How do experiences of everyday racism reported by Black migrants differ between Brazil, South Africa, and European countries?
Executive summary
Black migrants report everyday racism in Brazil as a mixture of xenophobia, structural exclusion and lethal street violence—described as “double discrimination” for being both foreign and Black [1] [2]. In South Africa reporting emphasizes dehumanisation, xenophobic violence and systemic exclusion rooted in post-apartheid inequalities [3]. In Europe the EU agency found racism toward people of African descent “relentless and pervasive,” with nearly half reporting discrimination and border policies that legally render many Africans “irregular” and heighten exposure to violence [4] [5].
1. Brazil — “Double discrimination”: outsiders and Black in a racialised society
African migrants in Brazil consistently describe layered experiences: economic precarity and social isolation compounded by racism that predates recent arrivals, tied to Brazil’s history as the largest importer of African slaves and later whitening policies [2] [6]. Reporting and scholarship show migrants face poverty, violence and “double discrimination” as both foreigners and Black people; murders and racist attacks have prompted outrage, illustrating that legal protections for refugees coexist with pervasive xenophobia and lethal street violence [1] [7]. Public-health and sociological studies of Black immigrants in São Paulo document that perceptions of inferiority attached to darker skin affect access to employment, housing and services, pushing many to peripheries and informal work [8]. Scholars locate contemporary everyday racism in long-standing national narratives of multiraciality that often mask inequality and reproduce hierarchies centered on whiteness [9] [10].
2. South Africa — xenophobic violence layered onto racial hierarchy
In South Africa the dominant framings in recent research focus on dehumanisation, xenophobia and episodic mass violence against migrants, including education and civic discourse that can normalise exclusion [3]. Scholarship treats anti-migrant violence as entwined with racialised and class inequalities that persist after apartheid; migrants are frequently othered and exposed to collective attacks and exclusionary policing, producing everyday insecurity beyond isolated incidents [3]. Available sources highlight a nexus of migration, xenophobia and social fracture rather than suggesting migrants encounter only interpersonal slights; the violence is structural and public, not merely private prejudice [3].
3. Europe — bureaucratic bordering and pervasive discrimination
European reporting and rights-agency data frame everyday racism toward people of African descent as widespread and intensifying: the EU Fundamental Rights Agency found racism “relentless and pervasive,” with discrimination experiences rising from 39% in 2016 to 45% in 2022 and numerous incidents in schools and public life [4]. Analyses of European border regimes argue those policies do more than restrict mobility; they racialise African migrants as “irregular,” legalising and enabling exposure to violence during journeys and in reception contexts—shifting some everyday racism into formal, administrative processes [5]. Thus, for many Black migrants in Europe racism manifests both in social interactions (abuse, discrimination) and through state systems that restrict rights and create precarious, squalid living conditions [5] [4].
4. Common patterns and key differences
Across the three settings migrants face a mix of interpersonal prejudice, structural exclusion and violence, but the balance differs: Brazil’s narrative stresses historical racism embedded in society and the “double” burden of being Black and foreign [1] [8]; South Africa reporting concentrates on violent xenophobia and dehumanisation in public life [3]; Europe combines everyday interpersonal racism with institutionalised border practices and rising discrimination figures documented by the EU agency [5] [4]. Comparative scholarship warns that national myths—Brazilian multiracialism, South African post‑apartheid transformation, European humanitarian rhetoric—can obscure persistent racial hierarchies and the specific ways migrants are targeted [9] [11].
5. What sources emphasise and what they omit
Available reporting highlights violence in Brazil and South Africa and institutionalised bordering in Europe [1] [3] [5]. Academic works and UN historical accounts supply context on Brazil’s whitening policies and the endurance of racial hierarchies [6] [10]. What the current set of sources does not mention in detail are systematic comparative survey data that directly measure everyday microaggressions across all three regions, nor extensive first-person longitudinal interviews comparing identical indicators across countries—those gaps limit fine-grained quantitative comparison (not found in current reporting).
6. Implications for policy and public debate
Sources converge that legal protections alone do not prevent everyday racism: Brazil’s refugee protections coexist with xenophobic attacks [7] [1]; South African policy debates still confront violent exclusion [3]; European border management produces legal forms of racial exclusion even as discrimination rises [5] [4]. Effective responses must address both interpersonal racism and the institutional rules that produce precarity. Readers should note that some sources (e.g., polemical essays on European borders) explicitly frame migration policy as deliberate racial control, an analytical stance that signals a political critique as well as descriptive claim [5].