International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. Do we celebrate or commemorate?

Today, March 21st, is the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. This day was proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly in 1966, in remembrance of the Sharpeville Massacre in South Africa, which occurred on the same day in 1960. Police opened fire on peaceful protesters demonstrating against the laws of the South African government's racist apartheid system. Therefore, today is a good day, like every other, to talk about racism. Because, although it may seem that a spiral of silence on the subject is beginning to break, racism remains one of the great taboos of our society.

A global turning point was the murder of George Floyd on May 25, 2020, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA. George Floyd, a 46-year-old African American man, was detained by police after allegedly trying to use a counterfeit $20 bill at a local store. During the arrest, a police officer, Derek Chauvin, pressed his knee into Floyd's neck for more than nine minutes, despite Floyd repeatedly saying he couldn't breathe and complaining of pain. In a video recorded by bystanders, Floyd can be heard saying "I can't breathe" several times before losing consciousness. Despite efforts to revive him, Floyd was pronounced dead shortly afterward at a nearby hospital. The video of the murder quickly went viral and sparked outrage around the world. Thousands of people demonstrated in cities across the United States and in other countries, demanding justice for Floyd and denouncing police violence and racism. The case led to a renewed debate about systemic racism and police brutality in the United States, and a global protest movement known as "Black Lives Matter".

Racism is often understood as a set of negative attitudes and behaviors toward people because of their ethnic or racial background. What is often overlooked in our society is that this is merely the individual or interpersonal dimension of the phenomenon. Racism goes beyond the intersubjective; reducing it solely to this expression obscures the systemic and structural nature of the matrix of oppression in which we are embedded, and in which racism is a central axis.

Racism, I was saying, is also expressed in other, more complex dimensions, not so visible in its everyday manifestations: institutional racism and structural racism. On this occasion, I will focus on the institutional dimension of racism. Institutional racism refers to the policies, practices, and attitudes within an organization that perpetuate racial inequality despite the intentions of the individuals involved. Institutional racism does not necessarily require the presence of negative prejudices or conscious discrimination, but rather refers to how institutions systematically reproduce racial inequality. For example, an education system that does not provide equal educational opportunities for all students, a labor market where racialized people have fewer opportunities for employment and advancement, or a justice system that has a disproportionately high incarceration rate for non-white people. 

This is why it is necessary and urgent to debate a political model that not only formally denounces racism, in an effort to align itself with the political correctness of so-called non-discrimination policies (a favorite target, it should be noted, of attacks by right-wing groups disguised as false liberalism), but also to undertake a process of radical transformations centered on anti-racist policies.

Anti-racist policies are public policies that seek to address racism and racial inequality in a profound and transformative way, rather than simply addressing the symptoms or superficial effects of racial discrimination. These policies recognize that racism is not merely an individual problem of prejudice or discriminatory attitudes, but rather a structural and systemic problem rooted in a society's institutions, policies, and social practices.

Some examples of anti-racist policies:

• Repairs: Reparations are policies that seek to repair the harm caused by racism and racial discrimination in the past and present. Reparations can include measures such as paying financial compensation to victims of racial inequality or implementing economic development programs for communities affected by racism.
• Affirmative actions: Affirmative action is a policy that seeks to address racial inequalities in access to education, employment, and other resources by implementing measures that aim to level the playing field for discriminated individuals and communities. Affirmative action can include policies such as reserving university places for students from ethnic minorities or implementing support programs for businesses owned by people from ethnic minorities.
• Defunding the police: Defunding the police is a policy that seeks to address police brutality and racial discrimination in law enforcement by reducing the financial resources allocated to the police and reinvesting those resources in social and community programs. This policy is based on the idea that the police are not the solution to social problems, but rather part of the problem.
• Dismantling racist systems: Dismantling racist systems involves dismantling the social structures and systems that promote and perpetuate racial discrimination, such as residential segregation, the criminalization of poverty, and the criminal justice system. This policy seeks to reimagine and rebuild a more just and inclusive social system.

These are just some of the anti-racist policies being discussed and, in some cases, implemented in different parts of the world. These policies are often met with strong resistance and opposition from those who argue that they are excessively radical or could have negative consequences for society.

In this context, the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination takes on renewed importance. As academics and activists, we must continue working to acknowledge this historical debt and thus ensure that all people, regardless of their race or ethnicity, can enjoy the same rights and opportunities. Raising awareness about racism and racial inequality is essential to combating this problem and building a more just and equitable society.

March 21th 2023
CLACSO Working Group
Civilizational crisis, reconfigurations of racism, Afro-Latin American social movements [+]

This text expresses the position of the aforementioned Working Group and not necessarily that of the centers and institutions that make up the CLACSO international network, its Steering Committee or its Executive Secretariat.