Racism: What It Is and How to Deal with It - Uned

Module 4 - Racism: How is it reproduced? | 77
2.3. The manifestations of racism
An object of many faces
“They say about being black to me a lot. I don’t know why people, because
they’re white, are better, right? It doesn’t matter.” (Interview 8)
“My mother’s boss told me that I should use something in order to be white.
She said: ‘And why don’t you use a cream?’ I got angry, sure. And I said
no, because I like being this color and that’s all there is to it. If she’s white
she’s white, and if I’m brown, I’m brown, but that’s it. But no one’s said
anything else to me.” (Interview 1)
Racism doesn’t change, it doesn’t evolve, it only manifests itself with different faces.
Biological racism exists and persists, independently of the demonstration that there
are no significan genetic differences among different groups and that the physical
differences that are used as guides are not connected to other intellectual, moral, or
ethical differences.
However, we speak of “new racism” as a contemporary phenomenon. Giménez and
Malgesini (2000) define it, in contrast to the racism that justifies or legitimizes inequality
and hierarchy based on “racial” or biological differences, in terms of culturalist
differentialism, using the idea of the impossibility of the coexistence of different
cultures. Officially, biologicist-type prejudices are rejected at the same time as the
contents of the principles of justice and equity are closely felt. But interest in those
moral and ethical values of which each “culture” is the bearer also appears. This leads
to the perception that “foreigners” or “others,” with their own moral and ethical values,
do not manage to incorporate themselves into “our” value system.
Whatever the real reasoning may be, racism can manifest itself explicitly or in the form
of aversive racism (also called “attitudinal duality”). It originates in the negative social
consideration of racism, but in a situation in which the anti-prejudice or anti-racist
norms are not clear, so the subjects are more likely to express and manifest negative
feelings toward other groups. A characteristic of these negative responses is that they
go unnoticed by the people involved in the racism. Acknowledging the racism would
threaten their own self-image.
Example 1: The position that should be taken with regard to the massive arrival of
emigrants by sea is unclear. And what may be a discussion on laws in force and their fit
or lack of fit to needs can trigger racist manifestations and infect other terrains.
Example 2: The entry of children with immigrant origins into the educational system,
especially in certain non-mandatory levels, such as infant education, where the supply
does not currently cover the demand and where, because of their characteristics, they
have more justified access because of their weak economic standing, can trigger racist