Systemic racism means the system discriminates against race and that it does so as a result of racism. So yes, it does imply the intention was always to discri

Systemic racism means the system discriminates against race and that it does so as a result of racism. So yes, it does imply the intention was always to discriminate against black people, because that was the explicit intent of a large number of people over centuries in the country is why the current system shows discrimination against a particular race. It's possible the current policies no longer harbor direct racism, but that the effect of prior policies and attitudes still lingers. Thus it is necessary to recognize their residual effect, and find ways to mitigate it, otherwise it is not true that the current system isn't racist, if racist driven intentions of the past still have an effect on the outcomes of the system today.