In a scene from Malcolm X, the protagonist reads the definitions of black and white in the dictionary and realizes that most of the definitions for the second color are clearly unfavorable. The Spike Lee movie is from 1992, and yet we haven’t changed that much. It is enough to do the same exercise today – and be surprised by the result. It is enough to pay attention to some conversations around.
“There are no Moors on the coast”, “Snack for blacks”, “A Chinese job”, “A black wrote it to you”, “You look like a gypsy”… These expressions –and their variations– may look familiar. You may even have pronounced them at some time. And you may not have thought about it, but they are all racist expressions. This has been denounced on several occasions by different NGOs -in 2013, in Uruguay, the demands took shape in a campaign called Erase language racism-, with the aim of claiming that language must be inclusive and respectful for society to be. also and not only on paper.
Spain also has a sad history of racial discrimination, specifically, from SOS Racismo they registered a total of 523 complaints in 2021. The problem is that it is not so visible because 81.8% of people who suffer from this racism do not report it . This is stated in the latest report by the Council for the Elimination of Racial or Ethnic Discrimination (CEDRE), Perception of discrimination based on racial or ethnic origin by its potential victims in 2020. This figure is slightly less than 89.9 % that was registered in 2013 (date of the previous study).
The document also stressed that 51.8% of the people surveyed stated that they had suffered discrimination in the form of derogatory treatment, insults, verbal violence, discrimination in the workplace or home, marginalization and social exclusion.
Because racism is not only manifested in violent and explicit acts. It can also take more subtle and everyday forms. Known faces like ‘Pape’ Diop, midfielder for UD Ibiza in LaLiga SmartBank, and anonymous like Guillermo Akapo, have experienced it in various forms. Also the expert voice of the last episode of the podcast, Desirée Bela-Lobedde, writer, disseminator and Afro-feminist and anti-racist activist who claims the importance of focusing on racism because “not talking about something does not make it less true”. “There are many people who are unaware of the day-to-day life of a racialized person,” she adds.
We listened to Desirée to understand the impact of racism in our society, empathize with those who suffer it, and learn how each of us can contribute to build a more inclusive and respectful community, based on her life and professional experience.
