For an Anti-racist Racialization: Controversies Surrounding Racial Inclusion in Companies

Objective: with this pensata, we present the concept of racialization as an analytical way to reflect on diversity and racial inclusion in companies and thus advance the anti-racist agenda. This concept allows us to defend affirmative action as a legitimate strategy to correct racial inequalities in the corporate world. Provocations: given the controversies and accusations of reverse racism generated by Magazine Luiza’s exclusive trainee program for black people, we pose the following provocations: (a) is the Magalu’s trainee program a racist initiative? (b) is this an expression of reverse racism? Conclusions: we argue the following position: racial inclusion programs created by Magalu or other companies cannot be labeled as racist. This position is based on the concept of racialization. We mobilize this notion to claim that, if all racism refers to racialization, not all racialization can be considered racist simply because it makes use of the racial lexicon. This argument takes on the challenge of facing the paradox of an anti-racism that is structured on the logic of racialization.