances). That might be true, yet as recent news have shown (e.g. unmarked grave of 215 kids at Kamloops residential school), past unaddressed wrongs keep surfacing showing the depth of the genocidal catastrophe committed by Europeans against the natives on this continent. I won't even get into the complicity of the Christian churches in this.