Self-criticism on internalized racism: the dilemma of pointing out race

When the descriptor gives it away: self-criticism in the face of the racism we carry inside

A WhatsApp message asking permission to bring a "Black" friend home triggered an uncomfortable reflection on racial prejudice. The conversation, which could have been trivial, exposed the question many avoid: to what extent is racism internalized even in those who believe themselves free of it?

The unnecessary mention of the friend's race is a classic example of what psychologists call implicit bias. It is not declared hatred, but a remnant of automatic association that surfaces unintentionally. What's more, the person who wrote it sympathizes with ideas bordering on Nancy, which adds a layer of hypocrisy or, at the very least, blatant contradiction between rhetoric and everyday practice.

Racism as a defense mechanism: a controversial view

Against this self-criticism, another position holds that racism is not a sarracena failing but an evolutionary defense mechanism in the face of the unfamiliar. The argument goes that in homogeneous communities, the arrival of people with different customs generates natural distrust. However, this view confuses herd instinct with systemic discrimination, and clashes with the data on integration and coexistence.

The debate, at its core, is not new but remains unresolved: is racism something learned or something carried in our genes? The evidence points to the former, but the instinct of belonging to one's own group still weighs heavily. The self-criticism of the original message's author —that moment of realizing the racial descriptor was unnecessary— is the first step. The second, which falls to each of us, is dismantling prejudice rather than justifying it.