Shortly after the Court of Justice of SP ordered the removal of a “comedy” program by Leo Lins from the air for reproducing “speech and positions that are now repudiated”, another comedian to enter this scene was Fábio Porchat, who insisted on playing even more light in that case.
Porchat, known for his pro-democracy stance and progressive positions in relation to human rights, has already said he is “a racist in deconstruction”. However, in order for the Justice to remove the program from the air, Fábio came out in defense of Leo Lins’ “jokes” — and taught us a great lesson.
Theoretically, being a person “racist in deconstruction” is something positive for a society that, for the most part, denies being racist. To be “racist in deconstruction” is to admit to being racist due to the history of our society, which recognizes having “learned to be racist” because of this history and now needs to “unlearn” to be.
During more than 300 years of slavery in Brazil, society shaped its future: a racist country. It can be said that, in this country, racism has workedbecause even after “the end of slavery” with the Lei Áurea of 1888, this abolition process was not concluded.
The end of slavery “liberated” black people from the slave regime to which they had been subjected since their kidnapping from the African continent, but did not provide “a new beginning” for these people who remained in social limbo, without access to opportunities for work, housing, health, education, etc.
Racism worked in this country because black people are no longer enslaved, but are prevented from having equal opportunities and receiving reparation actions that reduce the inequality that our history has shaped. As long as we are an unequal society between whites and blacks, we will be a racist society. And this inequality will only decrease and, who knows, maybe one day it will end, if the white subject “racist in deconstruction” acts.
A white subject “racist in deconstruction” only makes a positive difference for black people if he becomes “anti-racist”.
An “anti-racist” white guy acts. He takes responsibility for the inequality he takes advantage of to maintain himself in a superior position and, based on this recognition of his power, he starts to act consciously as a person who seeks knowledge to stop racism, whether he is the one who produces and reproduces it. in your own actions, as well as in the actions of other people and structures around you.
The “anti-racist” seeks ways to use his place of power to reduce inequalities between whites and blacks and exercises this responsibility by understanding that, as a white subject, he ends up taking advantage of a racist society that was shaped by slavery, privileging white people and, consequently, causing the inequality of access and opportunities that we have today.
The “anti-racist” white subject understands that, even if he has not enslaved someone, he is in a position of privilege precisely because their ancestors – other white subjects – enslaved blacks.
Now, going from being a “racist in deconstruction” to becoming an “anti-racist” is difficult. It is difficult because, in this process, the white subject only needs to leave the discourse and see himself giving up some of his privileges and, consequently, subjecting his white people to do the same.
Here we are faced with a silent and even unconscious pact, which is the “whiteness pact”. This pact stems from the discomfort of not being in the position of power that one used to be.
In the whiteness pact, white people unite and support each other in actions, opinions and jokes that have been identified as racist. And this pact is evident if the appointment has caused some harm to the white subject, if it has removed some privilege from the white people.
Here the abyss between the racist white subject in deconstruction and the anti-racist white subject is shown. Being aware that one occupies a position of power due to the structural racism that one has privileged and not doing something about it does not make this subject an anti-racist. Perhaps this behavior, or lack thereof, is even worse than that of the guy who still hasn’t recognized his white privilege.
What a bad joke we were led to believe: that a racist in deconstruction was an ally in the fight to end racial inequality.
#Porchat #racist #deconstruction #antiracist