Reflections on the construction of anti-racist education

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t is not enough to be against racism, it is necessary to be anti-racist: this phrase, which became known through the black American professor, philosopher and activist Angela Davis, has never lost its relevance. The recent demonstrations against police violence against the black population in the United States and Brazil have paved the way for broader discussions about racism in our country, which in itself is not a new topic, but which raises urgent questions: among them, how Can we build anti-racist education in a country where more than half the population is black, but where talking about racial issues is still a path full of obstacles and taboos? In an interview with Marcelo Ganzela, coordinator of the graduation in Letters at Singularidades and presenter of the podcast Educaramba , Mayana Nunes da Silva, historian, doctoral student in Social Anthropology at the State University of Campinas and researcher in the area of ​​gender, sexuality, media, violence in social relations gender and diversity, defends the premise that, as long as Brazilian society does not admit itself to being racist and recognizes the structural racism on which the country was founded and continues to be supported, this path will continue to be bumpy.

“We continue to bring up the racial debate because we haven’t done the basics, which is recognizing ourselves as racists. This is the first step: thinking in this way, about how racism structures the entire society, the economy, politics, education and almost all sectors ws data  of our society. This recognition needs to be done. After that, we can keep moving forward, thinking about solutions and ways to solve this problem, which is very serious”, analyzes Mayana. One of the points that hinder this recognition of Brazilians as racist, Mayana points out, is the belief in a supposed “racial democracy”, in which blacks, whites and indigenous people would live together in harmony and equality.



The mulatto, born from the relationship between white and black or vice versa, would be living proof of how balanced and cordial these relationships are. This theory is credited to the Pernambuco sociologist and anthropologist Gilberto Freyre, but it was enhanced by other intellectuals, who focused on Freyre's studies on Brazilian society regarding the slavery period in Brazil. This idea, explains the researcher, erases the indigenous genocide and the forced arrival of Africans to the American continent by colonizers. “This myth is very strong in our society, that of miscegenation, that there are no racial divisions, but balance. In the black movement, this is something that has already been deconstructed. If you look at the statistics, most murders are among the black, young and peripheral population.