That it does not exist, that it is an isolated event or that it is only a problem of a few people. Racism is so everyday and normalized that for many people it is almost imperceptible. They are the "jokes", the stereotypes, the marginalization. And that which is not named does not exist. The racist insults faced for the umpteenth time by Real Madrid striker Vinicius Jr. at Valencia's football stadium on Sunday have resurrected the debate about racism and xenophobia in Spain. The player expressed his anger on social networks: "I feel sorry for the Spaniards who do not agree, but today, in Brazil, Spain is known as a country of racists." He is by no means the only person to denounce the racist situations he has experienced. Eight people tell how, from different spaces, they have felt discriminated against because of their origin, skin color or religious belief.
Omar Serroukh: "The police thing is a non-stop"
Omar Serroukh, on Tuesday in the neighborhood of La Ventilla, in Madrid.Andrea Comas
Omar Serroukh is 20 years old, is from Madrid and lives with his family, of Moroccan origin, in the neighborhood of La Ventilla. "A quiet working-class neighborhood of a lifetime," he says. He explains that since childhood he has been attentive, restless and critical of everything that surrounds him and that is why he has decided to study the double degree of Political Science and Economics. To change your environment, to improve it. Because there are many things to improve.
Serroukh hangs out with his friends in the neighborhood square, to chat and laugh for a while. One of the last times was at the end of April, the day after the end of Ramadan, a reason for them to celebrate. It was also one of the days he remembers suffering racism at the hands of police forces. "All the kids got together. We wanted to go karting," recalls the young man. Serroukh relates that two national police officers approached, at first kindly, to talk to them. When reinforcements arrived, they tensed the speech. "Without any pretext, because they knew it was a holiday. We were laughing, doing nothing. We asked them why they stopped us and they said, 'None, but we want to identify you,'" he continues. Serroukh did not want to hand over the paperwork, although he was eventually forced to do so. "One of the policemen told me, 'I'm in charge here. If you want to argue, we do it at the police station.' And in the end he is right. Because he has a plaque, and I don't. Because he's blond, and I'm brown."
Like this one, it narrates many other situations. Routine check-ups, several times a day. Always to him, not to his white friends. "The police thing is a non-stop. Once my friend and I were searched against the wall under his house. I was just waiting for him to go for a spin," she says. Serroukh recalls repeating several times that they were not carrying anything. They handed over their ID cards, and when the policeman let them go, Serroukh got angry. "While you were here, the one you are really looking for has gone for a nap," he replied. "And the policeman pulled the baton out of me. You can't fight racism if the system itself is racist. If those who have to put an end to it stop you only because of your skin color, "he says.
There are so many times that a lady has taken his bag, that no one has wanted to sit next to him on the bus, that the young man has internalized discrimination. "And that's the main problem. That it has been normalized. Five or six years ago, people didn't show their racism so easily. Now, yes," he says. He blames it on the speeches of the extreme right, on the whitewashing of their xenophobic words in the media. "Many people feel protected to create a false profile on Twitter and insult," he says. He also talks about manipulation, hoaxes, fake news. "Spain has a very serious problem of misinformation, of not checking where the news comes from," he continues. "But, please, I encourage all people to come and meet the different. Do not be afraid because it is brown and goes in tracksuit or typical Muslim clothing. Let them ask, show interest, curiosity, approach. That comforts me a lot. Because you feel validated, you see that it makes sense to be who you are."
Francisca Cárcamo: "They told me: 'Don't be discouraged, cleaning services require a lot from Latina women'
Francisca Carcamo Rojas, on Tuesday in Barcelona.Albert Garcia
Francisca Cárcamo Rojas is 35 years old and is from Chile. She is a comic artist and editor, has a master's degree, four postgraduate degrees and in five years has not been able to get a job in her area in Spain. "When I came to visit I was very well treated, but when I came to live here things changed," she says. The very few times she has had a job, she says, it has been "in the black" or as a "volunteer" for some organization. She is now self-employed and works for publishers in Chile and the United States. He regrets never being able to show everything he is capable of: "I feel like I could have given a lot of things."
Cárcamo attributes it to one reason: "The prejudice of being Latina." The road to getting a job has been full of bad experiences and reproaches: "Why do you look for work in this country and not in yours?" "You have a lot of experience, but they prefer someone who doesn't have it and is from here." The worst time, she says, was when one of the people who interviewed her for a job as a book editor told her that she preferred a person without any experience to a foreign woman. And it didn't end there: "They told me not to be discouraged because cleaning services require Latina women a lot." Cárcamo recalls that he left the office crying that day and decided to stop looking for a job. That someone treated him so badly, he says, was what hurt him the most.
Other times, discrimination has been camouflaged in different ways. "I've been told, 'You're too smart and hardworking to be Latina. You're another kind of migrant." Racism, for Cárcamo, has also been present in the sexualization of Latin American women. He has experienced it in the first person: "The first two years, when I had no partner, they saw me almost as a commodity." She recalls that many men believed they "could quickly access to have sex" with her. Also, she says, "there have been men who believed that because you're Latina you're good in bed."
Diego Da Silva: "They have seen my skin tone and prefer to be cared for by a white person"
Diego Da Silva Hoffmann, a Brazilian based in Barcelona, on Tuesday, near the Bac de Roda metro station.Enrique Hernandez Rincon
Diego Da Silva Hoffmann recognizes that being black determines the treatment he will receive. He came from Brazil to Barcelona six years ago in search of a better future. She works in a furniture and decoration store, her job is customer service, and she has lost count of all the times she has experienced racism. He recalls that, on one occasion, one of his companions asked him to attend to a woman who asked for information. "I, with the smile on my face, approached and the lady looked at me from head to toe, made a disgusted face and said: 'No, it is not necessary, I come at another time, it is much better'. Even when he said it, he didn't speak to me, he was addressing my partner," says the 40-year-old. "They see my skin tone and prefer to be cared for by a white person," he said.
Da Silva recognizes that racism and xenophobia is constant and that, many times, it goes almost unnoticed: "They do not attack me, but I receive racism in a more subtle way." They are basic issues: they pass him, they do not greet him, they do not look at him. He is not the only one, the same situation is repeated with another co-worker of Moroccan origin. Discrimination permeates other aspects of her life, such as when she goes out to the park with her daughter. Da Silva recalls with sadness an episode that the little girl had to witness. It all started because a boy wanted the same game as her. "The child started crying and the mother got angry, she told me: 'Go to your country, take your daughter to live in your country, you only come here to bother us.' He said it in front of my daughter and we left the park," he concludes.
Manuela Vega: "The integration that racists ask us for so much is masked radicalism"
Manuela Vega Manzanares, on Tuesday in Bilbao.Fernando Domingo-Aldama
Manuela Vega recently went shopping with her friends. It was loaded with bags from having been in various stores throughout the day. They were talking calmly when they noticed one of the clerks following them. "He even cut us off on one occasion. We decided to confront him, hoping that he would at least feel ashamed. But he started verbally attacking us, while the whole store was watching us. He came to recognize that he followed us because of our status as gypsies. It was humiliating," she says.
Vega is 20 years old, lives in Bilbao and works at ONCE. She says that as a child she didn't know she was different from everyone else, because "no one is born racist." Until a colleague called her a gypsy in a derogatory way, as an insult. "That's when you perceive that you are different. Over time you realize that these children only repeated what they were told at home." In his case, he believes that this is how racism is perpetuated, passing from parents to children negative stereotypes about the Roma ethnicity. "And, even if they can't pigeonhole us with the rest of the Roma for whatever reason, they will look for some way to make us feel different. These stereotypes mean that they never come to see us as individuals. I'm a gypsy, it's part of who I am. But I don't want to be reduced to just that," she explains.
He says that, for the Roma community, looking for work is a practically lost battle. "The moment they see that you are gypsy, they do their best not to give you a job." The reason behind the discrimination he has suffered does not believe that it is immovable or systemic, typical of Spanish society as such. Rather, he blames it on lack of knowledge. "I've been told that I'm the first gypsy they've seen up close," she says. Nor does he think it has increased or decreased. Simply, that he has been masked. "They used to throw sticks and stones at us, or kick us out of schools. Now they are more passive-aggressive. They mask racism with jokes, advice regarding our culture, or comments. They no longer throw sticks at us, now if they want to attack us they use social networks or the media." And yet, the main problem she observes persists: the inability of some people to assume a different culture or way of thinking. "The integration that racists demand so much of us is masked radicalism," he says. The vaccine, give voice to those who suffer racism every day. "Racism is fought by giving a voice to those who live it every day. Racism is fought in classrooms and homes," she concludes, while encouraging all Roma women not to be silent, not to normalize violence and to ask for help.
Mar Rodríguez: "I had a lot of men harassing me and calling me a shitty mora"
Mar poses in the center of his town, San Quintí de Mediona, in Barcelona, on May 23. Enrique Hernandez Rincon
"Older people tell us why you wear a veil if you are prettier without wearing it," says Mar Rodriguez, 17. She lives in a small town in Barcelona and recognizes that she often has to put up with people pointing her out. "They think that because you wear a veil, you are not from here and, because of that fact, they treat you differently. Many people do not greet me even though I do," says the young woman, who publishes content on Tiktok and has 60,000 followers on this social network. He recalls that, on one occasion, a girl used his videos without his permission and began sharing them on Twitter, accompanied by racist comments. "The videos went viral and many of the people who commented on those posts were saying horrible things like now she has reason to be beaten, now she's going to have to obey another man."
Later, Rodriguez began to receive, on his social networks, private messages with threats and hateful comments. "I had a lot of men harassing me and calling me a shitty mordor," she says. After what happened, he decided to block the option so that people could comment on their stories. The young woman reflects that mistreatment is common and even more so in public places: "they do not usually treat you the same, they do it as with contempt." In health centers, he reflects, is where he has most noticed the differences. "When the person in front of you in line is not Muslim, they treat them kindly, with patience, eye contact, good face. But when you wear hijab people talk to you reluctantly, the behavior is not the same," she admits.
Catarina Xu: "Covid was a germ that unleashed all racist people and gave them a speech"
Catarina Xu poses in Madrid, on May 23. JUAN BARBOSA
For Catarina, the hardest part was childhood. Growing up without being very aware that you are different, but learning it when your peers point it out. "I thought, 'I wish I was born Spanish and not Chinese,'" she admits. Xu, now 24 and working in Deloitte's sustainability department, grew up with his family in Guadalajara. To study in high school he moved to a smaller town. "I was terrified, not so much about showing up or not knowing anyone, but about being singled out or discriminated against for having Asian features," she recalls. And so it happened: "The first few days my companions whispered, looked at me. Then, older, it went to less."
Xu is sure that it is a matter of superiority. That the historical and economic supremacy of the European or Caucasian population still empowers people. "The underlying problem is what's behind the stereotypes, that you feel somehow better than the different ones. That's why someone thinks they have the right to call you and insult you. A child is not born racist, he learns that," the young woman develops. Some people still squint their eyes, pronouncing sentences with the letter "L" instead of the "R". Xu relates that one summer, having ice cream with her friend on the beach, some teenagers began to follow her. They could be heard muttering the word "Chinese." When their friend insulted and confronted them, one of them spat at them. "Sometimes people tell you not to take it to heart, it's just a joke. But why do I, for the simple fact of being Chinese, have to be alert and prepared to be pointed out my difference?"
The coronavirus pandemic stoked racism toward Asian people. "It was a germ that unleashed all the racist people and gave them a speech. It was justified to be racist, especially on social media," Xu said. Remember some phrases, such as "the Chinese eat everything and that's why there is covid". Even so, the young woman emphasizes that racism is a transversal inequality, and above all universal. "If we go to other populations, like the Chinese, there is also a lot of racism towards black or Muslim people," he says. The basis of any arrangement, Xu believes, should be education. "If at school from childhood, and at home, especially at home, it was taught that we are all equal, racism would end almost one hundred percent."
"They threaten me not to date a Spanish girl"
Mohammed, not his real name, poses in Jaén on May 23. Jose Manuel Pedrosa
Mohamed (simulated name) arrived six years ago from Morocco to Jaén shortly after his 18th birthday. Before, being still a minor, he tried several times in a boat, without any success. Since he set foot on Spanish soil, his life has been full of episodes of racial discrimination. "Since I started dating a Spanish girl I suffered threats and aggression from a relative of his, a policeman by profession, to leave her, but we are still together," says this 25-year-old North African, who saw his complaint for this aggression dismissed in a trial.
"Of course I feel singled out, today it happened to me again when I crossed paths with a woman in a street, she quickly hid her mobile phone because she feared it would be stolen," says this migrant who came to Jaén in search of a job in the agricultural campaigns. Now, an osteoarthritis in the knee keeps him convalescing in a healthcare center managed by Caritas, while he studies to obtain ESO and thus have more job opportunities in Spain.
Mohamed, a football fan, is clear that "Vinicius suffers racism in many fields." A racism, he says, that he has suffered even at the institutional level: "Recently I was denied the application for the Minimum Vital Income (IMV) because they required me to have contributed at least one year, a requirement that is not asked of those who request this help," laments this young Moroccan.
Marie Lucia Monshenek: "We have to stand up when we see any injustice"
Marie Lucia Monsheneke, on May 23 in Bilbao.Fernando Domingo-Aldama
Marie Lucia Monsheneke is blunt when she says that racism is present in Spain, and that it is a scourge. Because as long as it is, there is no integration possible. She is 37 years old, lives in Bilbao and is from the Democratic Republic of Congo —"although there is no democracy there," she says jokingly—, president of the organization Famek Elkartea and member of the Network of African Women Leaders in Action (REMLAA). "Racism and the rejection of what is different exist in our society. But sometimes it's so mixed, so intertwined, that it's too subtle to perceive," he explains. The differentiation between serious, "macro" problem of racism and small, "micro" problem is part of the problem for Monsheneke. "Because if we put the micro prefix in front, we take away the sense of action, which is pure racism," he says.
He agrees with Serroukh that racism has become normalized. He gives as an example what happened last Sunday during the football match between Real Madrid and Valencia at the Mestalla stadium. "When the crowd insulted, an act as simple as stopping the game could have been done. But it was not done, because it seems that nothing important happens," he says. To eradicate any form of violence and discrimination, Monsheneke explains that joint action between the individual and institutions is necessary. "There must be co-responsibility. Let the individual wonder, stop using discriminatory language. We have to stand up when we see any injustice, when something damages our integrity as a human being. This doesn't happen in a day. And, at the same time, that the administration puts the batteries to create a good policy of inclusion and coexistence. It is not a matter of multiplying laws, but having one that guarantees respect in an integral way," he concludes.
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