Sometimes we tend to believe that racism is a matter of individual likes and dislikes, when in fact the great success of racist discourse has been to normalize this whole infinite range of “buts”, this whole palette of racist thoughts completely anchored in society.
In Mondariz-Balneario, a very small municipality in Galicia, there are currently 180 refugees, most of them from Mali. It is part of the reception agreement agreed between the State and the local authorities. The neighbours, for the most part, are delighted. But we came across the “but”. The other day, a resident of the town was being interviewed on television. “I am not racist,” he began, clarifying the above – it is true that starting a sentence with “I am not racist” shows from the outset that you are; “I think it is good that they come, but they do it to really work.” This is a relatively common thought that hides an abysmal layer of racism: “I am not racist, as long as the immigrant, the mena, the refugee behaves with an exemplary nature, a beatitude and a dedication and a cult of work that would never be required of me or myself. “I am not racist if he shows me how good he is.” The same thing happens with Vinicius and racist insults, for example. In social gatherings, in columns, in bars, Vinicius’ provocative behavior is mentioned as if it automatically validated the racist insults he receives, as if they were two equal parts of the same discussion.
Yesterday, on the beach, some ladies, sprawled out on their chairs, commented on the same news about the immigrants staying in Mondariz. “Well, I think it’s great,” said one of them. The other subscribed, but, but with the “but” we found ourselves. “But I don’t know if I would be very calm,” he added. “Why, woman?”, her friend reprimanded her. “Oh, well, I don’t know, but I wouldn’t be comfortable or calm at night,” she said.
Sometimes we tend to believe that racism is a matter of individual tastes and dislikes, when the great success of racist discourses has been to normalize this whole infinite range of “buts”, this whole palette of racist thoughts completely anchored in society. And another of the great successes of the extreme right – also on the right – is to have managed to introduce the idea that the social problems we face have more to do with identity (the replacement theory, immigrants come to your house, they take away your work, they will end up imposing their culture), than with politics or class.
Antiracism and racism are not fixed identities or tattoos. Most of us are not racist, or think the opposite. But (and here I use the but consciously) it is not enough not to be racist, we must be antiracist, understand our own privileged position within a racist society. The only way to be truly antiracist is to be willing to unlearn our inherent racism. Because racism and hate speech deployed by non-anonymous MEPs, or by cryptonomers on social networks, have been penetrating for some time with astonishing ease, also among those who do not believe themselves to be racist, or among those who declare not to be. There are no factories of adverse conjunctions large enough to provide so many “buts”.
